Free The Guest List by Fern Michaels Page B

don’t even think about it until I catch someone staring at me. It’s bothering me today.”
    “Get over it. It doesn’t bother me, and obviously it doesn’t bother Connor. The others are okay with it, too. You know something, Abby, no one has ever mentioned it to me. You’d think they would, us being roommates and all. I think that says a lot for our friends. It’s what’s inside that counts. So, are you ready? Why in the hell did we ever say we wanted to go sledding anyway?”
    Abby shrugged. “It’s something you’re supposed to do when it snows. We used to go to the mountains in North Carolina to ski and stuff. I love snow. I think I love sunshine more, though.”She sat down on the edge of the bed to put her socks on. “You want to come home with me for Christmas, Bunny?”
    “Are you kidding! I’d love to. My parents are going to my sister’s ranch in Oklahoma because she just had twins. With all those kids and animals they won’t miss me a bit. Are you sure it’s okay?”
    “I’m positive.”
    Bunny smiled, showing even white teeth. “Then I accept.”
    “Great. You’ll be the first guest in my bedroom. Donovan got me twin beds in case I ever wanted to invite someone to spend the night. Someone of the female gender,” she qualified.
    “I’m honored,” Bunny quipped.
    “And well you should be.” Abby was pulling on her gloves by the window when she saw a red truck pull up in front of the dorm. “No one said we had to ride in the back of a pickup truck.”
    “Just out of curiosity, Abby, how did you think we were going to get the sleds to the hill?” Bunny asked smugly.
    “Pull them.”
    “Five miles? We’d die in our tracks.”
    “Oh.”
    They ran out the front door, down the steps, to the street.
    “Pile in,” someone yelled.
    “Hi, Abby, how’s it going?” Connor asked as he helped her into the truck bed.
    “Good, except this long underwear Bunny insisted I wear is so scratchy it’s driving me crazy.”
    “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’ll freeze up around the same time you do. Let’s roll, guys.”
    Abby almost swooned. She was actually on a date with a guy. A guy who wasn’t put off by her birthmark, a guy she’d just told that she wore long underwear. Carol was so right. College life was absolutely wonderful. Better than wonderful. In a word, spectacular.
    * * *
    “God, this is heavenly,” Bunny said, cupping her hands around a huge mug of hot mulled cider. “The snow was perfect for sledding. I only fell off once.”
    “I wish I could say that,” Abby said, laughing. “I was in the snow more than I was on the sled. This guy is one crazy driver,” she said, pointing to Connor. “Ooh. This awful underwear is driving me crazy.” My God, did she just say that? Obviously she did since everyone was laughing.
    She felt good, better than good. Fantastic! It was fun to be a part of a group and even more fun to flirt.
    “Hey, guys, guess what?” Bunny shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “Abby invited me to go to Charleston with her for Christmas. I’m going. What do you think of that?”
    “I think you should invite all of us. We all,” Connor said, waving his arms, “live in places where we won’t see warm temperatures until spring.”
    Abby held up her hands to stop him from going any further. “I don’t think my family would know what to do if you all showed up on their doorstep. You have to start out small and work up to a group. How about next year?”
    “It’s a date, my dear.” Connor leered. Abby’s face flamed. She turned to the side, knowing her birthmark was going to stand out like a neon sign. Suddenly she felt her chin being cupped in one very large hand. “Don’t do that,” Connor said softly, for her ears alone.
    Abby wanted to cry, to blurt out all her pain and misery. From somewhere deep inside her she dredged up some courage, and said, “It’s just that when I get embarrassed or excited, it gets really dark. People