Dead Ringers Read Online Free PDF

thought about how long it had been since she had been naked with a man. Somehow she managed to affect an air of nonchalance. “Tess wouldn’t be averse.”
    Lili rolled her eyes. “She doesn’t usually talk about herself in the third person.”
    â€œWell,” Tess replied, “she figures since we’re all talking about her as if she isn’t here…”
    A customer called to him from farther along the bar and Alonso put up a finger to indicate he’d be right there.
    â€œAlonso doesn’t mind a little third person,” he said, studying her closely. “He thinks we could all use a little shift in perspective now and then.”
    Saluting Lili with the sneaky business card, he slipped the rectangle of cardboard into his front pocket before turning to Tess one last time. “He will be calling. And he hopes she’ll answer.”
    He went off down the bar and they watched him go.
    â€œI like him,” Lili said.
    â€œHe does seem to have his charms,” Tess agreed, but really she wanted to hurry out of the bar, to hide and pretend the flirtation had never happened. She could feel the way her bra strap always slid and tugged against the smooth, opalescent scar tissue on her shoulder and the strange numbness of the remaining muscle around her diminished left breast, where the surgeon’s repairs had left an odd indent in her flesh.
    â€œNo,” Lili said. “I mean I like him. If you don’t want him, send him my way.”
    Tess glanced at her. “You’re welcome to him, but you have a boyfriend, Lilandra. Just, y’know, in case you forgot.”
    â€œI didn’t forget,” Lili said with a sniff and a tightening around her mouth. “But Steven did. Several times, according to the nurse he’s been sleeping with. She works at the Jimmy Fund Clinic, though, so how can I hate her, right? She treats kids with cancer. In the movie of my life, she’s got to be the protagonist, right? Which must make me the evil bitch.”
    Lili slid her plate away from her, clearly no longer hungry.
    â€œOh, shit, Lil,” Tess began. “Steven’s such an idiot.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Lili said. “I waited to tell you in person so we could be drinking at the time. She showed up at my apartment on Saturday morning. Cute girl. Twenty-five. She had zero interest in being anybody’s ‘other woman,’ and it turns out, neither did I.”
    Tess felt deflated. Ever since she’d spotted Not-Nick on the street, her brain and body had been operating in some kind of heightened state that gave a surreal quality to the world around her. Something about that encounter had set her off-balance. It had just felt wrong—off-kilter—and with Lili’s story about her art gallery double, she’d felt like she had stepped through the looking glass into a place that looked the same as the world she knew but contained subtle and sinister differences.
    All of that had been pure fantasy, and this cold splash of reality had brought that home.
    â€œDamn it, Lili, I’m sorry,” she said, taking her friend’s hand. “Maybe we should just order another drink. It doesn’t have to be here. We can—”
    â€œScrew that,” Lili said, standing up and pulling on her jacket. “We can drink anywhere. I’ve gotta see if this chick really does have my face.”
    Tess drained the last of her pint. She nearly dropped her jacket as Lili took her hand and tugged her toward the door, though she did spare a glance at Alonso as she left. Today had been filled with thoughts of her past and she liked the idea of thinking about the future.
    On the sidewalk, she and Lili linked arms and waved madly at the first taxi they saw. The girls out on the town. Though they were hardly girls anymore.
    As they piled into the backseat, Lili giving the driver instructions, Tess had the urge to blurt out a