Free Baby, It's You by Jane Graves Page A

all.”
    Nina smiled. “Uh-huh.”
    Marc thought about biting back, but that only encouraged her to be even more of a pain in the ass. She was one of those believers in soul mates, one man for one woman, love everlasting. That was the kind of relationship she and her husband Curtis had. Ever since his death in an industrial accident a year ago, she hadn’t so much as looked at another man. It was only now that she’d even begun to smile again. So at least if she was bugging Marc about his love life, she was back to being the sister he remembered.
    Marc left the shop, walked the two blocks to Animal House, and trotted up the steps to the porch. He went inside and walked to the front desk. Gus was nowhere to be seen.
    Marc turned and looked across the entryway. Glancing through the parlor door, he saw a woman sitting on the sofa. She had her head in her hands and her elbows resting on her knees. She wore a dress in a bold floral pattern that was so bright it just about blinded him, with tiny straps that went over her suntanned shoulders. His gaze traveled from the spot just above her knees where her dress stopped all the way down to her sparkly blue sandals and her toenails, which were painted an iridescent pink, admiring the most beautiful legs he’d seen in some time. But it was her hair that really caught his attention. It cascaded in wild waves over her shoulders like a copper waterfall. Nice. Very nice. Then she lifted her head.
    Good God, it was Kari.
    He couldn’t have imagined her looking like this today when she’d looked like that last night. When she’d been muddy and wet, he would have had a hard time guessing her age. Looking at her now, though, he could see she was probably in her late twenties. Too young for you , he told himself, but he just couldn’t seem to stop staring. So this was the woman who’d been hiding under dirt and rain and that ridiculous wedding dress?
    Stop gawking. You’re here for a reason.
    But before he could go into the parlor to talk to her, he heard the door to the inn open behind him. He turned to see a man and a woman come inside. The woman was tall with blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore a pair of jeans and a tank top, and in her arms was a small dog that looked like a cross between some kind of terrier and a rag mop. The man wore slacks and a polo shirt, looking as if he’d been heading to a country club and lost his way.
    Kari stood up. “Jill!”
    The woman turned at the sound of Kari’s voice. She let the dog down, and he ran to Kari. She scooped him up, and he licked every inch of her face, squirming like a worm on the end of a hook.
    “Boo! Sweetie! I missed you so much!”
    Then Jill came into the parlor, and Kari hugged them both at once. Marc had no idea who these people were, but her friends showing up could only be a good thing.
    “I’m so glad to see you,” Kari said. “But what are you doing here? I told you I’m not going back to Houston. Not yet.”
    “I know, but…”
    “But what?”
    “Well…”
    “ What? ”
    “Greg came with me.”
    The man walked into the parlor, and Kari’s mouth fell open. “Jill! I told you not to tell him where I was!”
    “I’m sorry,” Jill said. “But I thought you two needed to talk.”
    “I don’t want to talk!”
    “No,” Greg said as he walked toward Kari. “We definitely need to talk.”
    Kari hugged her dog closer and refused to look at him. He stopped in front of her.
    “Kari, I love you,” he said. “Don’t you know that?”
    Kari was silent.
    “Do you know how I felt when I realized you were gone?”
    “I’m sorry about that,” she said. “I know it wasn’t the best way to deal with it, but—”
    “Never mind. Forget it. All I want is for us to be married.”
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “You thought it was a good idea when I gave you the ring,” Greg said, his voice edging into impatience. “And when we had our engagement party. And during our rehearsal