Blood & Tears (Jane #3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

her
office. It was a small anteroom with a desk, a set of metal
drawers, and a single chair for visitors. She walked right through
the room and opened a door on the other side.
    "Come on in," she said, beaming.
"It's not much, but it's the first and only home that's been really
mine."
    Annie had quite the nice little
set-up. Her room was twice the size of mine and had a divider
installed to separate the space she used as her bedroom from the
rest of it. There was an open door to the side that led to a small
private bathroom and she had furnished it all with castoffs and
thrift store finds. It was really quite lovely. She gestured to a
lime green settee and took a seat on an orange recliner. It looked
remarkably like the one my grandfather had owned when I was a
child.
    "Oh," she exclaimed, bouncing to
the edge of her seat. "Do you want tea or something? I'm sorry, I
should've offered before. I don't usually have guests aside from
Father Bellini."
    "Tea would be lovely," I said,
smiling. Annie was a lot like me—quiet, reserved, but longing for
someone to share our lives with. I watched her as she plugged in an
electric tea kettle and readied two mugs.
    When the tea was done, she
returned to her seat, handing me a cup. I sipped carefully. Earl
Grey with a bit of sugar and a hint of lemon. Delicious. A slightly
awkward silence filled the air for a minute or two as we adjusted
to the more personal setting. I decided to break the ice
first.
    "So," I said, my breath making the
steam from the mug near my lips dance across the surface of the
tea. "Jax is kinda cute."
    Annie's blush crept up her neck,
through her cheeks, disappearing into her hairline. "Yeah, he
is."
    Her grin made it impossible for me
not to press the subject. "And he's single, from what I
hear."
    "Yeah, that's what I
hear."
    I wiggled my eyebrows at her and
she went into a fit of giggles, nearly spilling her tea on her
lap.
    "I dunno," she said, shrugging
shyly. "He wouldn't like a girl like me, anyway. He probably
prefers girls like Donna, or you."
    I took another sip of tea. "I
don't think so. Haven't you seen the way he looks at you? I think
he likes you."
    "Really? You think so?"
    "Mm hmm. I sure do."
    When I thought her grin before was
the biggest grin possible, I was wrong. The smile she held now
literally stretched from ear to ear and I half expected her face to
crack open at any moment.
    "Maybe we could go on a
double-date with you and Felipe, so it wouldn't be too
awkward."
    I bit my lip, trying to hide my
frown, and sipped my tea again. "Yeah, maybe."
    "What's wrong? Are you and Felipe
having trouble?"
    "What? No. We're doing fine... I
guess."
    "Are you having a lover's
spat?"
    She said it with a grin, but I
literally spit my tea out. As I cleaned it up, I said, "We're not
lovers."
    "Oh." She was quiet for a minute.
"I thought you two were an item. I mean, everyone thinks that. Not
just me."
    "No, we're not dating. Just
friends."
    She eyeballed me, her eyes narrow.
"You two seem pretty close. And didn't you guys fall asleep on the
couch together the other night in the lounge?"
    I blushed and stared at the coffee
table. "Yeah..."
    "But you're trying to tell me you
guys aren't together."
    "I.. I don't know. I mean, I feel
kind of guilty with Steven and all."
    "Jane, I know you loved Steven.
Love Steven. But he wouldn't want you to be alone for the rest of
your hopefully extremely long life. He would hate for you to pine
for him and let new love fade just because you feel unnecessary
guilt. You and Felipe are great together. You should try to make a
go of it."
    "You think so? I do really like
him. He's just so funny and he's so easy to talk to."

    "Yeah, I don't know about that.
He's scary. But if you're comfortable around him, you can't let him
get away. He seems to really like you, too."
    We sat in Annie's room and chatted
about boys for a long time. The only thing that stopped us from
gabbing through to the next day was my ringing