Free The Sign of Seven Trilogy by Nora Roberts

this out.”
    â€œI can try to go back again.”
    â€œNot unless Gage is here. We can’t risk it unless we’re together. It’s not worth it, Cal. The other times you only got bits and pieces, and took a hell of a beating for it.”
    â€œOlder and wiser now. And I’m thinking, if it’s showing itself now—our dreams, what happened to Quinn—it’s expending energy. I might get more than I have before.”
    â€œNot without Gage. That’s…Hmm,” he said as his attention wandered over his friend’s shoulder. “Fresh flowers.”
    Glancing back, Cal saw Quinn standing behind lane one, her coat open and a bemused expression on her face as she watched Myers, graceful as a hippo in toe shoes, make his approach and release his lucky red ball.
    â€œThat’s Quinn.”
    â€œYeah, I recognized her. I read the books, too. She’s hotter than her picture, and that was pretty hot.”
    â€œI saw her first.”
    Fox snorted, shifted his eyes to sneer at Cal. “Dude, it’s not about who saw her first, it’s who she sees. I pull out the full power of my sexual charm, and you’ll be the Invisible Man.”
    â€œShit. The full power of your sexual charm wouldn’t light up a forty-watt bulb.”
    Cal pushed off the stool when Quinn walked toward him.
    â€œSo this is why I got the brush-off tonight,” she said. “Pizza, beer, and bowling.”
    â€œThe Hawkins Hollow hat trick. I’m on manager duty tonight. Quinn, this is Fox O’Dell.”
    â€œThe second part of the triad.” She shook Fox’s hand. “Now I’m doubly glad I decided to check out what seems to be the town’s hot spot. Mind if I join you?”
    â€œWouldn’t have it any other way. Buy you a beer?” Fox asked.
    â€œBoy, could you, but…make it a light one.”
    Cal stepped back to swing around the counter. “I’ll take care of it. Anything to go with it? Pizza?”
    â€œOh.” She looked at the pizza on the counter with eyes that went suddenly dewy. “Um, I don’t suppose you have any with whole-wheat crust and low-fat mozzarella?”
    â€œHealth nut?” Fox asked.
    â€œJust the opposite.” Quinn bit her bottom lip. “I’m in a lifestyle change. Damn it, that really looks good. How about if we cut one of those slices in half.” She sawed the side of her hand over the plate.
    â€œNo problem.”
    Cal got a pizza cutter and slid it down a slice.
    â€œI love fat and sugar like a mother loves her child,” Quinn told Fox. “I’m trying to eat more sensibly.”
    â€œMy parents are vegetarians,” Fox said as they each picked up a half slice. “I grew up on tofu and alfalfa.”
    â€œGod. That’s so sad.”
    â€œWhich is why he ate at my house whenever he could manage it, and spent all his money on Little Debbies and Slim Jims.”
    â€œLittle Debbies are food for the gods.” She smiled at Cal when he set her beer on the counter. “I like your town. I took a walk up and down several blocks of Main Street. And since I was freezing my ass off, went back to the really charming Hotel Hollow, sat on my windowsill, and watched the world go by.”
    â€œNice world,” Cal said, “that moves a little slow this time of year.”
    â€œUmm,” was her agreement as she took a minute bite of the point of her narrow triangle of pizza. She closed her eyes on a sigh. “It is good. I was hoping, being bowling-alley pizza, it wouldn’t be.”
    â€œWe do okay. Gino’s across the street is better, and has more selections.”
    She opened her eyes to find him smiling at her. “That’s a lousy thing to tell a woman in the middle of a lifestyle change.”
    Cal leaned on the counter, bringing that smile a little closer, and Quinn found herself losing her train of thought. He had the best quick