Just My Luck Read Online Free PDF Page B

probably only need a half hour’s notice, and he could be at the gym whenever I was ready.”
    “So he asked you to ask him out,” Ally said. “And that was a bonus?”
    “Guys always ask me out,” Kristen said simply. “Nobody’s ever let me make the move like that. Now I get to choose, even if I want to climb with him. And I do.”

Tea With a Hooker
     “Is that all right with you, Ally?” Hannah asked again. “To have company on our outing?”
     “What?” Ally looked up from her cozy spot, her back against the wall, legs stretched out on the padded window seat, and put down the hiking guidebook she’d been studying.
    She and Kristen had spent Christmas in Auckland with Hannah and Drew, and she’d been persuaded—without too much difficulty, despite feeling like a bit of an interloper—to come with them on their beach holiday until after the New Year as well. Mac’s gym, like most Wellington businesses, was closed throughout the holiday period, so it wasn’t as if she were giving up hours. And there were worse things than staying in a gorgeous beach house along a beautiful stretch of coastline in the height of a New Zealand summer, doing some of her favorite things.
    “Sorry,” she told Hannah now. “I wasn’t paying attention. What did you ask me?”
    “Are you still good with going kayaking if Nate and Liam come with us?” Hannah repeated. “Or would you rather stay home and go another time? Because I’m not sure Nate’s your favorite person, but he and Liam are up here too for a few days, and Drew’s invited them to go out with us today.”
    “Didn’t realize you really didn’t like him, or I wouldn’t have done it,” Drew apologized. “And . . .” He rubbed his nose and looked a bit embarrassed. “I forgot, Hannah, we lent the single kayak out. So we only have four spots. Should’ve thought of that sooner, I know.”
    “I’ll stay home, then,” Hannah said at once. “You go on, take Ally and the boys out. Probably better anyway. That way you guys can make a real day of it, since I’m not up to that much.”
    Drew smiled. “Whatever it is we do to get this sorted, it’s not going to be that. Tell you what, we’ll both stay home, send Kristen and Ally out with the fellas.”
    “You can look after them, Ally,” he said with a grin at her. “Keep them out of trouble, eh.”
    “Of course you should both go,” Ally said hastily. “I’ll stay here. I don’t mind a bit.”
    She’d been looking forward to kayaking, she thought with a pang of disappointment. She hadn’t had much chance to do it in recent years, not since the college summers she’d spent working at the kayaking company in Santa Cruz. Now it was just another expensive hobby she couldn’t afford anymore.
    But Hannah and Drew had been putting her up for a week now. Babysitting for a few hours was the least she could do. And going kayaking with Nate? She needed more time with him like a hole in her head.
    But when it came down to it, that was exactly what she got.
    “If it’s all the same to you,” Liam said when they were all sitting on the deck listening to Drew’s plan for the day, “I’ll stay here, give Kristen a hand minding Jack. I’m not too keen on kayaking anyway, tell you the truth. Terrible thing for a Maori to admit, but I get seasick. I’m better with babies than boats.”
    The way Kristen’s face had lit up when the men had pulled into the driveway and she’d seen Liam emerge had been too obvious for Ally to make any further objection. She knew how wary Kristen was about men, but Liam seemed to have made it past her barriers. 
    “Cheers,” Drew said. “That makes it easy. Though it’s not going to be too challenging today. We’ll be keeping it pretty short and simple.” He reached an arm out to pull his wife gently against his side on the wooden porch swing. “Have to keep Hannah’s stomach happy.”
    “We’re expecting another baby,” Hannah told the men, a faint blush