Doc in the Box
Page 21
“Awww, he was kind of cute,” Georgia said.
“What?” I couldn’t take this final betrayal.
“I was pulling your leg. Besides, the guy who won is living with a goose, for chrissake. You want goose shit all over the house? You know how slippery that is?”
I said nothing.
“That was a joke, Francesca. Can’t you laugh about anything anymore? You need to lighten up. Lyle was the only one who could make you laugh. The task of cheering you up has become too much for me.”
Lyle. My other major failure. I couldn’t believe she would mention him tonight. I felt low enough already.
“When are you going to call that man?” she nagged. “You’re not seeing anyone else, and neither is he. You’re crazy about him and you know it.”
I could feel my face turn to stone. “I. Am. Not. Calling. Him.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s why I brought him here.”
I turned around and there he was, standing at the entrance to the hotel bar. I hadn’t seen Lyle in a year. I did not know what to say. I did not know what to feel. Until he came forward and took me into his arms and kissed me.
“Oh, baby,” he said. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too,” I said. “Don’t leave me ever again.” The words that had been so hard to say slipped out so easily now.
“Never,” he said, between kisses. “Never, ever.”
I wrapped my arms around him, pressed my body against his, and felt just how much he missed me. How did I ever think I could live without him? All my anger and the awful year in the chemo ward melted away with his kisses. I felt the silky hair on the back of his neck, put my arms around his broad back, felt his strong arms around my waist and now going down to my …
We were interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. “You two better go to your room,” Georgia said. “You’re creating a spectacle, even in New York.”
For once, I listened to my editor.
ALSO BY ELAINE VIETS
ANGELA RICHMAN, DEATH INVESTIGATOR
Brain Storm
Fire and Ashes
Ice Blonde (Novella)*
DEAD-END JOB MYSTERIES
Shop Till You Drop*
Murder Between the Covers*
Dying to Call You*
Just Murdered*
Murder Unleashed*
Murder with Reservations*
Clubbed to Death*
Killer Cuts*
Half-Price Homicide*
Pumped for Murder*
Final Sail*
Board Stiff*
Catnapped!*
Checked Out
The Art of Murder
Killer Blonde (Novella)
JOSIE MARCUS, MYSTERY SHOPPER
Dying in Style*
High Heels Are Murder*
Accessory to Murder*
Murder with All the Trimmings*
The Fashion Hound Murders*
An Uplifting Murder*
Death on a Platter*
Murder Is a Piece of Cake*
Fixing to Die*
A Dog Gone Murder*
FRANCESCA VIERLING MYSTERIES
Backstab*
Rubout*
The Pink Flamingo Murders*
Doc in the Box*
SHORT FICTION
Deal with the Devil and 13 Short Stories
*Available in JABberwocky eBook editions
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elaine Viets has written 33 mysteries in four series: the bestselling Dead-End Job series with South Florida PI Helen Hawthorne, the cozy Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper mysteries, and the dark Francesca Vierling mysteries. With the Angela Richman Death Investigator series, Elaine returns to her hardboiled roots and uses her experience as a stroke survivor and her studies at the Medicolegal Death Investigators Training Course. Elaine was a director at large for the Mystery Writers of America. She's a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and anthologies edited by Charlaine Harris and Lawrence Block. Elaine won the Anthony, Agatha and Lefty Awards.
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