Free Curse of the Wickeds (The Cinderella Society, Episode 2) by Kay Cassidy Page B

chest, thanks.
    “Wow.” This news clearly blew him away. Nothing like clueing in a potential boyfriend that no one else wants you. At least I hadn’t mentioned that I’d pseudo-dated once. That debacle was the last thing Ryan needed to know about.  
    “Wow,” he said again. “That’s—”
    Loserish.
    “—pretty cool,” he finished. “We’re going through this together.”
    In what universe? “You’ve had a million girlfriends. And that’s just since I moved here.”
    “That was harsh. I’m not a player, Jess.”
    “I didn’t mean it like that. But you’re a lot more experienced than I am.”
    “Not when there’s a connection like this. That’s a first for me. It’s like . . .”
    I thought of that scene in Sleepless in Seattle that always made Mom cry. “Magic.”
    “What?”
    Had I said that out loud too?! “Huh? Nothing. Just a yawn.” Must shut mouth!
    “Magic,” he said, trying it on for size. “Yeah.”
    My skin tingled all the way to my toes.
    I heard Ryan yawn, which made me yawn for real this time. “I’m glad you were still awake,” he said. “I never get tired of talking to you.”
    “Same here.” I could talk to Ryan for hours. “I’m glad you called.”
    “Me too. I have to get up early for work, so I’d better get going,” he said, his reluctance obvious enough to make me smile through my disappointment. “But Jess?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I hope you dream about the lake.”

Chapter Fifteen

    After a long night spent beating myself up for admitting I was the Dateless Wonder to the first guy to take an interest in me since Dan had shown up in our old backyard for a game of Frisbee, I was pretty much the walking wounded by the time Mom and I waddled into the yuppie-mom heaven known as Babies ‘R’ Everywhere. Things had been going so great until I’d spilled about my lack of dating savvy. Why couldn’t I be smooth with guys? Just one time?
    To top it off, now I was stuck in my personal version of Hades. The land of babies and pregnant women with impossible to predict mood swings. Yes, I’d been the one to suggest the outing as a bribe for not making it home for dinner in the early days of my CMM work. But now . . . now I could see the error of my ways. I’d thought it would just appease her. Instead, she saw it as me taking an active interest in preparing for the babies.
    The fatal flaw in my plan had been revealed.
    First, we hit the ever-important rocking chairs. Two full rows of them lined up like an assembly line for moms-to-be, putting mine over the edge. A woman who was once famous for her brilliant snap decisions was reduced to an indecisive mess.
    “I like the blue and the beige,” she said, running her hand over the twill cushions. “But should we get two of the same or one of each?”
    This is my penance. “Whatever you want,” I said, forcing a smile. I propped my feet up on a footrest and discovered it moved just like the glider. Cool, not that I’d point it out to Mom.
    She walked halfway down the aisle in the other direction. “I like the natural wood finish, but I don’t know if it’s too light. They don’t make a rocking chair that coordinates with the other furniture I chose, so I’m not sure if I should coordinate or go with something that’s different.”
    “They’re babies, Mom. Do you really think they’ll care?”
    “Of course they won’t. But other people will see it when they come to see the babies.”
    “Like who?”
    As soon as it was out there, I regretted it. Nan had been trying to convince Mom to move back to Mt. Sterling for years, but Mom’s high school days were something she’d rather forget. Her friends had been kids like her, the ones totally rebelling against their free-spirited parents. Just like Mom, they scattered to the winds after graduation. Unlike Mom, they hadn’t returned twenty years later to raise a family in their hometown when—surprise, surprise!—they ended up pregnant with twins at age