Restoration: A Novel (Contemporary / Women's Fiction) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Sharon’s dry humor.  “If I work through
lunch I get more done.”
    “All work and no play.  When do you let your hair down? 
After work?  Weekends?  Vacations?  When?”
    “Don’t worry about me, Sharon.  I don’t spend every moment
working.”
    Sharon raised her brow while eyeing Tess.  “Obviously. 
There are a dozen roses on your desk.”
    “See, your worrying is in vain.”
    “I’ve been here six months and you and I haven’t let our
hair down together.  How about a girls’ night out?  There’s a great Irish pub
just two blocks away.  The food is decent, and at around eight o’clock they
have live Irish folk music.  It’s a lot of fun: hand clapping, foot stomping,
doing a little jig with the people at the next table kind of fun.  And the guys
who hang out there are Y-U-M.” 
    Sharon licked her lips.  “You’re taken, but I’m not.  The
bartender is tall, dark and Irish, and I’ve tried to get his attention for
weeks.  You’re a head turner.  I could use some help getting handsome’s head to
swivel in my direction.  With you being spoken for, that would work out great. 
As you decline his advances, you could introduce him to your friend—me.  You
game?”
    “To be bait?”
    “I’m just kidding about that.  Come on, it’ll be fun.  I think
I tried to get you to go out when I first came here, but some other lover boy
was filling up your calendar then.  Give me the next free date.”
    Tess tried imitating an appreciative nod while backing up
toward the doorway leading into the studio and the haven her workspace
provided.  “I’ll do that,” she lied, hoping Sharon wouldn’t bring it up
again.   
    Sharon was her worst nightmare: a talkative, inquisitive
co-worker who expected Tess to share.  The more others knew about her, the
easier it would be for Randall Wright to find her.  Her sister, Cassie, thought
Tess was paranoid. 
    But Wright hadn’t sought Cassie out.  Stalked was more
like it.  Tess once thought of creating an alias complete with a made-up life;
someone she could share with others, but she couldn’t stomach making someone
else a victim of her lies. 
    Lies.  That’s what Wright was all about; the lies he’d
told the young women he’d lured to their death, and the lies he told her mother
about his innocence.  

     

CHAPTER 3
    The scent of Ben’s dozen roses filled Tess’s living room. 
Two days ago when their delivery had surprised her at her office, she couldn’t
spirit them away fast enough.  Displayed on her desk, they were a source of
curiosity and speculation, although no one but Sharon directly asked about
them. 
    Her co-workers knew her well enough to know they didn’t
know her at all and sensed she preferred it that way.  They perceived her as
quietly aloof, reserved or even shy and respectfully kept their distance. 
Except for Sharon, who with all of her people-puzzling abilities hadn’t quite
sensed what everyone else had—that Tess was a loner by choice.
    Sitting on the sofa, Tess reached for the bouquet on the
coffee table and rubbed a velvety petal between her fingers.  She was sure Ben
had expected to hear from her by now to thank him for the roses.  Two days had
passed, and she’d been waiting to feel thankful.  She’d shared her secret shame
and a dozen beautiful roses had followed. 
    Nothing bordering on beautiful ever followed in the wake of
Randall Wright.  If she called Ben, instead of sounding confused, she was
afraid she’d sound ungrateful.  Her emotions were a tangled cord she struggled
to unravel.
    Her fingers fell away from the smooth petal.  She closed
her eyes and ran her fingers beneath her nose, slowly inhaling.  She tried
recalling Ben’s own scent that she’d caught when they’d hugged goodbye, but her
brain couldn’t turn the roses into the faint smell of his cologne.  If she’d
called when she’d received them, he’d be sitting next to her by now or at least
across from her at