Return Engagement by Lynn Michaels

Author:Lynn Michaels [Michaels, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56615-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Trey went to work with Lindsay on Saturday and cleaned the stock room. Emma dusted the window displays, wiped the shelves in all the sections, and spruced up the cash wrap. Lindsay vacuumed, tidied the offices, and cleaned the bathroom. By eleven The Bookshelf was spotless.

At two o’clock they had an author coming to do a book signing.

Emma left to grab some lunch and pick up a cookie tray at Brown’s Bakery. Then it was Lindsay’s turn to make a quick pass through Country Mart, which she should’ve done on Friday because Country Mart was closed on Sundays, but she’d been too tired and too strung out from her showdown with Noah and Chaos.

In the dairy aisle Trey wheedled five bucks out of her and made a beeline for Burger Chef. Like Lindsay was supposed to believe he was dying of hunger with Meggie Hannity flipping her ponytail right out front, but oh well.

She gave him half an hour to flirt, picked him up, and drove home. The message light was flashing on the answering machine when she let herself into the kitchen. She swung her purse onto the desk and hit play.

“Rehearsals are suspended till Monday to give our star—” Jolie sneered and Lindsay felt her heart wrench “—time to recuperate from his hospital stay. That’s the sixth at seven P.M. Be there.”

This was the first peep she’d heard out of Jolie since Wednesday. So far she was playing by the rules Lindsay had laid down. Aunt Sassy had seen Jolie on Thursday coming out of the post office with an express mail envelope. Lindsay had hit the roof about that.

“I’ll bet Trey’s pictures were in that package,” she’d said to Emma. “It would be so like Vivienne to ignore me and send the photos back to Jolie.”

Yesterday Susan saw Jolie as she was leaving the Belle Coeur Café. No one else in the family had seen hide nor hair of her. Was she okay, Lindsay wondered, did Jolie feel like she did, that someone had cut a giant hole in her heart? No. Of course not. Jolie didn’t have a heart.

Lindsay hardened hers, pushed her thumb on the delete key, and listened to the long electronic beep that erased her sister’s voice.

“Stuff a sock in it, Jolie,” she snapped and turned toward the fridge with the gallon of milk in her hand.

Trey stood by the table watching her, holding a paper sack full of mostly frozen foods in his arms. “Don’t tell me,” he said. “You and Jolie are fighting.”

“We’re not fighting.” Lindsay didn’t make him say Aunt Jolie. So far as she was concerned, he didn’t have an Aunt Jolie. “We’ve come to a parting of the ways.”

“For how long this time?”

Lindsay leaned into the fridge with the milk. He’s not a baby, he’s almost sixteen, she told herself. Lay out the facts, tell him the truth. She straightened, shut the fridge, and faced Trey. “This time it’s forever.”

“Yeah, right. You never get mad at anybody, Ma.

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