Read Every Breath You Take for Free Online Page B

with him, Kate?” she said warily.
    “He’s much too thin, he needs a bath, and he’s never seen a hairbrush.”
    “My God!”
    “And he has four legs.”
    “Now, that’s a problem you can’t fix,” Holly laughed. “Are we talking about a dog or a cat here?”
    “A very big dog,” Kate confirmed, grinning as she gave the dog the last of the bacon and wiped her fingerson the napkin. “He reminds me of a dog you rescued a long time ago—the one that took us forever to catch. He had short tan hair and a black muzzle. I think you said his breed was originally used to chase tigers and tire them out.”
    “Not tigers, lions,” Holly said. “That dog was a Rhodesian ridgeback.”
    “Well, Max doesn’t have a ridge on his back and he’s definitely a stray. He has two scruffy girlfriends, much smaller than he is, and they always join us for meals, but Max has started dropping by without them, just to say hello. He’s a bit of a flirt.”
    “While we’re on the subject of flirting, will you do me one little favor while you’re stuck there all by yourself, because Evan is ‘too busy’ to get down there?”
    “What sort of favor?” Kate asked, instantly wary of Holly’s change in tone.
    “Are there any attractive unmarried
human
males staying at the hotel?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Okay, then have you seen a decent-looking doorman? A cute bellboy?”
    “Why do you ask?”
    “Because it would make me deliriously happy if I thought you’d had a fling with one of them while Evan was paying the damned hotel bill,” Holly said spitefully.
    Kate smothered a laugh. “Okay.”
    The anger in Holly’s voice turned to surprise. “You’ll do it?”
    “No,” Kate said with a wayward smile, “but I’ll let you think I did, if that will make you ‘deliriously happy.’”
    Bantering with Holly had lifted Kate’s spirits a little, and when she hung up, she tried to decide how best to keep herself occupied. She could go for a swim and then have a late lunch in the Sandbar, a cozy little restaurantwith a covered patio and Moorish arches. It had a splendid view of the bay, and if she didn’t feel like staring at the water, she could read the book she’d bought at O’Hare Airport called
Coping with Grief
.
    If she didn’t want to do that, she could start making a list of the tasks she needed to take care of as soon as she got back to Chicago. She had things she needed to handle at the restaurant, now that she was solely responsible for it, and she also had dozens of things to take care of relating to her father’s death and his estate.
    Normally, the simple act of writing things down in orderly lists made Kate feel much better and more able to cope. In fact, she made lists all the time when she was under pressure—lists of tasks to handle, in order of importance, and lists of pros and cons when she had a difficult decision to make. Holly teased her about being a compulsive list maker, but it worked for Kate.
    Now that she had a plan for the afternoon, Kate felt better and more energized. Before another bout of sadness and helplessness could wear her down, she changed into a yellow bathing suit and wrapped a matching sarong-style cover-up around her waist; then she put her book and a tablet from the desk drawer into a green canvas tote bag she was using as a combination purse and beach bag, and she left for the beach. First an invigorating swim and then a delicious lunch.
    A young waiter materialized the instant Kate’s sandal touched the patio outside the Sandbar, but when he started to lead her to the only vacant table, she hesitated. For one thing, she needed to get away from the tropical sunlight before it scorched her fair skin right through her sunscreen. For another, the three teenage boys with the bodyguard were eating at the next table. They’d already tried their youthful, persistent best to flirt with her yesterday, and now they were eyeing herwith renewed hope. “I think I’d rather