“A couple miles, but this traffic’s pretty bad. So what are your plans? What else do you want to do while you’re here?” he asked.
She hid a smirk and wriggled deeper into her cushioned seat. “I want to attend a water park, look through a humble teley-scope, surf on the Internet, visit the White House, shop at a supermall and see baseball.” She wanted to do the things normal humans were lucky enough to do every single day. She wanted to know how human technology had replaced magic and what it would be like to live here permanently. She wanted to know more about Jake Story and why he made her tingle.
“There’s a water park at the end of the strip called Wet ‘N Wild. I take my cousins’ kids when they visit. Malls are everywhere. The White House is across the country.”
“I was testing you.” Tali could never remember how far things were in humanspace. The land the fairies inhabited in the Realm didn’t correspond to the continent here. “What about a humble teley-scope to see the stars? I read about it in HumanWa…”—oops!—“a science magazine.” Tali waited to see if Jake would catch her slip.
He didn’t. “There’s a planetarium at a community college nearby. Their telescope is nice, though. I wouldn’t call it humble.”
“Baseball and surfing?”
“No baseball, but we have an arena football team called the Gladiators. As for the Internet, you can check it out with any computer. That’s not very exciting when you have a whole city to explore.”
What else did she want, besides to kiss Jake again and run her fingers through that silky hair? “Oh, I want to see Chip and Dale.”
“The cartoon?” The traffic around them moved. Jake edged the car forward, and the bag around the mirror swayed. The music from the dancing waters faded into a babble of pedestrians and car horns. Humans young and old milled on the sidewalks.
What was a cartoon? She’d overheard the ballet praised by two female researchers. “They’re dancers. The Chip and Dale ballet.”
Jake pinched his lips together. “I see. Those Chip and Dales.”
True love is better than infatuation.
To Fat and Back
© 2008 Beverly Rae
Carrie Flannagan dreams of Michael the Magnificent, the office hunk. He can have his pick of women, and his pick isn’t Carrie, the office chubby. He’s only got eyes for her best friend, Shiloh of the slender, smokin’ hot body.
When Carrie accidentally-on-purpose breaks Michael’s arm, a self-professed sorceress with a secret agenda of her own gives him a pill to magically heal the bones. That little pill also has an accidental-on-purpose side effect—one that makes him balloon to over three hundred pounds. To Carrie’s surprise and delight, he turns to her for emotional comfort. But those new layers of fat on his body reveal a side of him that wasn’t part of her fantasy.
Billy Whitman will put up with almost anything to be near to Carrie, even if she sees him only as a blend-into-the-background, dependable friend. Even if it means putting up with her fantasies about Michael, and being the clean-up man as Michael’s life falls apart.
For now, he’s willing to bide his time, hoping she will someday see the light—the light of love in his eyes.
Enjoy the following excerpt for To Fat and Back:
“Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod.” Carrie rushed to Nate as others helped him stand up. Although obviously shaken, he didn’t seem to have any major injuries as the others helped him along the hall toward the elevator.
Spinning away from Nate, Carrie leaned over the railing and stared at Michael’s crumpled body on the landing below her. Already people rushed to him, offering him their help. What have I done? Why in the world did I do such a horrendous thing? The authorities should lock me away forever. Ohmigod, I’m such a bad, bad person.
Firm hands gripped her shoulders as she was jostled out of the way of the curious onlookers. “Carrie? Carrie, answer me. Are you all right?”
At first she thought she couldn’t take her eyes off the prone Michael, as if God had already punished her by making her incapable of movement. But a hard shake, along with a body moving to block her view of her victim, broke her trance and she lifted her gaze to see Billy’s concerned face searching hers. “W-what?”
He edged closer and tried again. “Carrie Bear, are you all right? You seemed almost comatose.”
When she tried to shift position to see Michael again, he adjusted with her and kept her from looking. “Let me go. I have to get to him. I have to say I’m sorry. I have to—”
“No, Carrie. You don’t. I won’t let you.”
