DEATH IN PERSPECTIVE Read Online Free PDF

idea. I chewed and transferred my thoughts to a safer plane. According
     to my Tara timer, she’d appear within the next five minutes, and I needed to broach
     the subject of Luke’s cousin and ex-girlfriend in private.It’s just not kind to talk ugly about somebody in front of that person.
    “Speaking of the school, that mother showed me some interesting photos posted on my
     Facebook page.”
    Luke’s eyes glazed over. He reached for a handful of okra.
    I waved a hand before his face. “Photos of you and Tara Mayfield posted by your cousin,
     Shawna Branson. Naming me the crazy ex-girlfriend for all the cyber world to see.”
    The okra dropped into a puddle of vinegar sauce next to his sandwich. “Step-cousin.”
    “Whatever. Shawna’s been poking sticks at me all year and now she’s found another
     way to prick my skin. With you and Tara Mayfield.”
    “I ’ m not seeing Tara anymore.” He reached for my hand, but I slipped it into my lap.
     “Sugar, can I help it if she doesn’t believe me? What am I supposed to do? I can’t
     bring myself to get a restraining order put on Tara. I wouldn’t want to do the paperwork
     when she breaks it.”
    “Throwing Tara in the pokey for following you around like a love-sick swan is your
     business. Shawna’s using the relationship to needle me. And poor Tara is caught in
     the middle.”
    “Poor Tara? What about me?”
    “You’re a big boy. I’ve been the recipient of rumors and gossip for the past six months.
     I can’t afford the bad press as the homewrecker who broke sweet, little Tara Mayfield’s
     heart.”
    “I broke sweet, little Tara Mayfield’s heart, not you.” He pushed his basket aside.
     “Besides, she’s the one who thought dating meant getting married. Don’t know what
     gave her that idea.”
    “Because you never tell anybody what you think or feel, so she jumped to conclusions.
     You introduced her to your parents.” Something he had never done with me. I gave him
     an extra glower for that thought.
    “I had to go to a Branson wedding and Shawna was angling for me to take her. I was
     desperate, so I asked Tara.”
    “In Tara’s world, a date to a wedding equals a promise ring.”
    He gaped at me, then tore another bite out of his barbecue. “I don’t understand women.”
    “You’d understand us better if you’d talk to us. So you need to start by telling your
     step-cousin to stop egging Tara on.”
    “I say it’s nobody’s business who I’m seeing and who I’m not seeing.”
    And therein lied the problem. When you lived in a small town, people made it their
     business whether you wanted it or not.
    Particularly when a Branson wanted to date a Ballard.

      
    Because the universe found favor in pairing gossipers with gossipees, when the little
     bell hanging on the Lickety Pig door rang, I knew who would walk through that door.
     I cut my eyes from the okra to Luke’s as a shaft of sunlight fell across our table.
     Tara Mayfield glided into the cafe. Pink Keds shod her size four Barbie doll feet
     and a rosebud print dress with matching sweater swathed her petite frame.
    Sunlight lit her golden, always-smooth-never-frizzy locks, producing a halo that dazzled
     my eyes. Her tiny dancer body spun as her wide, china blue eyes took in the barbecue
     crowd. In response, the mainly male lunchers stopped chewing to take in the radiant,
     beautiful glow that Tara offered. Her eyes lit on our table and she skipped forward.
    I glanced at the okra squeezed into camo-colored pulp in my fist, then slid my hand
     into my lap to wipe the mangled mess into the paper towel that served as my napkin.
    “Hey Tara,” Luke and I chimed.
    I noticed his dimples did not crease and his eyes had lost their luster. I wanted
     to shake him. Why in the hell would you drop a girl like Tara Mayfield? If I were
     into that sort of thing, I would marry Tara Mayfield. She made Mary Poppins look like
     Lizzy Borden.
    Except for the stalking, which I