Her Prince Charming: An Inspirational Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

“She’s an accountant for God’s sake. How much more boring does it get?”
    Christie leaned around my mother to meet Cathie’s eyes. “Do you remember the boys she dated when we were in high-school?”
    “Oh my God, such losers. Remember the one from the math club? They did that thing together?”
    “He was such a dork,” Christie said, her giggle a replica of my mother’s. My mother rolled her eyes at us in a half-hearted apology.
    “Girls, don’t be rude. Maybe if you two had spent a little more time in the math club and less time on dates, you would have graduated with a 4.0 like your sister. And that thing she and the boy from math club did was a very complicated project. They won some kind of prize for it, didn’t you honey?”
    “We worked with the robotics club on navigational calculations for a drone they built. We won a grant for the school with it.”
    “Impressive,” James said, giving me that caring boyfriend smile again. I couldn’t help melting a little.
    “It was the only way she could get a date,” Cathie cut in. “Fishing at the bottom of the barrel.”
    “It didn’t stop you from sleeping with him,” I said, sweetly. Maybe she’d been more popular than me, but most of that was because she slept around. A lot.
    “Someone had to,” she shot back, not ashamed. “God knows you weren’t going to.”
    “Leave your sister alone,” my mother said to them. “It wasn’t her fault she was overweight and shy.” Turning to James, she went on, “Sara was always a good girl. Bright. Well behaved. Went to church every Sunday, even when I didn’t take her. Never gave me a second of trouble. Not like these two.”
    That was the reason I was even there. While my sisters were awful most of the time, my mom meant well. She got married way too often and was always on the prowl for her next husband, but she loved me and she showed it as best she could.
    When I’d tried to beg off the wedding, even though it was only a few miles from my house, she’d said, “But I never see you anymore. I miss you!” I’d been helpless to say no.
    At that moment, I fiercely regretted not sticking to my guns, even if being there had put me in James’s path. Sitting through dinner with those two was going to kill me with humiliation.
    I knew I’d wake up that night, or sometime next week, with the perfect comebacks echoing in my head. I always thought of them later, never on the spot. Under the glare of their cutting comments, my throat would swell shut and I could never think of anything good to say.
    Accusing Cathie of sleeping around didn’t count since she considered it a badge of honor.
    The waitress interrupted with our menus and a recitation of the specials. I was still starving, despite the appetizers James had fed me in his office. The next few minutes were occupied with deciding what to order, my sisters saying I should I get a side salad to keep my calories down, and James suggesting the lasagna or the linguine pescatore.
    When Christie gasped in horror and said, “Girls like Sara can’t eat pasta. Too many carbs.” James skewered her with a look and murmured loud enough for the table to hear,
    “I love to watch you eat, don’t I?”
    I felt my skin turn a bright, hot red. I wasn’t used to flirting. Especially with a man as handsome as James.
    “Shall I order for you?” he asked. I nodded, mouth dry. He did, getting the lasagne for himself and the linguine pescatore for me.
    I looked around the table, trying to pretend I was used to James’s attention. My mother was smiling at us. Christie and Cathie scowled in confusion.
    And Tim studied me with a curious, appraising look, as if James’s interest was making him wonder what I might have to offer.
    Yuck. He was a perfect match for my sister, with his overly polished good looks and the bank account to match her desire to never work a day in her life. But when you scratched the surface, he was rotten to the core.
    A few months before, at a