He didn’t understand. How could he? He had no way of knowing what an abominable monster she was. She hadn’t known until a minute ago. “You don’t understand, Billy. I have to. I’m the one—”
He brought his nose within a centimeter of hers, and whispered hard and low. “I understand. I do. I saw everything.”
Why does he keep interrupting me? Wait! He saw me? Shame ripped through her and she couldn’t look him in the eyes. “Ohmigod. Then you know what I did. You know how terrible I am.”
“I know what happened because, yes, I saw it all. Michael wasn’t paying attention and he tripped over his own big feet. Or Nate’s. Either way, it wasn’t your fault.”
She met his gaze and saw what he wasn’t saying. He knew the truth, but wouldn’t admit it. But why not? He wasn’t the evil person who’d hurt Michael. They’d been friends for years, but would he cover for her? Should she let him?
A groan echoed up the stairs spurring Carrie into action as she pushed Billy away to see. Michael sat on a bench in the lobby, holding one arm next to his stomach. Yet it was the way he held his arm that tore at Carrie’s heart. He—she—must’ve broken his arm. Although part of her didn’t want to, the other half—the better half—of her propelled her body forward. She readied herself to face Michael and beg his forgiveness.
But what about the possible legal consequences? Would she go to jail? Was what she’d done called assault? Or worse, would a judge think she’d tried to murder Nate? Or Michael? Or both? She gulped even as the saliva in her mouth dried up and her shoulders slumped. She’d definitely lose her job. Yet no matter what punishment she’d have to face, she had to tell the truth. “I have to confess. I have to let everyone know I made him—them—fall.” Damn, even now all I can think about is Michael. What kind of pitiful person am I to forget about Nate?
Billy took her arm and held her in one spot. “No. I refuse to let you confess. You don’t deserve to be punished.”
“But I did it. I hurt him—them—on purpose.” She frowned and tried to remember. Had she really done it on purpose or had her subconscious taken over, anger at Nate dredging up the evil Carrie hiding within her? Michael had probably known about the bad joke, but had she wanted him to fall too? Could she plead temporary insanity? Still, the reason didn’t matter. No matter what, she was to blame.
When Marla from accounting looked quizzically at them, Billy pivoted Carrie around to face him again and turned her away from the accountant. “Be quiet and listen to me.”
“No, I have to explain. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Yeah, it is, but I won’t let you. Sometimes doing what’s right isn’t what’s right for you.”
“Huh?” Why was he so determined to stop her? She gave him her meanest look and hoped it would do the trick. “You can’t stop me.”
But Billy’s mean glare put hers to shame and had her glower scampering away like a dog with its tail between its legs. “Oh, yes, I can. I’ll take the blame before I let you take it.”
Her mouth dropped open and he reached over to close it for her. “Listen to me. You didn’t do anything wrong, Carrie. Got it? And I won’t let you say you did, either. I’d do anything for—” Billy clamped his mouth closed and nodded at the group of people surrounding Michael. “Who do you think they’ll believe? You, the sweetest nicest girl in the whole damn company? Or me? The guy who’s had argument after argument with Michael and who’s always s
aid Nate’s an imbecile? Everyone will remember what happened in the boardroom not five minutes before they fell and they’ll believe me when I tell them I did it.”
She was torn, too confused to sort through all the thoughts jumbling in her mind. She studied the determination on his face and knew he’d take her punishment. Billy was ready to take the fall for her in an amazing demonstration of friendship. But how could she make yet another mistake by letting him cop to a crime she’d committed? What kind of friend was she? Could she find another way to tell everyone the truth and make them believe her?
“Carrie, trust me. No one has to know anything. Let Michael think he tripped. It is what he and Nate did, after all. They tripped. Why they tripped doesn’t have to come out. I know it’s wrong, but it’s time you caught a break. Sorry, no pun intended. Besides, check him out. He’s loving every minute of the attention.”
She did as he said and watched as girl after girl fought their way to Michael’s side. Michael, although obviously in pain, spoke to each woman in turn, flashing them his I’m-such-a-brave-guy-even-though-it-hurts-like-hell smile.
Shit. Even in pain the guy plays the ladies.
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