Between Us Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

everyone at the picnic, handing her a bottle of water, and ignoring the poor woman’s deer-in-headlights expression.
    Sam set a box of cupcakes on the serving table and uncovered it. Purchased bakery items were her typical contribution to the Casa’s occasional potlucks. Who had time to cook? Well, not counting the other residents who were either retired, unemployed, or worked part-time, nowhere near the sixty-plus hours she usually put in during a week.
    She watched Liv make her way through the courtyard, the stranger in tow. Sam guessed her to be a little older than herself, maybe around thirty-five and, judging from the deer eyes, in dire straits.
    Of course she was in dire straits. Liv did not pull in well-adjusted, happy people.
    Sam sighed again. In all honesty, she included herself on that one.
    Four years ago, desperate for an apartment or condo that was located no more than three freeway exits from her new job, she had wandered the streets of Seaside Village, the last possible choice and nowhere near her first. Its laidback, beachy culture felt shallow. Hemmed in by the freeway and ocean, it felt confining.
    She’d sat in a coffee shop, drawing thick lines with a black marker through listings that had sounded hopeful on paper but turned out to be positively putrid, nearly sick to her stomach at the thought of returning to the dingy motel room she had lived in for three months. Why hadn’t she taken that job in Los Angeles rather than the one in San Diego? Was it too late to change her mind?
    Someone nearby had kept clearing her throat until finally Sam turned and saw a stranger, tall and large-boned, with glasses and fluffy silvery-brown hair and a smile.
    â€œExcuse me, dear. You need a place to live.”
    Right off the bat, Sam sensed comfort and safety. But, Sam being Sam—socially inept—she bristled at the tender vibes.
    Liv had rattled off the pertinent details. Two bedrooms, hardwood floors, charming but updated, crazy unheard-of low rent, and one block from Jitters, the coffee shop where they sat. An hour later, Sam had signed a lease.
    True, she had not been happy or overly well adjusted at the time, but she had presented herself as if she were sane. This newcomer appeared fragile, a waif in imminent danger of a major meltdown. What was Liv thinking?
    Sam continued to watch as Liv introduced the woman to the residents and their families and, good grief, even to Beau, the handyman, who looked like a linebacker but had a Gentle Ben personality.
    Sam referred to herself and these neighbors of hers as the Detainees. Why such a mismatched band of people had come together baffled her, but they were now smiling at the newcomer. Typical.
    Inez and Louis Templeton, Cottage Eight, were great-grandparents and had that role down pat, dousing everyone under the age of seventy with parental adoration. Naturally, Inez greeted the total stranger with a hug.
    There was Piper from Four. Model beautiful, she worked part-time in a department store.
    Chad from Two was model handsome. He and Piper made a good-looking couple, but they were not involved, probably because he was an aimless, perpetual college student whose rich parents paid for his lifestyle.
    Cottage Six neighbors Riley and her daughter, nine-year-old Tasha, were introduced next. The little girl, who had Down syndrome, surpassed Inez when it came to being lovable. She hugged the woman fiercely and told her about the cupcakes she already knew Sam had delivered.
    Noah, aka the Stork from Five, smiled and introduced his teenage daughter, Déja, who did not live full-time with him. He was, as far as Sam could tell, a part-time dad, part-time musician, part-time choir director, and part-time chef.
    Coco Vizzini, from Twelve, grinned and waved from her wheelchair next to a patio table. Her lipstick was smeared. Her mascara was thick on her lashes as well as her cheeks. Not a strand of her blond hair, however, escaped the perfect bob, which was