The Vampire Shrink Read Online Free Page B

deli for a breakfast bagel. Picking up the phone, I heard the beeping sound that told me I had messages.
    I made coffee, poured myself a cup, then punched in the retrieval number to access my calls.
    The first message made me grin. It was from Vaughan, the cute chiropractor I’d met when we’d both volunteered to answer phones at the local PBS fund-raiser a couple of months ago. I think he’d called me once before, but I couldn’t remember if I’d returned the call or simply thought about returning it. He really was adorable, with his light-green eyes, curly chestnut hair, and that delicious dimple. It probably wouldn’t hurt to call him back. After my spectacular failures with men, I’d become such a wimp about dating. It was just so much easier to hole up at the library.
    Hearing the next voice made my breath catch and my knees go weak.
    My heart pounded and my palms moistened. I grabbed the counter to keep my balance.
    â€œHow can he still do this to me after all this time?” I said aloud.
    Dr. Thomas Radcliffe. My first love. The man I’d been willing to change my life for. The man I’d thought was the answer to my prayers. The man who had told me I didn’t excite him anymore and who’d dumped me for an airy-fairy astrologer who wore crystals and smelled of patchouli oil. Even after all this time, thinking about him still made me want to cry. It had been two painful years, and I had only recently started to feel good about myself again. Two long years of going over everything I’d said and done, trying to understand what it was about me that hadn’t been quite good enough for him. Shades of my lonely childhood.
    â€œKismet? Are you there? Tom Radcliffe here. Oh well, I guess I’ll leave a message. I know you’ll be sad you missed my call, but I wanted to let you know I’ll be in Denver for a conference and we should get together for lunch, catch up and touch base, do some networking. You have my cell phone number. Give me a call.”
    â€œCatch up and touch base? Do some networking? You arrogant ass.” I forced myself to breathe as my heart rate calmed.
    He always talked that way. Pompous. Oblivious. I wondered if his vocabulary had expanded to include all the astrological information he surely must be privy to now. Would he tell me that Mercury was up Uranus, and that’s why he’d broken my heart? No matter. I had no intention of meeting him for lunch or anything else. The welcome mat had definitely been pulled out from under Tom Radcliffe. He might still have the keys to my libido, but the rest of me wouldn’t be going along for the ride anymore. I pressed the button to erase his message and called the deli.

    After I’d eaten, I brought my laptop over to the table and wrote for a little while. Then I stretched the cramped muscles in my arms and checked the time. Since I had nothing planned for the day, I figured I could either work for a couple more hours, or I could break my routine and do something different. Maybe take a walk in that big neighborhood park I’d been meaning to explore. Jefferson Park was Denver’s equivalent of Central Park in New York City, and it had lots of trees, benches, and trails and was only a couple of blocks from my town house.
    Yes, exercise. That was the ticket. I looked down at myself. Whether I liked it or not, it was clear that being physically inactive—sitting on my butt all the time—had a downside. I’d promised myself I’d rectify the fitness situation and gain some muscle in other places besides my brain. I changed into a comfortable dark-blue sweat suit, put on my still-in-the-box walking shoes, and headed out the door.
    Denver could be counted on to have more than three hundred sunny days per year, and this late October morning was a prime specimen. Actually, the fact that it was mostly sunny in Colorado was one of the few things I would have changed about a