Class Reunion of Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

always hated exercise. Don’t tell me you’ve become a health nut.”
    “No way. But I do like to walk places. It makes me feel connected to the town.”
    Kimber made a show of looking around. “Connected to the town? Why would you want to be connected to the town? We couldn’t wait to get out of this town.”
    “It’s different now,” Lacy said.
     
    “Different how?” Kimber asked.
    “I sort of feel responsible for stuff now, like it’s my job to make the town better.”
    Kimber blinked at her. “Whose Kool-Aid are you drinking? Lacy, this town is a place where you pause, not a place where you put down roots.”
    “Your parents put roots here,” Lacy pointed out.
     
    “Yeah, well my parents got a lot of things wrong, didn’t they?” Kimber said.
    Being adopted by white parents hadn’t been an issue for her until she went to college and connected with non-white people for the first time. Since then, she had been harboring a simmering resentment toward her parents. Lacy had once tried to point out that Mr. and Mrs. Vance had done their best by being colorblind, by not instilling any racial divides in their daughter. Kimber didn’t see it the same way. She felt her parents had purposely insulated her from her African-American heritage. In the intervening years, she had immersed herself in the culture she hadn’t known, sometimes to the exclusion of her adopted family. As far as Lacy knew, this was Kimber’s first visit home since college.
     
    They were on the steps of the StakelyBuilding when Kimber grabbed Lacy’s arm and froze. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispered.
    “What? What is it?” Lacy asked.
    “It’s Jason Cantor. I can’t believe he came home for the reunion.”
    “Oh, yeah, actually…”
    “He’s even hotter than he was in high school. I didn’t think that was possible.”
    Lacy turned to study Jason. The street was crowded. He had parked his SUV down the block and was heading in their direction. “You think so?”
    “Girl, are you blind? The boy is fine.”
    “I guess,” Lacy said. Inside, her heart was doing the twitterpated pitter-pat it reserved for him.
     
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Kimber said.
    “You do?”
    “You’re thinking he’s no Chester Campbell.”
    “I am?”
    “I am here to tell you there are much better options that Chester Campbell in the world,” Kimber said. “I wonder if Jason’s single. Of course he is. Prime meat like that wouldn’t take itself off the market so soon.”
    “What do you think he would do if I marched up and kissed him?” Lacy asked.
    Kimber snorted a laugh. “You? Right.”
    “I’ll do it,” Lacy said.
     
    “You will not,” Kimber said.
    “I will,” Lacy said.
    “I once watched you crawl under a table in the middle of the cafeteria to avoid saying hello to a guy you thought was cute, and now you expect me to believe you’re going to go lay one on Jason Cantor.”
    “Bet you five bucks,” Lacy said.
Kimber pulled out her wallet and handed Lacy five dollars. “Show me yours,” she commanded.
    Lacy stuffed the money in her pocket. “I don’t need to.” She left Kimber and headed toward Jason. “I’m going to kiss you,” she whispered.
     
    “Is that a thing now? Are we announcing our intentions? Okay, then: I’m going to enjoy it,” he whispered.
    “Make it look good,” she said.
     
    “Baby, I don’t know any other way,” he said. She kissed him. He kissed her back. She couldn’t be sure, but she guessed it probably looked pretty good.
    “Come meet Kimber,” Lacy said, taking his hand when the kiss was finished.
     
    “I’ve known Kimber since I was five,” Jason said.
    “You know Kimber, but you don’t know Kimber.”
    They walked hand in hand back to Kimber whose face was photo-worthy. “That was weird,” she said.
    “I was going to tell you that Jason lives here. We’ve sort of been seeing each other,” Lacy said.
     
    “Hey, Kimber,” Jason added.
    “Is