Key Of Knowledge Read Online Free PDF Page B

forward, kept her attention on Dana’s face. “It was with me. My path to the key included Flynn, my feelings for him—andmy feelings about myself, where I would end up, where I wanted to go. The experiences I had—we can’t call them dreams—were very personal.”
    â€œAnd scary.” Briefly, Dana laid a hand over Malory’s. “I know. But you got through it. So will I. Maybe it is personal. A book that has some specific and personal meaning for me.”
    Thoughtfully she scanned the room as she picked up her fork again. “That’s something else that covers a lot of ground.”
    â€œI was thinking of something else. I was thinking of Jordan.”
    â€œI don’t see how he’s in the mix. Look,” she continued even as Malory opened her mouth, “he was part of the first round, sure. The paintings by Rowena that both he and Brad bought. He came back to town with that painting because Flynn asked him to. That played into it, although his part should have ended with your quest. And his connection to Flynn, which connected him to you.”
    â€œAnd you, Dana.”
    She twirled her fork in the pasta, but her enthusiasm for it was waning. “Not anymore.”
    Recognizing the stubborn look, Malory nodded. “Okay. How about the first book you ever read? The first that grabbed you and made you a reader.”
    â€œI don’t think the magic key to the Box of Souls is going to be found in Green Eggs and Ham .” Smirking, Dana lifted her glass. “But I’ll give it a look.”
    â€œWhat about your first grown-up book?”
    â€œObviously the steely wit and keen satire of Sam I Am escaped you.” She grinned, but drummed her fingers, thinking. “Anyway, I don’t remember a first. It was always books with me. I don’t remember not reading.”
    She studied her wine a moment, then took a quick gulp. “He dumped me. I moved on.”
    Back to Jordan, Malory thought and nodded. “All right.”
    â€œThat doesn’t mean I don’t hate him with a rare and beautiful passion, but it doesn’t drive my life. I’ve only seen him a handful of times in the past seven years.” She shrugged, but it came across as a hesitant jerk. “I’ve got my life, he’s got his, and they no longer intersect. He just happens to be buds with Flynn.”
    â€œDid you love him?”
    â€œYeah. Big time. Bastard.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œHey, it happens.” She had to remind herself of that. It wasn’t life or death, it didn’t send her falling headlong into a vale of tears. If a heart couldn’t be broken, it wasn’t a heart to begin with.
    â€œWe were friends. When my dad married Flynn’s mom, Flynn and I hit it off. Good thing, I guess. Flynn had Jordan and Brad—they were like one body with three heads half the time. So I got them, too.”
    You’ve still got them, Malory nearly said, but managed to keep silent.
    â€œJordan and I were friends, and we both really dug reading, so that was another click. Then we got older, and things changed. You want another hit of this?” she asked, holding up her empty glass.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWell, I’m having one.” Dana rose, got the bottle from the kitchen. “He went off to college. He got a partial scholarship to Penn State, and both he and his mom worked like dogs to put together the rest of the tuition and expense money. His mom, well, she was just terrific. Zoe sort of reminds me of her.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œNot in the looks department, though Mrs. Hawke was really pretty, but she was taller, and willowy—made you think of a dancer.”
    â€œShe was young when she died.”
    â€œYeah, only in her forties.” It still brought a little pang to her heart. “It was horrible what she went through, what Jordan went through. At the end, we were all practically