EXCERPT
“A dollar and a half for your thoughts,” Anne
asked, catching me in mid-thought. She held her glass of wine in her right hand
and lightly swirled the remaining contents.
“What?” I asked, glancing over at her smiling
face.
“A penny for your thoughts sounded a tad
cheap, so I thought I would up it for inflation and cost of living.” She sat
back. “You were grinning just now. What were you thinking about? Something good?”
“I don’t know,” I lied, and then spooned the
last of my dessert into my mouth. I fought the urge to lick the bowl. It was
that good.
“Yes, you do!” Anne said. “You’re a terrible
liar.” She set her glass down and folded her arms across her chest. “Give it
up, mister!”
I glanced at Jason, who was watching the
exchange with a curious look on his face, then back at Anne and shook my head.
“Must have been something good,” Anne said,
refusing to let it go.
“Do you two need me to leave the room or
something?” Jason asked.
“No!” I said, perhaps a little too loudly. A
twinkle sparkled in Anne’s eye, so I kept my eyes off her. I suppose that made
me even more suspicious-looking.
From my peripheral vision, I saw her stand
and grab the plates to take to the kitchen. Leaning to my ear, she whispered, “Hmm?”
and I knew I hadn’t heard the end of it.
“You know she’s never going to let that go,
right?” Jason offered in a whisper when she left the room.
“I was afraid of that,” I mouthed to him.
“Good luck,” he mouthed back.
He got up from the table just as his mother
came back to retrieve the fudge, strawberry and caramel toppings to put away.
Fearing being alone with her, I quickly jumped from the table and followed
Jason. For the next few minutes I was his shadow, and when he made a move to
leave, I grabbed for his shirt, keeping him beside me. As if sensing this, Anne
sent her son upstairs to get showered. I turned to him, feigning panic. He just
grinned and waved melodramatically at me. When I turned back around, Anne was
waiting for me with a devilish grin.
“Hi,” I said sheepishly.
“Hi there,” she replied. “How’s it going?”
“Fine.” We said nothing for a few moments. I
snaked past her and began setting up to wash the dishes.
“That’s all you’ve got?” she asked. “After I
went and made all of this food.”
“I told you it was fantastic!” I said without
facing her. “Are you kidding me? I haven’t eaten this great in years!”
“Thank you, but that isn’t what I wanted to
hear.” I could hear her move to the counter by the refrigerator and pour
herself another glass of wine. “I want to know what you’re hiding.”
I filled one side of the sink with soap and
hot water and bided my time while I attempted to think of a possible response. I
filled the sink with dishes. “Why don’t you go sit down and relax?” I offered.
“I’ll clean the kitchen.” I was stalling and we both knew it. I still couldn’t
look at her.
“No, thanks. I’m fine right here.”
I felt myself growing embarrassed now as I
anticipated her reaction. Perspiration formed on my forehead and it had nothing
at all to do with the hot water I stood over.
“My, you are turning a bright shade of red,” she
said before sipping from her wine.
“Please, Anne,” I pleaded, still not looking
at her. “You don’t want to hear this.”
“Apparently I do.” I didn’t have to turn her
direction to see her grin. Her voice said it all.
I sighed, utterly defeated.
“Come on,” she goaded me.
“I was wondering what it might be like to be
Jason’s step-dad,” I said at last.
“That’s it? You don’t want to be with me. You
only want to hang out with my kid?” Slowly I looked her way. She was grinning
just like I suspected and kept her eyes on me over the top of her wineglass.
“Don’t be silly,” I said and looked for
something to throw at her. A dish towel came in handy. I quickly grabbed it and
tossed it her direction. She moved out of the way, but it would have missed her
to her left anyway.
“I thought you were good at baseball. Jason
said you were.”
“My throws are not usually that poor - only
when I’m terribly distracted.” I sighed again, leaning against the sink and
shaking my head at this incredible turn of events.
“What?” Anne asked. She lowered her glass and
put on a more serious look, although still quite pleased with herself.
“Are you sure? I mean, are you really sure
that you want to…”
“Oh, I’ve agreed to nothing,” she interrupted.
She bent over and retrieved the rag from the floor, then approached me. I clammed
up when she got close, but didn’t move an inch.
“Relax,” she said. “I just wanted to make
sure you were interested. Now I know.” She laid the towel upon my head. “Now, hurry
up and finish the dishes.”
“Yes, dear,” I said from inside the dish
towel.
“Practicing already?” she asked as she stepped out of the room. “I
like it.”
GIVEAWAY
I have been given ONE kindle e-copy of this book
to giveaway to ONE lucky Winner!
So how do you enter?
Well I decided to make this a little different so rather than a
rafflecopter form all you need to do is make a
relevant comment on THIS Post!
To help you with the comment I've come up with a question or two.
So have YOU ever seen a ghost?
Do YOU believe in ghosts?
Is there anything in particular You would do
if you could come back as a ghost?
This is such a great excerpt...I read it at Charmaine's a while ago.
ReplyDeleteDo I believe in ghosts? Yes...to not believe that they're at least a possibility would be close-minded.
Have I ever seen a ghost? Ghost...hallucination, who's to say? I can say that I've felt presences in the room—a feeling that someone was there.
Anything in particular I would do if I could come back as a ghost? See all the people naked that I wanted to in life. :)
M.L. Swift, Writer