Scaredy Cat Read Online Free Page B

He was working on a new dagger that can slice through bone when we left.” Quinn was thoroughly enjoying herself, and it was all she could do to keep from laughing.
    Glenda waved a pack of toilet paper when Blake reached for it. “We have a cooking club that meets every Thursday night, do you bake, Mrs.…?”
    “Blake and no. Would you mind moving a little faster? I have a lot of items here.”
    “Dismissed,” Quinn said under her breath with a chuckle. Blake was weird, maybe a bit crazy, but she’d made Glenda Percy’s face turn red, and in Quinn’s book, that made Blake a goddess—for a few minutes at least.

Chapter 5

    “Blake Taylor doesn’t dream of Manderlay, but rather how to slice and flay.” Quinn held her glass out to Dawn for another splash of wine. “Her brain is in a galaxy all its own.”
    “She’s eccentric. Her agent claims most writers are. I’ve never met another one to compare, so I’ll have to take her word.” Dawn propped her feet on the coffee table and sighed. “Does that mean you want to back out of being her tour guide?”
    Quinn made a face. “We both know now that it’s more than that. I’m her assistant. Today, I took her grocery shopping, and the only reason I’m willing to take her to Oak Alley tomorrow is that she totally dissed Glenda Percy. Blake writes about ghosts, demons, and other creepy crap, but she’s the biggest scaredy cat I’ve ever seen. I had to bring in all her groceries because a bird gave her the ‘evil eye.’ Then she made me check all the closets and look under the beds for anyone who could’ve sneaked in while we were out.”
    Dawn pursed her lips to keep from laughing. “She wouldn’t move into the house until I had it purified.”
    Quinn’s brow shot up. “She’s a germaphobe, too?”
    “Not that kind of purification. Her agent, Cassidy, and I had to follow an old woman around the house as she burned a sage stick and whispered some sort of cleansing ritual to purge the place of negative energy.”
    “Are you kidding me?” Quinn sat up straight.
    “I found it very calming. I had her do this place, and Landon hasn’t wet the bed since. I think I’m gonna have her back to do Hailey’s room again. If sage can do something to rid us of that teen girl attitude, I’ll buy it by the case and build a suite for the old woman.”
    “Speaking of bad attitudes and spirits, Mom demanded to know where you were when I picked up her laundry last week.”
    “I’ve been working and taking care of a family. I can’t go to that place and sit for hours. Every single time I go, she bitches at me for not visiting more often.”
    Nelda had been in the home for a year and a half. Dawn had gone often during the first year, but as time passed, her visits became infrequent. As Quinn thought about it, she probably could’ve counted on one hand the times Dawn had been there the past summer. Of the three, Dawn did the least when it came to taking care of Nelda, but Dawn was the one their mother adored the most.
    “You should go and see her. She isn’t going to be around much longer.”
    Dawn took a long drink from her glass and leaned her head against the sofa. “We’ve been saying that for years, and she keeps hanging on. I know that sounds callous, but when will it end? She’s miserable. It’s hard to see her like that. I wish I didn’t have to. I want to remember her out in the yard tending her garden and yelling at Jacob because he was picking all the flowers.”
    “I’d like to blot out the last ten years and go back to the time when she loved me.”
    “She does, Quinn.”
    “Bullshit. You know that picture of the three of us on her bed stand? She put the clock right in front of me. I’m dead in her eyes. I pray for the day that I won’t care, but it hasn’t come yet.”
    *******
    Blake shook her hands in front of her face. “Write something! Anything!”
    She set her fingers on the keys and stared at the screen, but nothing happened. The