Stranger in the Mirror [Shades of Heaven] (Soul Change Novel) Read Online Free Page A

couldn’t remember what it was. Work meant money, and money meant escape. That was the second step to gaining control over her life again. She’d already discovered that Marti had only twenty-nine dollars in her savings account and not even one credit card.
    “Where did Marti work?”
    “She—you work at Bad Boys Diner.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “A diner? Don’t tell me I was a cook.”
    “No, you’re a waitress.”
    “Oh, gawd.”
    “It was good enough for you before.”
    “Before was a completely different story. I didn’t deliver other people’s food and clean up their dirty dishes.”
    “Well, la tee dah. Maybe you should have picked a princess’s body to pop into.”
    “I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t even know what had happened until I was already here.” She narrowed her eyes at him, sitting there in the crook of the swing, a smug grin on his face. She didn’t let herself notice how the muscles bulged beneath his white T-shirt with his arms crossed in front of him. Okay, she’d noticed, but she wouldn’t dwell on it. “I think I’m being tested.” She gave him a pointed look. Or punished.
    “ You’re being tested?” He gave a hearty laugh, making the swing rock. His expression sobered. “If you hadn’t been nearly raped, I’d think this was one of those practical joke shows.”
    “It’s not.”
    “Okay, miss priss from California. What did you do in this other life? CPA? Attorney?”
    “I’m not talking to you about it.” She looked away from him, concentrating on a squirrel hanging upside down to steal from a bird feeder.
    “Ah, you might as well tell me. Maybe you’ll have some useful skills.”
    Her nose wrinkled. She met those green eyes of his and realized he was still having fun on her. “I, well, I went to college. And I modeled.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “You were a model?”
    “Don’t look so surprised. I was tall, blonde, and I had nice boobs.”
    Jesse regarded her appraisingly. “Nothing wrong with the way you look.”
    “But this isn’t me. I wasn’t petite; I was sexy. I even did ads in major magazines. That’s how I met my husband.”
    Jesse leaned back on the swing and propped his feet up on the porch railing. “So this Jamie guy was a model, too?”
    She smiled, remembering the first time she’d seen him. A redhead was brushing his hair, flirting with him. Jamie’s eyes were on Hallie, though.
    “Yeah. He was rich, good looking, and fun. We got married soon after we met. About a year later, he bought part of an island and turned it into a resort.”
    “If he was so great, why were you a lousy wife?”
    Marti’s shoulders tensed before she remembered she’d used those exact words earlier. “I didn’t appreciate what I had.”
    “Sounds like you still have that problem.”
    She glared at him. “What do you mean by that?”
    “Well, if I died and got a second chance, I’d be happy in the body of a dwarf, just to see the sunshine and smell the fresh air some more. Playing along with your crazy game, it seems to me you should be damned grateful you got a second chance, no matter where you are or what you look like. But all you keep talking about is how rich and gorgeous you used to be.”
    She ignored his remark about craziness. “I’m thrilled I got another chance, but is it ungrateful to want my old life back? I had a great life, a great husband, more money than I knew what to do with… of course I want it back.”
    Jesse crossed his bare feet on the railing, leaning further back on the bench. “Why were you going to leave your good-looking, rich husband?”
    She stood and leaned against a nearby wooden post. “You listen too much, you know that? I said I wasn’t smart enough to appreciate what I had when I had it.” She sighed. “I wasn’t all that smart anyway.”
    “I thought you went to college.”
    “I went to three classes, all right? That’s when I got into modeling. That seemed a lot more fun than sitting in a