Labor of Love Read Online Free

smiled. It was the first time she didn’t seem embarrassed by her height. I had a feeling if he asked how tall she was, she’d tell him six feet. No problem.
    â€œSo are you,” she said.
    Tall Guy shot an air ball at an imaginary hoop just over Jenna’s head.
    â€œYou play basketball?” Jenna asked.
    He nodded. “You?”
    â€œSwim team.”
    He grinned really broadly. Nice smile. Reallynice smile. Maybe all guys had nice smiles, and Saraphina’s prediction meant nothing.
    â€œI like those uniforms better,” he said. “A whole lot better.”
    â€œThey’re not uniforms. They’re swimsuits.”
    He just winked at her, and I could see her cheeks turning red.
    The guy behind the counter, oblivious to the flirting going on, rapped his knuckles on the glass case. “Hey, big guy, you want something or not?”
    I sort of expected Tall Guy to point at Jenna and say, “Yeah, I want her.”
    But he didn’t.
    All three guys turned their attention to the clerk.
    I could tell Jenna was disappointed that the flirting session had so easily and swiftly come to an end. With her cheeks turning even redder, she headed toward the door. Amber and I hurried to catch up.
    â€œSee ya!” Tall Guy called out.
    Smiling, Jenna looked back over her shoulder and waved. Once we were outside, she said,“Was he interested or not?”
    â€œI think boys always choose food over girls,” Amber said. “It’s a caveman mentality of survival.”
    â€œDo you even know what you’re talking about?” Jenna asked.
    â€œNot really, but it was getting a little intense in there.”
    â€œI thought you were okay with Dawn and me hooking up with someone, that you never met a stranger?”
    â€œI am okay with it; I just wasn’t ready for it to happen five minutes after we started talking about it.”
    â€œSo maybe we should have stayed.”
    â€œBut we were finished eating,” I pointed out.
    â€œSo? Would it have been a bad thing to be obvious that I was interested?”
    â€œDo you want to go back in?” I asked. “Because if you really want to—”
    Jenna shook her head. “Nah, no reason to go back in now. It would make us look fickle or something. Maybe desperate. Besides, it’d just be a one-night thing, and we’re supposed to bein front of the gate to Jackson Square at eleven tonight so Ms. Wynder can pick us up. Not sure I want to admit I have a curfew to an older guy. But he was certainly tall.”
    â€œAnd cute,” Amber said.
    â€œThe curfew isn’t really a curfew. I mean, Ms. Wynder is providing transportation, because we don’t have a car,” I said.
    â€œShe’s responsible for us. Chaperone. Sort of,” Amber said.
    There were three other volunteers, six of us in all. Because Ms. Wynder had organized our group, she’d promised to look out for us, but it wasn’t a school trip and no one had signed any binding contracts, consent forms, or legal documents. She’d driven us here in her minivan and arranged for us to stay in the dorm. She’d provided transportation to the French Quarter with the promise to pick us up later and the warning to not get into any trouble. Although I wasn’t exactly sure what she’d do if we did get into trouble. Call our parents, I guessed.
    But was she really a chaperone? If she was, wouldn’t she have stayed with us, kept an eyeon us, instead of cutting us loose to find our own entertainment? Although to be honest, I was glad she hadn’t tagged along. I think she’s, like, thirty.
    â€œYou girls are going to be seniors in the fall. I trust you to be responsible,” she’d said when she dropped us off.
    Telling us she trusted us was tricky on her part, because it made us feel like we had to behave. Not that we were known for getting into trouble or walking around with fake IDs, but still. Away