An Appetite for Passion Read Online Free PDF Page A

later.
     
    Yours,
    Kari
     
    She finished the breakfast she’d been eating intermittently and with less than her usual full attention and enthusiasm. Getting up, she carried her dirty dishes in, poured another cup of coffee, and took a mouthful before scrubbing the dishes and pans.
    She bustled around the house, speeding through her cleaning, racing to finish quickly. Yet, even while rushing, she took extra care that no uncaught dust sully the appearance of her house. What if Max sprang a sudden visit with little notice? She polished, she shined, she poked into corners that she sometimes neglected. When she was done, even the doorknobs gleamed.
    As she lived alone and was not slobbish in her habits, the house was basically neat and not that difficult to clean. Even with the extra touches, like cleaning the inner sides of the window panes, she was done while it was still early in the morning. Putting up a load of wash, she grabbed her grocery list and trotted out to the car.
    An hour later, back home and with the groceries put away, she checked her appearance in the mirror before heading over to Larrimore HQ.
    “Can I help you?” the harried-looking man with the perpetual grin on his face asked. Kari realized she was staring, but she couldn’t help marveling at the fact that his face managed to convey a harassed look even while he was smiling. The slightly disheveled look to his sandy hair, and the fact that one eyebrow looked like he’d been distractedly worrying at it with his finger contributed to his air of being beset with nagging problems, yet he had an open, friendly face.
    Something of an amateur artist, Kari liked to sketch faces and frequently made note of the appearance of people she passed in the street. Right now she was committing this man’s face to memory. But she realized she was being impolite. “Sorry,” she said with an answering grin. “Yes, you can help me by telling me how I can help you. I’m Kari Crandall, and I’m here to volunteer.”
    The sandy-haired man stuck his hand out. “Jeff. Jeff Linden. Welcome aboard.” She took his hand, and he grasped hers firmly, shaking it enthusiastically. They sat in two adjacent chairs to talk above the babble of voices around them, and Jeff told her that coordinating volunteers was one of his many tasks. “As a volunteer, you’ll wear several hats too,” he predicted. “Give me a clue what some of them will be. What are your talents? How can we best use you? Although I warn you now, even if you’re a brain surgeon, we’ll have you doing grunge work too.”
    Kari laughed. “I’m a publicist, a writer, but I expect you’ve got a professional team handling that. Put me to work wherever you can use me. And I’m not allergic to grunge work.”
    “Got time this afternoon? You can go to the Southdale Shopping Centre with me and hand out flyers. Maybe even talk to a few people. But I need to brief you first, so you can answer questions intelligently if people ask you Larrimore’s positions on issues. Got time Tuesday night? We’re doing a big mailing. It’ll be back from the printer’s Tuesday afternoon, and we need all the hands we can get to get it out. Got time Thursday night? We’re shorthanded for volunteers on the phone bank.”
    “Whoa! You’re planning my life for me already!” Kari laughed. “Actually, yes, I’ve got time now for a briefing and this afternoon for Southdale and Tuesday for the mailing and Thursday for the phone bank...but don’t make any plans for me any further ahead than that, and I reserve the right to cancel if...if something important comes up.” She was thinking that, although it might be months till Max drove to Jeffersonville to see her, he also might surprise her and show up soon.
    “Fair deal,” Jeff agreed, sticking his hand out again to shake on it.
    She appreciated Jeff’s openness, as well as his sense of humor. There were too many bullshit artists in the world. She liked the fact that Jeff was