Free Accidentally Yours by Susan Mallery Page A

Saturday,” Grant said. “Always a good time. I saw the lady you were with.” He consulted his notes. “Kerri Sullivan. Not your usual type.”
    “Maybe I’m stepping up to the next level.”
    “We all know that’s unlikely,” Grant said. He pulled a pen out of his inner jacket pocket. “So who is she? I mean, you can tell me now and save me the research. Not that I expect you to do me any favors.”
    “Kerri and I are friends.”
    “Bullshit. You, friends with a hairdresser from Songwood? No way.”
    Grant had a point, but Nathan wasn’t going to concede it. “Have you ever stopped to consider that in all the years you’ve been doing stories on me, you’ve never found anything out of the ordinary? I’m just a businessman, Grant. Nothing more.”
    Grant ignored that. “So what’s the deal with her? You’re workin’ something. I just have to figure out what it is.”
    Nathan wished briefly for a legal system that made it easier to get a restraining order against the press. But as Grant hadn’t committed any crimes, Nathan was left with the pain in his ass and little he could do about it.
    “No matter how hard you try,” he said, “you’ll never get into real journalism. Not now. You’ve been a hack for too long. The New York Times won’t come calling.”
    “That depends on what you’re hiding.”
    “I’m not hiding anything.”
    Grant stood and grinned. “That’s what they all say. But none of them are telling the truth. Neither are you, Nathan, and I’m going to find out what’s really going on.”
     
    K ERRI HUMMED as she dropped spoonfuls of chocolate-chip batter onto the baking sheet. She always tried to be a positive person, but these days it was actually easy. For once, everything was going well.
    Cody’s string of good days continued, making her secretly dream about an unexpected remission. Gilliar’s Disease wasn’t especially kind to its victims, but there had been rumors, more urban legend than documented medical fact, about remissions. Sometimes for months.
    Please God, let it be so, she thought, knowing time was what she needed the most. Time for Dr. Wallace and his team to find a way to, if not cure the disease, then at least stall it.
    In her battle against time, she felt like Captain Hook, of Peter Pan fame, constantly hearing the steady approach of the end. But for the first time in years, the ticking wasn’t quite so loud.
    She finished with the first pan and put it in heroven, then set the timer. She’d just started dropping batter onto the second pan when someone knocked on her front door.
    For a moment, Kerri wondered if it could be Nathan and found herself excited at the thought of seeing him again. She wouldn’t mind another round of tweaking the tiger’s tail and if he wanted to kiss her just to prove something, she wouldn’t object, even though she should.
    She was still grinning at the thought when she opened the door and saw Linda standing there. But her normally well dressed, pretty, calm friend looked disheveled and blotchy.
    “What’s wrong?” Kerri asked as she pulled her inside. “You’re not okay, so don’t pretend you are.”
    Tears filled Linda’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Desperately sorry. I didn’t know. I knew there were problems, that he blamed himself for what happened, but I never thought it would matter. That it would get in the way. I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.”
    Kerri went cold without even knowing why. “What are we talking about? What’s wrong?”
    Linda swallowed a sob, then wiped her face. “Abram. At the lab. He says he won’t hire the researchers, won’t open the lab up again. He says he’s the reason those people died before, when it exploded. That he killed the town and he won’t risk hurting anyone again. I told him no one blames him, but hedoesn’t believe me. I don’t think I can change his mind, Kerri. I walked out. I don’t know what to do.”
    Kerri went cold. It was as if her