Stargazing (The Walker Family Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

she pulled up to the space. Judging it with her car, she realized that the gold minivan had gone over the space by at least five inches. She couldn’t get her car in there. Someone was not getting ice in their tea today, she decided as she pulled up to the next block to find a parking space.
    She parked her car, opened the door, and climbed out as quickly as she could. Already her hair was coming loose from the ponytail and when she shut the door her apron was closed in it.
    Breathe, she reminded herself as she opened the door, then cleared it before closing it and running toward the building where guests were already streaming in.
    “Are you okay?” was the first thing Susan asked as she flew through the door. It was enough to have Bethany stop and take it in. “You’re an hour late and I thought you were right behind me. Did something happen? You didn’t get hurt did you?”
    She should have known better than to not have called. After all that crap with Douglas Brant, everyone wanted her accounted for at all times. She couldn’t blame them. The man had tried to kill Eric and she didn’t want to think of what his plans for her had been. Besides, no one knew if he was the only one in town with some crazy obsession over her.
    She willed herself to calm. Her mother would have taken a pill to calm the anxiety. Bethany wondered if they worked.
    Bethany fixed her apron. “I’m fine. I stayed up too late reading and I seem to be discombobulated this morning. I stopped for gas too. I’m going to go fix my hair and wash my hands. I’m fine though and I’ll be okay to work in about five minutes.”
    Susan moved toward her. “I’ll always worry about you.”
    “I know. I didn’t mean to make you.”
    Susan smiled at her. “You’re here. That’s what counts and you’re going to love Kent Black. He’s a really nice guy.”
    Bethany gave Susan a nod and headed to the bathroom. Yep, she couldn’t wait to meet him either. This was entirely his fault. Her day would have been fine had she just done her yoga and went to bed. But no! She’d been sucked up into his book and now everything was a mess.
     
    Kent smiled as a woman in a large hat shook his hand enthusiastically. “You have such a way with words,” she said again. “I don’t know how you come up with all those stories. You have sixteen books and they are all so different,” she added as if he didn’t know the statistics.
    “Thank you. I try very hard to keep the reader engaged by coming up with new material.”
    The woman’s husband was tugging on her to pull her away.
    Lydia moved in before the woman in the red dress started toward him. “Can I get you anything?”
    “I could use a glass of water. Maybe with a slice of lemon in it, if you don’t mind. I knew better than to have lemonade before I speak. My throat is a little scratchy.”
    “Of course. I’m sorry. I should have thought of that before I brought it out.”
    He certainly didn’t mean to offend. “Oh, it’s okay. It was some of the best lemonade I’ve ever tasted. Homemade?”
    Her smile softened. “That’s how Susan works.” She moved in closer. “Woman in red dress who is trying to get over to you is Mrs. Talbot. Widowed three times and thinks she’s in her thirties.”
    He looked toward the woman who was clearly deep into her seventies.
    “Does she really think that?”
    Lydia shrugged. “Look at her shoes and her lipstick.”
    He glanced again. High heels at seventy. That was a risky move, he thought. His own mother was only inching into her sixties and didn’t wear shoes that high anymore.
    Lydia touched his arm as she left him and Mrs. Talbot moved in. Within seconds the woman was rambling on and moving closer and closer to him.
    He hoped Lydia hurried back with that water.
     
    “Mrs. Talbot moved in for the kill,” Lydia said as she walked into the kitchen. “I need to take him some water. I gave him lemonade and now his throat is dry.”
    “Is he complaining?”