Free Taking the Heat by Victoria Dahl Page A

horror and then made excuses never to see her again? They were both a little older and a lot more together. Lauren had already raised a kid and sent him off to college, and her new boyfriend was a silver-fox fire captain. And Isabelle was a successful artist who owned her own land and was dating a studly US marshal. Veronica really had nothing in common with either of them, but they’d still included her, inviting her along for girls’ nights out and treating her as an equal. She didn’t want them to know that she wasn’t an equal. Didn’t want to admit she was a fraud.
    But the next girls’ night was on Sunday. And she was getting a little tired of always being on guard. What if she treated them like real friends instead of just women who intimidated her?
    She had a few days to work up to it. She could always change her mind.
    Taking a deep breath, she took her notebook and marker from the drawer.
    #2
, she wrote,
Ask your friends for help.
She stuck it to the fridge and stared at it for a whole minute. It looked wrong up there by itself, so she set her jaw and pulled the first note from the trash to put it back in its place.
    Her stomach tensed at the sight of both notes together, but she nodded. Two tiny things. Two basic pieces of advice that she’d give anyone. Surely she could pull this off. She needed help from her friends, and the only way to get it was to reveal a few tiny bits of herself. No big deal. No problem.
    She turned off the kitchen light and took her computer to her room. She had a few days. She’d start dealing with her issues on Sunday. But today? Today she’d hide.
    She put in her earbuds, cranked up the music and started reading letters. And the letters started to help her feel halfway normal.

CHAPTER SIX
    G ABE   EYED L AUREN   as they shut down the library together. He’d been eyeing her all day, hoping that interacting with her would somehow help him understand Veronica better. Did Lauren know the truth? Did it even matter? It wasn’t as if Gabe could ask her about it.
    The girl he’d been flirting with last night was a virgin. The thought still stunned him, though he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was only that he’d assumed since college that any woman he might date was probably as experienced as he was, give or take a couple of partners.
    But Veronica had never had sex. Or she’d “pretty much” never had sex.
    He frowned at the shelves as he straightened a few books. What the hell had that meant? Had she said it just to drive him insane?
    Clearing his throat, he watched Lauren as she shut down the computer monitors. “I saw the Dear Veronica show last night,” he finally ventured as he hit the switch on the entryway lights.
    â€œOh, I was having dinner with Jake’s family and I couldn’t make it. Was it great?”
    â€œIt was pretty amazing,” he answered, wincing a little at how accurate that assessment was. He grabbed some paper towels and helped Lauren wipe down tables in the children’s section. “She’s really good at doing that in front of an audience.”
    â€œShe is!” Lauren beamed at him. “You wouldn’t believe how worried she was about it. But I knew she’d be great. She’s good at everything. She just needs a little more confidence.”
    Right. He nodded. “How long have you known her?”
    Lauren shot him a curious look that he pretended not to see. “About a year. I didn’t meet her until after she moved back to town.”
    â€œWhy’d she leave New York?”
    â€œI’m not sure. You should ask her about it.” Her smile wasn’t subtle.
    Gabe shook his head. “I’m just curious.” He left off the “because she asked me to have sex last night.”
    â€œGood,” Lauren said. “She’s very interesting.”
    That was putting it mildly. Veronica was so damn interesting, he couldn’t