One Foot in the Grave Read Online Free

understand. I’m sorry.”
    The poor guy was a sweetheart. I gave him a quick feminine perusal, far different from the danger-assessment one I’d done when I first came in. Noah was tall, dark, and boyishly handsome. Maybe I’d hook him up with Denise—she just said her other date hadn’t impressed her.
    “Okay, Noah, the answer’s yes. In fact, my friend Denise and I were going to catch dinner Monday night. You’re welcome to join us.”
    He let out a breath. “Monday is perfect. I’ll call you Sunday to confirm. I don’t normally do things like this. God, that sounds like a line. Let me ask for your number, before I talk you out of it.”
    With a smile I wrote down my cell number. If Noah and Denise hit it off, I’d quietly leave before dessert. If he turned out to be a jerk, then I’d make sure he was sent on his way without bothering her further. Hey, what were friends for?
    “Please don’t change your mind,” he said when I handed him my number.
    Instead of responding, I merely waved good night.

T HREE
    A T TEN TO SIX THE FOLLOWING M ONDAY, my phone rang. I glanced at the number that flashed up and frowned. Why was Denise calling me from her house? She was supposed to have gotten here fifteen minutes ago.
    “What’s up?” I answered. “You’re running late.”
    It sounded like she took a deep breath. “Cat, don’t be mad at me, but…I’m not coming.”
    “Are you sick?” I asked worriedly.
    There was the sound of another deep breath. “No, I’m not coming because I want you to go out with Noah. Alone. You said he seemed like a really nice guy.”
    “But I don’t want to go on a date!” I protested. “I was only doing this so you could meet him, but then have a graceful way out if he wasn’t your type.”
    “For God’s sake, Cat, I don’t need another date, but you do! I mean, my grandmother gets more action than you. Look, I know you don’t talk about the other guy,whoever he was, but we’ve been friends for over three years and you’ve got to start to live. Dazzle Noah with your drinking skills, burn his ears with your language, but try to have a little fun with a guy you’re not intending to kill by the end of the night. At least once. Maybe then you won’t be so sad all the time.”
    She’d hit a nerve. Even though I’d never mentioned specifics about Bones, especially the one about him being a vampire, she knew I’d loved someone and then lost him. And she knew how alone I felt, more than I’d ever admit to.
    I sighed. “I don’t think it’s a good idea—”
    “I do,” she cut me off at once. “You’re not dead, so you need to stop acting like you are. It’s just dinner, not eloping to Vegas. No one says you even have to see Noah again. But just go out this once. Come on.”
    I looked at my new kitty. He blinked, which I took as a yes as well.
    “All right. Noah’s due here in five minutes. I’ll go, but I’ll probably say something completely inappropriate and be home in an hour.”
    Denise laughed. “It doesn’t matter; at least you’d have given it a shot. Call me when you get in.”
    I said goodbye and hung up. Apparently I was going on a date. Ready or not.
    As I passed by a mirror, I did a double take at my reflection. My newly brown hair was cut shoulder-length and looked foreign, but that was the idea, in case Ian decided to confirm the rumors about my appearance. I didn’t need any vampires or ghouls getting a heads-up as to who I was because of my hair color. Blondes might have more fun, but I was hoping for a higherbody count. The Red Reaper had been laid to rest. Long live the Brunette Reaper!
    When Noah knocked on the door, I was as prepared as I was going to be. His smile froze when he saw me.
    “You were a redhead before, right? I didn’t just imagine it in my anxiety?”
    I raised a brow, no longer red but honey-colored. “I wanted a change. Been a redhead all my life, and I felt like something different.”
    He backpedaled at once.