Sand Castles Read Online Free PDF

"That's exactly their situation. Exactly. They don't want to blow it."
    "No one does," she said. Certainly she didn't. She wanted the money to be put to the best possible use, whatever that was, because she wanted to be the best person she could, whatever that was.
    Her husband murmured, "I don't think you realize that most of us have already blown it. That half of our lives have already been shot to hell behind a desk. That's why everyone's looking around, trying to get it right this time. Everyone's second-guessing   ... everything. Believe me."
    Something hot and sharp needled its way through Wendy's insides. Before she could identify the sensation, she said, "I hope their wives are helping them try to figure it out?"
    Jim shifted his weight, and Wendy found herself sinking into the void alongside him. "That's just it," he mused. "I think the guys have this ... this feeling of, I'm the one who bought the ticket, and the money's my responsibility to figure out," he said. "Except Ed, of course. Dorothy runs that show."
    She tried to laugh away the unease that both of them seemed to be feeling. "Uh-oh; does this mean that from now on I have to fill out a written request to buy something?"
    He gave her hair a quick yank and said, "Goof. I'm talking about the other guys, not me. Hell, I'm the one who feels like he has to fill out a form to spend any money around here."
    "Because you're impulsive," she couldn't help saying. "It's the Irish in you."
    "What about the Irish in you, Wenda Hodene?" he said in a fake but rich Irish brogue. "Ye've repressed it of late."
    She sat up and turned to face him squarely. "Meaning ...?"
    "Meaning it's been a while. I know things have been crazy, but it's been a couple of weeks now."
    There was no mistaking the look in his eyes. Wendy had seen the same look the day she walked into the motorcycle shop twelve years earlier, in search of a bicycle bell. The only bells around were the ones he rang that night when he kissed her. Within the month they'd gone to bed; within three months they'd become engaged. It was the O'Byrne in her that had made her do it.
    She smiled at the memory but s aid, "You're tight, James; it would take all blessed night."
    "We have all blessed night. Tyler , do not forget, is at a sleepover."
    "His first in a month," she said, keying in on the fact. "You're right."
    Jim grinned, showing straight white teeth, and Wendy thought, I keep forgetting how good-looking the man is.
    And loyal; she loved that he was loyal. His desire for her, coming hard on the heels of the news about Phil and Cindy, was a spur to passion.
    And, they would be alone. All blessed night.
    Motive and opportunity; Wendy had it all. "You know what, mister? I think I'll take you up on that offer."
    She turned and straddled him, wedging her knees between his thighs and the arms of the recliner. Her kiss was fierce and deep, as reassuring as it was hungry for reassurance. She felt him rise instantly beneath her and realized that he might not be so drunk, after all.
    He broke off the kiss and said in a raspy growl, "Let's go screw our brains out ."
    His bluntness jolted her out of any expectation of fuzzy, warm intercourse between a couple with more than a decade of lovemaking behind them. This would be raw; this would be basic.
    This could be fun.
    ****
    Zack Tompkins was in bed with the hottest date he'd had in months. He lay back and closed his eyes, perfectly willing to let her do most of the work. "Ah, darlin', where did you go to school?" he murmured. At this rate, he wouldn't last; he was going to have to think about doing his taxes or something.
    No need. The new phone on the nightstand rang, a shrill, unfamiliar sound that brought a string of expletives from him. "Ignore it, ignore it," he told her hoarsely. "It'll go away."
    But it didn't. The machine kicked in after the second ring, and after that they heard a tremulous, "Zack? Zack, are you there?"
    Ah, shit.
    "It's about Jimmy."
    Ah, shit.
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