Free Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson Page B

some reason he wasn’t. “Are you afraid?”
    “Of?”
    She looked good and smelled better, and he answered, “Of about a dozen thirteen-year-old girls runnin’ around screamin’ and gigglin’ and blastin’ shitty music.”
    She almost smiled as she shook her head and stepped outside. “I’m busy.”
    “With the redhead?” He followed, and the door shut behind him. If he didn’t know himself better, he’d think he sounded jealous. Which was ridiculous. Even if he had an interest in pursuing something with Adele, which he didn’t, he wasn’t jealous of a redheaded math teacher.
    “Maybe.” She dug around in her purse and pulled out a set of keys. “Catching up with Cletus will be nice. After the week I’ve had, I’m ready for a good time.”
    “Good time?” He reached for the brim of his hat, slid it back, then settled it in the same place. “Impossible.”
    She stopped and looked up at him. “Not that I really care, but why?”
    “He’ll bruise like a peach.”
    “I’m going to talk to him.” She frowned and shook her head. “Not punch him.”
    Clearly they were talking about two different kinds of “good times.”
    “Hey, Z,” the middle-school football coach called out as he approached. “That was some game last weekend. Shame about Don.”
    Adele looked up at Zach and into the shadow his hat created. Z. That’s what everyone had called him at UT. Hearing it brought back a flood of memories. Memories of his smile and laughter. Of the touch of his hand in the small of her back.
    “How’s the boy doing?” the middle-school coach asked.
    “I just talked to his doctors up in Lubbock this morning. He’s doin’ good.”
    Adele took a step back. “Excuse me,” she said as she walked around Zach and headed toward the parking lot. She thought of the double-z tattoo circling his upper arm. The last time she’d seen it, they’d been naked, and she’d been running her hands and mouth all over his hard body.
    “Adele,” he called to her.
    A cool breeze blew a few strands of hair across her face as she looked back over her shoulder.
    “See ya around.”
    She didn’t answer, just kept on moving. Obviously, she was going to run into Zach now that Kendra would be spending so much time with Tiffany. She would be polite, but that was it. She didn’t feel anything for him anymore. She didn’t love him, but she wasn’t interested in reliving memories. She didn’t hate him, but she wasn’t interested in being friends.
    She and Kendra made the short drive to the hospital in just about ten minutes and showed Sherilyn the tryout video. Afterward, they drove through McDonald’s, and Adele had a salad while Kendra pigged out on a Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries, and a Coke. When they got back to the condo, Kendra did her homework while Adele did laundry.
    Over the next few days, Adele’s life settled a bit and fell into a pattern. She woke every morning, took Kendra to school, then jogged her five miles. She visited her sister in the hospital and listened to the latest updates on Sherilyn’s and the baby’s progress. Sherilyn would add to the to-do list, and Adele would run around town whittling it down the best she could. At around noon, she’d return home to work on the opening of her next book, a futuristic set in an alternate universe. During her breaks in writing, she caught up with her friends in Boise via e-mail. She’d met the three other writers years ago when they’d all attended the same librarian conference. The things they’d had in common—deadlines, writers’ block, and bad relationships—had made them fast friends. And even though Adele was the only one suffering from bad relationships these days, they were still great friends. Once Sherilyn had her baby, and everything was fine, Adele could not wait to go home and catch up in person.
    By the time Saturday rolled around, Adele was ready for a break. Cletus Sawyer had called during the week to say he’d pick her up