"Jeanie London - Retrieval" - читать интересную книгу автора (London Jeanie)

She wouldn't let anything spoil her only day off after an eight-day run.
Especially not imaginary voices.
After checking her watch, she untied the dog. She still had to drop off the divorce papers at Fairwinds before the girls got home from school.
No, she wasn't cracking up. She was coming to her senses.
After delivering the dog back to the apartment for fresh water and a treat, Katie hopped the bus, opened a book and wound up so engrossed in a new blockbuster she almost missed her stop.
"Damn." The book slipped off her lap and her purse upended when she hopped up to alert the driver.
Gathering up her things, she rushed off the bus, juggling her hastily-repacked purse and book.
"Do you need a hand?" a familiar male voice asked.
Katie was smiling even before she turned to find Luke Robinson smiling back. "Hi, Luke."
"How are you today, Katie?"
"Never better."
"Glad to hear it."
Maybe it was his smile or the pleased tone of his voice that made her believe him. She liked the feeling. "So how's your day going? Keeping the crazies in line?"



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"Haven't been any crazies." He glanced down at his watch.."Not since lunch, anyway."
''That's good, right?" She didn't have a clue what would be a good day for a security guard. Did he want his days to be quiet or filled with bad guys and excitement?
Nodding, he plucked the book from her arms, freeing her up to get her purse back in order.
''Thanks,'' she said.
"I don't think you dropped anything." He scanned the sidewalk then turned over the book. "Hey, is this Fairweather's new one? I've been meaning to pick it up. How is it? Any good?"
"His books are always good. I'm not the only one who thinks so. It took me three months to get this at the library."
"Let me know what you think," he said. ''Then I'll know if I should buy it now or wait until the paperback comes out."
"You don't have to wait quite so long at the library, Luke. And you can't beat the price."
He chuckled, and Katie zipped her purse shut with a little laugh herself. She liked Luke. A guard who worked for the company that provided security for Fairwinds, he'd become an unexpected acquaintance after Shea had learned she had been coming in for regular counseling sessions.
Outraged at what he'd called "her defection," Shea had ambushed her at a scheduled appointment. Luke had witnessed the whole ugly scene before escorting her hosti!e husband off the premises. Ever since then, Luke had made it a point to chat with her whenever she came in.
Katie wasn't sure if he was worried that her crazy

RETRIEVAL 33

husband might show up again, but he'd been so consistently kind that she'd finally gotten over her embarrassment and chatted back.
He was around forty, an attractive if not striking man with a quality she valued--kindness. The sort of man she guessed would go home after work to be with his family and not have to be dragged stinking drunk and cursing out of a bar.
If Luke had a family. She didn't think so because he'd never mentioned one, only nephews and nieces.
"Got it?" he asked.
Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she accepted her book and bag. "Thanks again."
"My pleasure," he said in that voice that meant it. "Here, let me get the door." He escorted her up the walkway, asked after the girls, whom he'd met several times when Katie had brought them in for group sessions, then whisked the door open with gentlemanly pride.
"See you later." He smiled.
"Don't work too hard."
"You know it." Then Katie swept inside, all thoughts of her earlier anxiety fading beneath the promise she always felt whenever walking through these doors into a place where anything seemed possible and everyone cared.
She had a future to look forward to, and she wasn't going to let anything or anyone stop her from living life to the fullest.



Roman assessed Nina's living host as she chatted with the security guard. Katie McGuire was an attractive woman, but hard living had etched lines that shouldn't



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