It's Just Love Read Online Free PDF

pop-culture element, but he hadn’t thought much about the
theme of the show, assuming he would discuss his latest book, maybe his
theories, but with a guest like the stunning, aggravating blonde…
    Aaron had deflected his questions, insisting he focus on the
wide exposure. After all, he wrote popular self-help books, not scholastic
papers intended for a few university professors. All those PBS shows combined
didn’t equal the audience he would enjoy for this one hour show. He hadn’t
watched it, but he understood it was kind of like Oprah, which he had seen a
few times over the years. Several guests would convene and discuss a topic in
front of a live audience.
    Live audience. That was new too.
    “I’m sorry,” the esthetician working on her said. “But what
do you mean, what’s the show about? It’s the Harry Montclief show.”
    He smiled at the gypsy in the mirror; it was hard not to. She
looked like a beach bunny with her smooth, golden tan and sun-whitened hair.
Only a few smile lines by her eyes made her look older than a teenager. Early
twenties, maybe? They were both covered by large, plastic smocks to protect
their clothing from the heavy stage makeup, but he wondered what the gypsy’s
body looked like under the apron and the lurid, flowing clothing she wore.
Interesting fashion sense—she’d said the show provided her attire, hadn’t she?
    “I am not sure why I was asked to be here,” she said. “And
please call me Coral.”
    What a lovely, unusual name.
    “Oh, I don’t know either. Mr. Montclief covers a lot of
different topics. Usually controversial.” The makeup artist grinned, and the
gleam in her reflected eye worried Gage a little. Controversial?
    Coral shrugged. “Well, I’m here now, so whatever it is, I’ll
go along with the program.” The makeup woman puffed a little powder over Coral’s
face and yanked off the apron. “I’m just uncomfortable in all these scarves and
things.”
    He wasn’t sure why he felt so relieved.
    A young man in jeans and a Harry Montclief Show t-shirt,
with an appalling blue and blond spiked haircut appeared through a doorway and
smiled at Coral. “Ready? I’ll take you to the green room so you can see the
start of the show on the monitors.”
    She beamed back at him. “Tom! I hoped you’d be here today.”
So, it was Tom and Coral, was it? How friendly. The guy looked a little younger
than her, but not much. And she went right up and took his arm, leaning on him
and laughing at something he said in a voice too low for Gage to pick up. She
slapped his hand and giggled.
    “Mr. Middleton, are you always this red?” The makeup girl
stared at him in concern. “I need to add some base here, because you don’t want
to look like this on television. Funny, I didn’t notice it before.” She bustled
over to another table and rummaged around. “I apologize.”
    He stared at his reflection in the wide mirror. No, he was
not always this red. And he couldn’t understand why the sight of the gypsy-beach
bunny and her friend bothered him so much. He’d fought the urge to jump up and
pull her away.
    Maybe because she had a car like Sid’s, he felt an odd
affinity to her. That must be it. It reminded him of sunny summer days lying on
his back under the chassis, laughing and joking with his best friend. It seemed
a long time since then, with thirty just under his belt. Of course, teenage men
bonded to cars as easily as to girls. He and his buddy sure had. Sentimentality
and a certain vulnerability brought on by Geena’s betrayal. Cars and women—even
for a grown man, they were a potent combination.
    For a moment, he wondered if he should ask to drive the
Charger. He’d never had the chance with Sid’s—the other boy’s family had moved
away before the car was done, and his last sight of the golden beast was on a
tow truck on its way to Hemet, a city eighty miles away. Not that far really,
but school and life had taken over, and he’d never made it out