Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,88
smiled as I examined my head from one angle and then another. “It’s perfect, Mrs. Lewis! Thanks so much.”
“I had good material,” she replied.
As I paid for the haircut, she asked, “What are you girls up to now?”
“I’m going to walk home with Tasmyn, if it’s okay. We’re going to try out new makeup for Friday night.”
“And I’ll drive Anne home afterward,” I added.
“Well, have a good time, girls. Tasmyn, you come back any time.”
I thanked her again, and we left the salon.
“I love your mom,” I told Anne.
She laughed. “She can be a little much sometimes, but she’s got a good heart. I think she’s happy to see me back with all my friends. She worried when all that was going on last year with Nick.”
That reminded me of something else. I knew it was meddling, but. . .
“Anne,” I ventured as we crossed the street and walked along the sidewalk, “what do you think about Jim?”
An odd expression crossed her face, and then she glanced at me sideways. “He’s a friend. He’s one of us. Why?”
“Oh, nothing. I just noticed…” I bit my lower lip, considering. “Did you know some days at lunch, he can’t take his eyes off you?”
Anne’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? He’s staring at me?”
“Well, not exactly. He tries not to let you catch him at it. But I’ve seen him. And the way he looks… I think he has more than friendship in mind.”
Her face pinked, and I hid a smile. “He never really forgave me for last year, though,” she murmured. “He hardly talks to me anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s about forgiving you,” I said slowly. “I think it might have been more that he was worried about you with Nick, and then when it happened like he thought it would, he was hurting because you were hurting. And now, he’s just waiting for you to be over Nick…”
“Wait.” Anne wheeled around to face me and stopped walking. “Did he tell you all this? Did he put you up to talking to me?”
“No!” My denial was horrified and honest. “No, he doesn’t have any idea I even know how he feels. And maybe ‘know’ is too strong a word. I’m just guessing, really.” I hadn’t realized how close I was to saying too much of what I’d sensed in Jim. The line between observation and supernatural hearing was very fuzzy, even when I hadn’t actually listened to Jim’s thoughts.
“Those are pretty specific guesses.” Anne was still suspicious.
“Look, I’m really good at intuiting what people are feeling. All those years of moving and having to size people up—it’s paid off, I guess, because I get a good sense of what others are thinking.” That was putting it mildly. “You could ask anyone else who sits with us at lunch, and I bet they’d tell you the same thing. It’s pretty obvious how Jim feels about you.”
We had resumed walking, and I could feel Anne considering, rolling this new possibility around in her head.
“Could you—do you have any feelings for Jim?” I ventured finally.
Anne knit her brows together. “It’s hard,” she said. “I’ve always known him, as long as I’ve known all the others. And it made me so sad this year, when he didn’t seem to take me back the way everyone else did. It’s been like a hole in my life. I used to think—back, before Nick—that maybe Jim and I could have something together—but he never made a move. So I figured he didn’t feel the same way I did.”
“Well, now’s your chance,” I encouraged her.
“But how?” Anne moaned. We were turning onto my street, and I slowed my steps and considered.
“You’re both going to the dance,” I pointed out. “Neither of you has a date—you’re just going with the crowd. So once you’re there, ask him to dance. On a slow dance. They have those at dances like this, right?” I asked, suddenly remembering that I really didn’t know.
“Yes, of course they do,” Anne answered. “But what if he says no?”
“Trust me. He won’t,” I promised her with complete assurance.
“But what if he says yes?” she asked, her voice rising in panic. “What do I do?”
I thought about it as we walked up onto my front porch. “I think, once you ask him to dance, you won’t have to do anything else. Once he finally gets the hint that you’re over that other loser and that you like him, I don’t see Jim letting much grass grow under his