Summer Reading is Killing Me (Phee Jefferson Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

me a joke, shared a cup of coffee or just sat quietly and
listened. Who helped Grant? I was his closest friend. His father was dead. He
had no other family. I decided even if he left, I would still try to reach out
to him. I swallowed the lump in my throat, turned around and gave him a
fierce hug. “I’ve been awful to you. There are so many things I wished I’d
said, but I just…”
    Grant held me and said softly, “Don’t cry. I know
you, and I can tell what’s in your heart. It’s okay. We’ll be okay. Now let’s
stop crying and hugging before we start a rumor.”
    I wiped my eyes and gave a weak laugh. “That train
already left the station. I’m sure rumors started when we talked in the coffee
shop this morning. I’m buying the Jujubes tonight. In fact, I feel so bad about
not being a good friend, I’ll get you your very own box.” 
    “Oh boy! You must feel guilty! I’m taking you up
on that offer.”
    Two hours later, we exited the theater laughing
and joking like we were teenagers. “Grant, thanks for bringing me. I’ll miss
you when you leave. Promise me you won’t be a stranger.” 
          “I won’t. I’ll come
visit, and the city is just an hour away. If you feel adventurous, you could
break your boycott and chat online. I swear you’re the only American under
thirty who doesn’t use social media.” Grant gave me a playful nudge. “You
realize that the twenty-first century is here to stay, right?”
    “Believe it or not, I’m the one who created the
library’s website.” At Grant’s incredulous look, I bragged a bit. “I can do
website design. I even helped Julia with her yoga page. I just prefer to keep
my personal life a little more private. The world doesn’t need a status update
every time I change my toenail polish!”
    “Fine. We’ll stick with telephone calls and smoke
signals. No one in this town needs social media anyway. We’ve got Nellie Jo.
Fastest way to hear what someone’s up to is to go get a cup of coffee,” Grant
joked. He dropped me off and after a brief hug on the porch and a tearful
“we’ll keep in touch,” I went inside.
    It was strange that Clint hadn’t returned my call.
I reached into my purse to check my phone and realized I had left it on the
coffee table earlier. I had five missed calls. Three were from Clint, one from
my mother and one from Juliet. Listening to my messages, Clint’s deep voice
rumbled, “I’ve tried calling a couple times because I heard about the
excitement in town. I’m getting a little worried. Call me when you get a
chance.” The next message from my mom was fishing for the latest gossip. I
listened to the last message from Juliet. “Hey, PheePhee .
I want to give you a head’s up that Clint called me. He’s a little worried that
you might be upset about today. He couldn’t get in touch with you, so
he called to ask me to check on you. I wasn’t going to tell him you went to the
movies with Grant. Clint might not have a jealous bone in his body,
but he’s still a man with a gun. Call him, then call me. Ciao .”
    I groaned. I had wanted to tell him about finding
the body before anyone else did. Too late now. Clint might understand me
making peace with Grant, but he wouldn’t like me sticking my nose into another
murder.  

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    As I started dialing Clint’s number, my phone
chimed out Foreigner’s  Hot-Blooded. Clint’s
name and number popped up on the screen. Darn Juliet for messing with my ring
tones.
    “Hi, Clint. Sorry for not answering earlier. I
left my phone on the coffee table when I went out this evening. I’ve lots to
tell you,” I blurted.
    “I was worried about you. When you didn’t answer
my calls earlier, I thought about jumping in my car and heading home to check
on you. Jaime called to report you found Elody  Campbell
dead at Longfellow Park this morning. How are you holding up?” Clint asked.
    I heard the concern in Clint’s voice and hurried
to