Absolutely, Positively Read Online Free PDF Page B

afternoon.”
    “Well, I’m free tonight to go see him when you get an address,” Preston said, standing. She tested her weight on her broken heel.
    I glanced at Sean. We had plans for the night that involved watching The Princess Bride with a big bowl of popcorn. By the look in his eye, I predicted we wouldn’t see much of the movie.
    “I think tomorrow is soon enough,” I suggested.
    “Besides,” Sean said, “I told Dovie I’d get started on the Gladstone case.”
    Preston tipped sideways, grabbed onto a chair back for balance. “I don’t suppose you’d let me come along?”
    Sean shook his head.
    “I didn’t think so.” She frowned at her boot. “Do you think Suz has any glue?”
    “Suz has everything,” I said.
    As soon as Preston wobbled out, Sean pulled me down into his lap and kissed me. His fingers threaded into my hair, and I could feel the steady thump of his heart against my chest. He drew back, whispered, “I saw you eyeing my thigh.”
    I smiled. “You think you know me so well.”
    His hands slid down my shoulders, my arms, stopped just short of my hands. Even still, I felt the electricity jumping along my palms. I still hadn’t figured out why I saw images of us together in the future when we touched hands. Pictures of our future. Those were the images I loved best, but I often avoided holding hands for fear that one day I might see something I didn’t like. Or that I might see nothing at all.
    “Did you find an apartment?” I asked, holding my breath as I waited for the answer.
    “Nothing’s quite right.”
    I felt the relief down to my toes. “You can—”
    I almost did it. Almost said he could move in with me.
    What had come over me? It had to be Dovie’s (bad) influence. Mum’s. Why else would I take such a risk?
    You love him.
    Right. But wasn’t that exactly why he shouldn’t move in?
    “What?” he asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “You sure it’s nothing, Lucy?”
    My insides melted like chocolate on a hot day. It was the way he said my name. Filled with love and tenderness, heat and passion. He looked into my eyes. I was lost in his pearly gray gaze.
    I realized just how much I wanted him to move in. “No. Yes. No.” Panic warred with euphoria.
    He smiled. “That’s clear.”
    A warning buzzed at the back of my head. “No.”
    “No, it’s not clear?”
    I nudged him with my shoulder. “No. I’m sure it’s nothing. What’s that look?”
    “Sometimes I wonder what’s going on in that pretty head of yours.”
    “You don’t want to know.”
    He tightened his hold on me. “I think I do.”
    “Trust me, you don’t. It’s chaos in here.”
    He laughed and kissed me. I threw myself into the heat of his lips, the lazy sweep of his tongue, as if he had all day to sample me and was looking forward to every minute.
    “Well, well, well,” a voice interrupted.
    We pulled apart and I was giddy when Sean whispered in my ear, “Later.”
    My mother stood beaming in the doorway. “I hate to interrupt, but could I have a moment, LucyD?”
    Sean said, “I’ll go.”
    “No, no,” Mum said, pulling a chair up next to us. “Stay. It’s okay.”
    “What’s wrong?” I asked. She was acting strangely.
    “I need a favor.”
    “What kind of favor?”
    She cleared her throat. “There was a time I wasn’t so happy with your father.”
    “Most of my childhood?”
    She ignored my jibe. “As you know, I stopped wearing my wedding band and engagement ring a long time ago. Here’s the thing. I can find my wedding band but not the engagement ring. I thought they were together in my jewelry chest, but there was only the band.”
    In my mind’s eye, I could picture her engagement ring with its glittering princess-cut diamond set into a band of glowing rubies. I’d loved that ring, the color, the sentiment—my father had chosen rubies because they matched my mother’s aura.
    “I’ve looked everywhere, LucyD. Can you help me find it?”
    “Defin— Wait. Why?”
    Her