Secrets and Ink Read Online Free Page B

I’d meet “someone nice”. She and Mom.
    I had to disappoint her. I was good at it. “Sorry, it didn’t work out.”
    She sighed. “Oh, Jem. You’re too picky. Like that doctor I introduced you to. He was a perfectly nice guy.”
    Unfortunately, my sister was the worst matchmaker in the world. “We had nothing in common, aside from being allergic to girl cooties.”
    During our one date, Doctor Lombard had yammered nonstop about his golf game and how much he’d paid for his Mercedes. And his vacation in Majorca.
    She shook her head with resignation. “So, what was wrong with this one?”
    “Ehrm, we didn’t click, that’s all.” I tried to sound offhanded, in hopes she’d drop the subject. “Mmm… This is so good,” I added, biting into a potato ball. Mashed potato wrapped around meat stew and deep-fried. What’s not to love?
    She ignored my diversionary tactics. “Something’s bothering you, I can tell.”
    “I’m fine.” I grinned and shoved more food in my mouth, chewing as cheerfully as I could. A wasted effort.
    She folded her hands in her lap in a gesture that was an exact copy of our mom’s. “Why don’t you tell me? It’ll make you feel better, you know it. Your habit of bottling up your feelings isn’t healthy.”
    “You’re a nurse, not a shrink,” I grumbled, but I knew she was right. I still had a hard time getting the words out. “You remember when I got arrested?” I asked at last.
    “How could I not? Mom cried for weeks and Dad was spitting nails. You got this close to getting a real hiding.” She indicated a quarter-inch space between her thumb and forefinger.
    “Don’t I know it.” My parents didn’t believe in corporal punishment, but I’d made it exceptionally difficult for them to stick to their principles.
    “You got off easy only being grounded for the rest of the school year.” She picked up her cup.
    I hadn’t just been grounded. I’d had to account for every minute of my time and hadn’t been allowed out of the house any farther than the backyard, aside from going to school. I still got off easy. “I know,” I said.
    “So, what about it?” she asked, sipping her coffee.
    “My date was the cop who arrested me.”
    She made a choked sound and spat some of the coffee back into the cup. “What? How? Did you know it was him?”
    I handed her a napkin. “No, of course I didn’t.”
    “How could you not?” she asked, dabbing coffee and spittle from her chin.
    “Would you remember someone you saw for twenty minutes nine years ago?”
    “Under the circumstances—”
    “While high?”
    She screwed up her face. “No, probably not. He didn’t know who you were either?”
    “I’ve changed a lot since.” In addition from the long, black hair and the eye shadow, I’d also been rail thin back then. Currently I kept my hair short and naturally brown. I was even a few inches taller—my last growth spurt hadn’t hit me till I was eighteen. I’d put on some weight and muscles after the accident, thanks to the physical therapy that started me swimming regularly. You had to know me well to connect me to that scrawny kid.
    Charly nodded. “True. How did you realize it was him, then?”
    “He recognized my tattoo.”
    “Oh. Oh! I hope you used protection,” she said sternly.
    “Charly!” I loved her, and she was a nurse, but talking about my sex life with her weirded me out.
    “Don’t get in a huff. I care about you.”
    “I know you do. And I always use protection.” These days remained unsaid. Yeah, I’d done a lot of stupid things back in the day, and gotten away with them too. Up to a point.
    I opened the last box and took out the two chocolate croissants and put one on Charly’s plate. I claimed the other one for myself. I’d probably skip lunch. The failing of most chocolate croissants is that all the fillings on the inside and the two ends are plain pastry. However, Porto’s dips both ends of their croissant into melted chocolate, so