BooksBarbecue
Back Don't Look Now Save as PDF
Chapters (41)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. EPILOGUE
  41. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“That’s good. Three weeks is my record.” He shook the pack enough to jostle loose a cigarette. She took it and accepted the blue plastic lighter.

“I swore I had bought my last pack.” Even as she spoke, the lighter’s flame touched the tobacco’s edge.

“You didn’t really buy this pack, though, right?”

She inhaled, held the smoke in her lungs for a beat, and then slowly released it. “Technically, that’s true.”

“Always got to find a loophole.”

“Sometimes you have to look hard,” she said.

“Nah, it isn’t that hard.”

She laughed, inhaled.

“Good to hear laughter,” he said. “I’ve been at my mother’s bedside all day.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Cancer. She’s dying.” He stared at the glowing tip and then inhaled as if trying to reclaim his peace.

“Sorry to hear that.” The hoodie now made sense. It could get cold on the critical care units.

“It’s not a new story, is it? You a nurse?”

“No, just an aide.”

“Don’t say just. It’s important work.”

“Thanks.”

He finished his cigarette and handed her the pack. “You look like you could use this.”

“No, man. I can’t take your pack. It’s barely opened. Plus, I’m finishing my last pack.”

“You said you wouldn’t buy any more. And you still haven’t bought a pack. So theoretically you’re free and clear.”

She grinned. “Are you a lawyer?”

“Just play one on TV.”

As she laughed, the rumble of a bus had her turning in time to see her bus come to a stop. “Shit, that’s my bus.”

“Want to grab a coffee?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” she said.

“I get it. Black hoodie. Lurking. I must look like a serial killer. Sorry, it’s been a long couple of weeks with Mom.”

His soft words carried hints of apology. “It’s not personal. I don’t know you.”

“The café is across the street. Let me at least treat you to breakfast or dinner. We can kill time while you wait for the next bus.”

She had eaten in the shop often enough. It was public. And he was good looking. “Sure.”

“Great. It’s going to be my treat,” he said.

She tossed her cigarette on the sidewalk and ground it out with her toe. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Sure I do. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me today.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY

Wednesday, April 21

5:15 p.m.

Jordan sat in the bathtub, her chin hovering over the waterline, her eyes closed. She tried to imagine how she had lived in this house when she had twenty-twenty vision. The sounds were all familiar. The hum of the air conditioner. A neighbor’s dog barking. The drip of the water from the faucet. The tick of her clock. It was all normal, until she opened her eyes.