Snow Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

and a geek at heart, Gabe’s chiseled features, too-long hair, and dark-angel looks suited his self-created reputation.
    “Yeah, but we’re faster than you two delinquents.” Danny stuck an uncooked spaghetti noodle—pilfered from the kitchen canister—in the corner of his mouth like a strand of straw and chomped on it, smirking at them and tipping an imaginary cowboy hat in their direction.
    Melinda shared an exaggerated grimace with Jacob for form, then they slumped into the two remaining seats at the bottom of the table across from the rest of the younger generation—her theatrical middle cousin, Rick, and his best friend, Eddie Thomas.
    “Stuck with us, are you?” Eddie said with a wink.
    Jacob crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at Eddie, who was also Jacob’s roommate at Cal State Fullerton.
    “Hey,” Rick said, sitting up straighter and casting an offended glance at Eddie. Affecting a superior mien, he raised a dramatic hand to his chest, nose in the air. “These are places of honor. Someday, people will pay the big bucks to sit next to moi .”
    Eddie rolled his eyes heavenward. From the kids’ table, all four guys burst into laughter along with Jacob and Melinda.
    “That’s a good one, Ricky,” Danny hooted, pretending to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes.
    “Is that the bedtime story you tell yourself every night?” Gabe wondered.
    “That’s right, laugh it up, chuckle-heads,” Rick said, unoffended. He pointed at them each in turn. “See if I invite any of you to my future red-carpet events.”
    “We’ll risk it,” Danny answered, still chuckling.
    “Speak for yourselves,” Wendell said before turning to Rick. “Can you introduce me to some leading ladies?”
    “I might be persuaded,” Rick said, studying the fingernails on his left hand. “For those who’ve proven to be loyal supporters.”
    Wendell ignored Christian’s muttered, “Don’t hold your breath,” and gave a fist pump. “Yes!”
    Eddie clapped a hand to Rick’s shoulder. “Whatever you say, big guy.”
    Melinda grinned at Eddie. He was such a good guy, but she always felt a bit sorry for him.
    Though quite handsome in his own right, Eddie became a shorter, brown-haired, gray-eyed duckling in the circle of swans that included not only her Thor-wannabe cousins, but also Jacob, Gabe, and even the not-quite-as-handsome-but-exuberantly red-headed Wendell.
    When her brother was around, Zach added his dark good looks to the swan’s numbers.
    With his quieter personality, Eddie tended to fade into the background in this particular group of guys, especially with women. Girls went for the swans, or Wendell’s goofy charm, never realizing the treasure they were overlooking.
    If he hadn’t become like a second brother to her from the first day they’d met, she might have gone for Eddie herself.
    Melinda took a long drink of water and avoided looking at Jacob. Some people might think she had a sister-brother relationship with him, too, growing up in each other’s pockets the way they had, but with Jacob, it was different. As close as they were, she’d never considered him sibling material.
    When they were kids, she’d fully intended to marry him one day, because what could be better than being married to your best friend? Even when they bickered, there was no one she had more fun with than Jacob.
    It was too bad they wanted such different things.
    Jacob’s path would take him far from Pasodoro. Her goals planted her smack in the middle of it, where she was happiest, surrounded by friends and family. A romantic relationship with him would never work, much as she might have wished otherwise growing up. Their futures waited down different tines of the coming fork in the road.
    Mitch’s lying face danced in her mind’s eye for a brief moment. Maybe if they’d been better friends, not just a couple… If Mitch had been more like Jacob...
    Well. Melinda took another sip of water. There wasn’t anyone else like