A Previous Engagement Read Online Free PDF Page A

shows , and my empty apartment. I found my life, and my new career in particular, very fulfilling. I leaned back in my swanky desk chair, peering out of my giant windows onto the passing traffic and the busy Boston streets. The view from up here was pretty sweet indeed.
     
    Of course, that was all before my sister changed my life with a beta fish.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
     
     
    Whenever my sister’s name popped up on my phone, I shuddered. For a long time, Lucy’s calls involved homework emergencies and other assorted drama, so I dreaded them. Answering meant either coaching her through it over the phone or driving to her dorm to build a bridge out of straws and tape while she ate Cheetos on her futon and critiqued my methods. All in all, saving my sister from her education was not a pleasurable experience. I felt like I was completing school all over again, four years later.
     
    The cries for help lessened once she finally eked by with grades good enough to graduate Lucy’s preference for “handy” women who could solve plumbing problems and cook chicken curry blindfolded might have also been a factor for the pseudo self-reliance. All the same, phone calls from her were more conversational, even if we mostly just commiserated about our mother. At least it was more interesting than geometric arts and crafts projects.
     
    “Hey, Luce,” I tried to sound cheery and not at all distracted.
     
    She exhaled a long breath. A bad sign. “Hey… loving sister.” Another bad sign. “Are you—um—busy later tonight?”
     
    I closed my eyes and sighed as silently, and as far away from the receiver, as possible. Goodbye, luxurious night of television and pajamas. Lucy’s got another problem her big sister needs to solve. “What’s up?”
     
    “It’s Meg. She’s a tangled mess and we need to perform a hair-ectomy.”
     
    “Again? Didn’t we just do that last month?”
     
    “My dumbass neighbor planted bushes out front and Meg’s been hiding under them, scaring chipmunks. There’s twigs stuck in her butt hair, Tess. It’s bad. ”
     
    “All right, okay. Seven o’clock? But you need to feed me. I’ll come straight from work and I’ll be hungry enough to eat your damn cat. Got it?”
     
    My sister knew better than to take her chances, so she left a plate of homemade hummus and pita bread waiting for me when I arrived, as harried and starving as predicted.
     
    “Sarita left some food behind,” Lucy explained, a slight blush tinting her cheeks. “She cooks at that little Mediterranean restaurant down the street. It’s delicious.”
     
    My mouth full of pita, I nodded, thankful for my sister’s diverse taste in women. So she got around, but she definitely knew how to pick them. I devoured several pita triangles smothered in hummus and a handful of fresh cherry tomatoes from her fridge. Add to that the delicious scent of roasting lamb kebabs wafting from the oven and I was officially convinced the trip hadn’t been wasted after all. Then, of course, I caught a glimpse of our patient.
     
    Meg was the oldest of my sister’s four kitty-cat children, named for the sisters in her favorite book Little Women. She was a giant Persian with the tawny mane of a lion and the personality of a docile old lady—who just happened to have a weakness for eating small rodents. Meg was calm and cuddly, provided there weren’t any small beasts in sight. Indeed, she required a surgical rescue from the giant knot adorning her backside, where it would possibly interrupt certain—ahem—bodily functions.
     
    “Oh Lord,” I groaned. “How am I supposed to help with this? Shouldn’t you bring her to a professional?”
     
    “Sorry, Tess.” Lucy thrust her squirmy baby into my arms. “’I want to date my vet, not gross her out, so it’s just you and me.”
     
    “She’s a vet, for crying out loud. You think she’s never shaved an ass before?”
     
    “I didn’t feel sexy asking