Episode 8
Chapter Four Continued
Two hours later, they were both dressed—she in an one of his older t-shirts and nothing else, and he in blue jeans and a white Henley shirt—barefoot and back in the kitchen, sitting on stools next to each other at the breakfast counter and eating the omelets, along with whole wheat toast covered with almond butter. Somehow, she managed to move one of her bare legs so it was touching his.
Looking at Cut walking around in that t-shirt aroused him all over again. How in the hell was he going to have the strength to let this delicious candy go?
“The first thing we are going to do—if you will let me out of this house,” he said, “is drive to the Brea Mall and buy you some clothes so I can think again. I mean, you can’t run around here dressed like that all the time, or I’m never going to get sober again. For you, with that body, we’ll have to visit Nordstrom’s.”
A flirtatious smile played across her lips, and she washed another bite of her omelet down with a sip of coffee. There were also two smaller glasses with fresh-squeezed orange juice in them.
Wearing her clean, shrunken and wrinkled dress—it should have been dry cleaned—they spent the rest of the day shopping together and ate dinner out before returning to the house with her new wardrobe.
He had planned to sleep alone that night, but, once inside the house, she took his hand and led him to the bathroom, where they ended up in the shower together. Out of the shower, when she wrapped a towel around her torso and started to leave the bathroom for the bed, he knew he’d lost another battle.
The towel started below her arms but was too short to cover her hips, and what was exposed looked too good to resist. It turned out to be a long and sleepless night, and he had to teach tomorrow.
Before they finally fell asleep early in the morning, he said, “I think we are the same. There’s something broken in me, too.” Then, at three a.m., knowing there was no way he was going to work on Tuesday, he called the district’s hotline and requested a substitute teacher to take his place. No one at the high school would question his absence. He hadn’t taken a sick day for several years.
Nine hours later, it was the ringing phone that woke them both up.
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The first 20% of this murder mystery is offered free every Sunday, one episode at a time for 15 episodes, starting September 27 and ending January 3, 2015. The e-book of the novel will go on sale December 5 to 7, 2015, and be offered for three days at $0.99 (75% less than the original price).
