Read Being Emma for Free Online Page A

behind her. Carter walked right up to her and she went into
his arms. They stood like that for a minute, then he pulled back a
little, lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. When he finally
kissed her, Janie could almost feel it too. The first kiss was
tender, but the second was such a deep, steamy one that Janie felt
singed by the heat, even from fifteen feet away. She gasped… Carter
backed Meg up against the door to kiss her deeply again. She
wrapped her arms around Carter’s neck. Then Janie sighed as he
planted little kisses all over Meg’s smiling face before going back
to her lips to give her another one of those incredibly sexy
kisses.
    Janie had
then backed up against a wall out of their sight… She had actually
broken out in a sweat. Who was she kidding? – Even if they had seen
her, they wouldn’t have seen her. Was that was it was all about? What her brothers and sister, mother and father,
and probably grandparents too had all maneuvered through those
treacherous relationship waters for — The Promised Land called
Love? She had taken a deep breath and then a few more. Her
breathing finally quieted… Carter and Meg walked by her then,
gazing happily at one another with arms around each other’s waists.
They still didn’t see her. She knew that from the look of
tenderness on Carter’s face towards her sister that lovemaking
would definitely be happening in their room tonight. She half
envied them… She wondered about that look of love on Carter’s face.
Did she want some man to look at her like that? Hmmm… the Carter
face….
    Dragging her thoughts back to the present,
Janie finished replacing the snacks and started taking them
outside. Had a man ever looked at her that way?
    Not counting her brothers, father and
grandfather, of course, there was a guy she dated once or twice in
high school. Nope, all he had given her were dopey looks and she
had dropped him. Placing the bowls around on tables outside, she
thought of James at work. No, he gave her only professional looks,
which was fine with her. Then there was Ethan… Huh… He gave her
mysterious looks sometimes. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking
and didn’t really want to find out.
    She glanced up and saw Craig talking with
Jesse and Audrey. Music was playing somewhere… Her mind was muddled
with all the different kinds of looks he gave her… Scolding looks…
smiling looks… disappointed looks… sulky looks… resigned looks…
confused looks… other looks she couldn’t identify. She had known
him all her life and yet stood there wondering what he really
thought of her. And why did she care?
    Craig saw her looking at him and came over.
She watched the tall, handsome man with curly brown hair and
sparkling eyes walk up to her.
    “ Are you
all right? You looked kinda… funny… even for you.” He laughed.
Craig had a nice laugh. Had she really ever seen him before? No, but a big No Trespassing
sign immediately appeared above his head. He was too good a friend
to risk losing. She gulped and gathered her wits around
her.
    “Yes… fine, thanks. Just hungry.” She smiled
at him. He took her by the hand.
    “Come on then.” He smiled at her. “Let’s get
you something to eat.”
    And he steered her over to the table where
she had just been working. It was laden with food and he handed her
a plate. “Fill ‘er up.” She laughed…
    Across
the patio, Jeanne and Sam were talking with Sheriff Moody and his
wife. Being an observant grandmother, Jeanne was always one of the
first to notice subtle changes in her grandchildren. She noticed
one now… She had watched as Janie came back outside reloading the
table with food. And then she watched as she stood distractedly
looking around, obviously deep in thought… When Janie honed in on
Craig and he had looked back at her, Jeanne’s antenna went
up. Oh
my , she thought.
Something was, indeed, afoot. As Craig and Janie sat down to eat,
Jeanne dragged herself back into the conversation