Trouble In Bloom Read Online Free PDF Page A

Most recently from a tragic accident. Only Brickhouse seemed immune to the curse, in fact only becoming sick when she wasn't dating Mr. Cabrera.
    Brickhouse had also been helping me out at work, filling in for Tam while she was out on maternity leave. Now that Tam was back at work part-time, Brickhouse worked for me a couple of days a week.
    Dare I say I was getting used to having her around?
    I daren't. I'd need a few more glasses of wine before I'd lose my mind like that.
    "I need to get going." Bobby set his empty glass on the island.
    "Me too." Kevin stood.
    I kept my glass with me. "I'll walk you out."
    "Aww, that's so sweet of you," Kevin said. "And here I thought I might not be welcome anymore."
    "Not you," I growled.
    He grinned.
    "Where's the kid?" Mr. Cabrera said. "Maybe he wants to play some poker with us."
    "Upstairs." I headed toward the front door, trying to keep up with Bobby, who suddenly decided he wanted to sprint.
    "Tell me the truth," I said, hugging my wineglass. "You moved to Florida to get away from my family."
    "Your family's great," he said as Mr. Cabrera's footsteps echoed on the hardwood stairs behind us.
    They were pains in my tuchkus, my family, but I loved them. "You can borrow them any time you want."
    "I'll trade you for Mac."
    "Um, thanks but no thanks." Mac was a geriatric handful.
    "That's what I thought." His gaze dropped to my lips, but he didn't lean in. After a second he turned and started down the front steps.
    I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't.
    Okay, I was.
    I watched as he got in his car and drove away.
    "Trouble?" Kevin asked from behind me.
    Turning, I glared at him. I was a good glarer-er—I'd learned it from my mother. "Don't start."
    Mr. Cabrera came downstairs. Riley came down behind him wearing a plastic red visor and enormous dark sunglasses.
    He grinned bigger than my mother every Bastille Day and shuffled cards between his hands like he'd been born at the MGM Grand. "Let's shuffle up and deal!" He strolled into the kitchen.
    I looked at Kevin. He looked at me. I think we were both seeing Riley in prison stripes playing a peanut game with a cellmate named Rosie.
    "You were saying something about trouble?" I asked.
    Kevin rolled his eyes but couldn't stop the grin. "Don't start."

Three

    "Did you sleep with him yet?"
    Leave it to my cousin Ana, who also happened to be my best friend, to get straight to the point. I sat at my desk, played Spider Solitaire with one hand and held the phone with the other. "No."
    "Wow. You've lasted longer than I thought you would."
    "Thanks for the vote of support."
    "Look, Nina, I love you to pieces, but depriving yourself of a man, and not just any man, but Bobby 'Hubba Hubba' MacKenna? That's just crazy."
    I couldn't help but smile. "How's Dr. Feelgood?"
    My gaze wandered over to the twosome sitting across from me. Watching. Filming. It was unnerving to say the least. I was supposed to pretend they weren't there, to speak only when spoken to. I had to wonder what they were thinking, and if anyone cared about this phone call or whether I won a computer game.
    Nelson Kunkle was the name of my cameraman, Roxie Lewis my field producer. Roxie looked to be in her midtwenties. She was a bit on the chubby side, had her red hair cut Peter Pan style, and wore blue framed glasses that accentuated her bright blue eyes. Nelson, "Call me Nels," reminded me of the candlestick from Beauty and the Beast . Tall, skinny, big lips, big eyebrows, and close-set eyes.
    I fought off a yawn. I'd been up late watching Carson Keyes's report on Genevieve's death threat and how he was the only reporter behind the scenes, so stay tuned all week.
    Then I'd lain in my sofa bed, pondering (a) when I was going to get my bedroom back; (b) whether Genevieve's death threat was real; (c) if it was a valid threat, then who had sent it; and (d) if I was strong enough to keep my hands off Bobby this week. I'd barely gotten any sleep.
    "I wish you'd stop calling him that," Ana said.