LITMIR.BIZ

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he did.

      “This is bull,” said the teen, rushing out of the room.

      “Where’re you going?”

      Without looking back, Michael said, “To Grandma’s. You can’t hound me there.”

      Hound him?

      Max let him go. At least he’d be in a safe place tonight, not puffing on cigarettes in houses that were being watched by the police or getting into even more trouble.

      He waited until he thought he heard footsteps. Then a door slammed.

      Life was the pits. First Guy, then Michael….

      God, he hoped his younger brother was okay, hoped that these invisibility rumors were only that. Rumors.

      And he didn’t even want to think about the possibility that Guy had murdered his wife and Morris Templeton, her lover.

      Damn. He should have more faith in his brother. He couldn’t have murdered anyone. Could he?

      Max left the auto simulation room, trudging down to the kitchen, where Bently was putting the finishing touches on dinner.

      “Sorry, chum, I’ve got to blow off some steam,” Max said.

      Bently held a platter of garnished red snapper. “We all need to decompress sometime, sir.”

      “Will you do me a favor? Call my mom’s to see that Michael is staying over? He’ll pitch a fit if he finds out that I’m the one checking up on him.”

      “Certainly. And how about dinner?”

      Max smiled at the older man’s concern for the commonplace. “I’ll grab something at Joe’s Bar.”

      “Oh.” Bently sniffed. “The dive.”

      “It’ll erase memories of a bad day, Bently. And as for the food, why don’t you go ahead and call that lady friend of yours. Share a romantic meal.”

      Bently cocked an eyebrow. “Sound advice. Phone when you require a ride home. Please.”

      “I will.”

      With that, he rushed out of his mansion, intent on wallowing in cheap beer and even cheaper company.

      Chapter Two

      When Jinni pulled the Honda into her sister’s driveway, she vowed that she would somehow, some way, get another car. What kind of woman could retain any sense of class in a vehicle that staggered down the road like a drunk weaving through the aisles of a society wedding?

      Not her.

      She shook out her legs after alighting from the Fantasyland carriage—flippancy seemed an effective way of dealing with the vehicle problem—and stretched her arms toward the sky, grinning at the always-amusing quaintness of her sister’s home. White siding with dark trim on the shutters and window boxes. A dark cedar shake roof. A jaunty, serene yard, its lawn decorated with trees and flower beds.

      Jinni thought it looked like a doll house with rancher flair. Par for the course in Rumor.

      She unloaded groceries from the cramped back seat, her hormones still singing from her encounter with Mr. Tall and Mysterious. Had he called yet? Maybe she shouldn’t seem too excited, just in case Val was in a pensive mood, as she’d been so often lately.

      As she strolled into the house and set the groceries on the kitchen counter, she noticed that all the lights were off. Doffing her hat and glasses while moving into the family room, she found Val, staring out the window into the backyard, where a deer had wandered.

      Jinni’s heart clenched as she watched her sister, the soft hue of twilight shining over Val’s light brown hair and reflective countenance.

      Thirty-five years old.

      For the first time in her life, Jinni felt no control over a situation. She couldn’t find the words to comfort.

      And for a person who made their living using words, that was unforgivable.

      The deer bolted from the window’s view, and Val peeked over her shoulder. Her aqua-blue eyes seemed sleepy, her posture wilted.

      Jinni sat next to her, smoothing back a strand of hair from Val’s forehead. “You okay?”

      “Just tired.”

      Today’s round of chemotherapy must have gotten to her, but after they’d gone to the hospital this morning, Val hadn’t seemed overly exhausted.

      “I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Val. Is there anything I can get you? Anything you need?”

      Her sister touched Jinni’s hand, then guided it away from her face, reminding Jinni of how Val never used to allow people to get close to her. Not until now.

      “I’m fine,” said Val. “We needed groceries. You can’t always be at my beck and call.”

      “I thought your chemo treatments were mild. Why do you look so tired?”

      Val straightened up, as if trying to prove to Jinni that she wasn’t letting the cancer get to her. “I’m fine. Come on, brighten up. Where’s my fun-loving older sis? I see a gleam in your eyes, so don’t try to hide it.”

      A spark of joy bounced around Jinni’s chest. Should she tell Val about the man from the parking lot? Let her sister know that Rumor had possibilities after all?

      No. Maybe that would be something like gloating, emphasizing the fact that Jinni still had her health and everything that went with it. It didn’t feel right.

      Again, the words escaped her. She could only hope her presence would be enough to help Val through these tough times.

      “Shopping always puts a bounce in my step.” Jinni smiled, suspecting that her life-style seemed shallow in the face of Val’s challenges.

      “Darn. I thought that maybe you’d gotten yourself engaged again. I wouldn’t mind hearing another romantic tale from your files.”

      Val leaned against the cushions of the sofa, grinning slightly. Heat tightened Jinni’s throat from looking at her. Her sister: so beautiful, so young to be dealing with something so wrong.

      “No, dear. I’m afraid I haven’t found a worthy candidate for my hand in this town.” The Mercedes-Benz man flashed through her mind: blue eyes, dark hair, lean-tall build…. “Though I wouldn’t mind adding to the list.”

      “List? I thought you’d compiled a ledger by now.”

      Well. If anyone else had dared to make light of Jinni’s ill-fated history with men, she would’ve given them some big-city attitude. But Val was the exception.

      Val sighed. “There you go again, getting glum.”

      “Who me?” Jinni tried to smile. How could she help it if this was the first time she’d encountered real despair in her life? She had no idea how to offer Val solace.

      She tried anyway. “Listen up. I’ll make a deal with you. I promise to remain sunny and vivacious if you stop staring out windows. Shake on it?”

      Val laughed softly, extending her hand. “Done.”

      Jinni grabbed her sister’s fingers, squeezing them. “I love you, sis. You’re all the family I have left, and I’d fight any battle for you.”

      “Me, too.” Val rubbed Jinni’s arm.

      Every day they grew closer, opened up more to each other. It was a switch from how they’d grown up, with their wealthy socialite parents in New York. Val had always been the quiet one, headed for life in a small town like Rumor. But not Jinni. Since she hadn’t shown any talent at much, she’d decided early on to distinguish herself by stepping into her mother’s party slippers, loving the gossip-column mentions of her name at society functions, the explosion of the reporters’ flashbulbs as she presented her brightest smiles, the approval

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