THREE TIMES A LADY Read Online Free Page B

the woman wasn’t stowing a KKK hood somewhere in her carry-on luggage but still not quite comfortable with the exchange.  Then again, where was the big surprise in that?  Dana might have been a world-class investigator whenever she managed to bring her ‘A’ game to the ball field – according to the media, at least – but she still didn’t have the foggiest idea of how to read between the lines during innocent conversations.  To put it mildly, social interactions weren’t her forte.  Never had been and never would be. 
    Thankfully, though, the other woman took off some of the pressure then by pausing and looking around uncertainly.  When it became apparent there was no flight attendant nearby, she motioned to her son and asked, ‘Anyway, I’m really sorry to put you on the spot like this, but is there any way you could keep an eye on him for a quick minute while I go to the bathroom?  I need to pee like you wouldn’t believe and there’s never enough room in those bathrooms for both of us.  I swear to God I’ll be right back.’
    Dana waved her own hand in the air, thankful to be taken off the hook and painfully aware of just how bare her own ring finger looked in comparison.  Not so much as a faded tan line there testifying to a failed engagement.  ‘Absolutely,’ Dana said, trying her best to not think about the fact that Jeremy Brown had been carrying around an engagement ring in his pocket with him when he’d died.  ‘Go.  It’s no problem at all.  Besides, Bradley and I are good friends now, anyway.  We’ll be just fine.’
    The woman let out a quick breath and reached across the seatback to touch Dana’s shoulder.  ‘Thank you so much.  You’re a real lifesaver, you know that?  And I mean that from the very bottom of my cold and blackened heart.’
    Dana winced a little at that, but was pretty sure she was able to stop the emotion from reaching her face.  Still, life saver hadn’t been a very accurate description of her lately.  Quite the opposite, unfortunately.  Just ask poor Jeremy about that much.  ‘We’ll be fine,’ Dana repeated.
    The woman nodded and leaned down to kiss her son on the top of his head.  Cupping his chin in her palm, she lifted his tiny face to hers and held his gaze.  ‘You be a good boy for this nice lady while I’m gone, OK, Bradley?  Mama will be right back and you know what happens if you misbehave.’ 
    Bradley grinned mischievously at his mother.  ‘You’ll throw me out the window over the Grand Canyon, right?’
    The woman nodded again.  ‘That’s absolutely right, buddy boy.  And that’s a heck of a long drop, so be good.’ 
    Bradley giggled as his mother scooted out of their row and into the aisle before heading for the restrooms in the rear of the plane.  When she was out of sight, the little boy reestablished eye contact with Dana.  ‘You’re really pretty, you know that?  Almost as pretty as my mama.  I like your yellow hair a lot.  You sort of look like Goldilocks, only way shorter.  And you’ve got eyes just like mine.’
    Dana sucked in a sharp breath at the unexpected pang of regret that stabbed her deep in the gut at the boy’s words.  From the look of things, though, she hadn’t done a very good job of locking away her desire to have children of her own one day.  No big surprise there, however.  But at nearly forty years old now that particular window seemed pretty much nailed shut for good.  ‘And you’re a very handsome little guy,’ Dana answered, clenching her stomach muscles tightly together in a futile effort to strangle the sad feelings in her belly.  ‘Come to think of it, you’re just about the handsomest little guy I’ve ever seen in my whole life.  A regular GQ model if ever there’s been one.’
    Bradley chewed playfully on his lower lip and cranked up the cuteness factor at that.  Apparently, he wasn’t interested in playing fair here.  ‘That’s what my mama always tells