Read Good Girls Do for Free Online Page A

you proud of all the research I’ve done?”
    Julia remained speechless.
    Angel continued with her explanation. “We all just need a little time to gather ourselves, to regain our beginner’s mind. You remember the Zen percept, right? Of bringing a clean slate and a pure mind to everything we do?”
    Julia nodded. That’s what she’d hoped to do in Serenity Falls. Start with a clean slate. Away from her wild family.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Angel continued. “But this time things are going to work out. Trust me.”
    If only Julia had a dollar for every time she’d heard her mother say those words. “What happened to your ice-cream store in Seattle?”
    “Exotic Gellato was doing very well.”
    “Then why start raising llamas?” And why say you’re moving in with me? Please let that be a joke. Not that her mother had that kind of a sense of humor.
    Angel bit her bottom lip. “Well, I may have invested a little too heavily in the newest exotic flavor.”
    “Which was?”
    “Garlic. Sales fell, and the next thing I knew, I had to close up.”
    Julia’s stomach sank. Great. Her family was broke. That’s why they were here. She was doomed. “Just like Friendly Franks. Remember that?”
    “Of course.” Angel tossed her scarf over her shoulder with a sense of flare. “The tofu hot dog stand did exceptionally well in California.”
    “But it was a bust in Fairbanks, Alaska.”
    “I still can’t believe it didn’t take off up there. There was such a crowd for the Ididerod. Other vendors have made enough in a few weeks to last them almost a year.”
    “Other vendors weren’t selling tofu hot dogs.”
    “They eat moose and caribou burgers. How was I supposed to know they would turn up their noses at tofu? A much healthier and kinder alternative, I’d like to point out. You make it sound like I didn’t have any successes. Being a New Age entrepreneur isn’t easy these days, but I have made a go of several projects. I mean, Wicca Wiggs in Mendocino was a big hit.”
    “Because witches have to look good, too.” Julia repeated her mother’s pitch.
    “They prefer to be called Wiccans. And Friendly Franks was a hit in Mendocino after that.”
    “Until you moved us up to Alaska,” Julia reminded her.
    “All the signs, tarot cards, and runes said I’d excel at a new project.”
    What Julia’s flighty mother really excelled at was moving on, from one wild endeavor to the next, one zany West Coast location to the next. She didn’t have a practical bone in her body. Success was completely irrelevant to her. The “cosmic trip” was the important thing.
    “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” Angel recited one of her favorite Chinese proverbs.
    Julia was tired of falling down. She’d come to Serenity Falls to get away from the world of chaos that surrounded her mother the way the scent of Chanel Number Five surrounded the mayor’s wife. All she wanted now was peace and quiet. And a gallon or two of caffeine.
     
     
    Luke sipped his coffee and reflected on his first night back in his hated hometown. Not that he was normally the reflective type. His philosophy was that too much thinking just made your head sore. Most things were better left alone. Forgotten. Erased.
    “You want more coffee?” The question came from Adele Adamson, the cook at Maguire’s Pub for as long as Luke could remember. Unlike the town, Adele had changed. She used to have long dark hair that she’d always worn in a braid down her back. Now her hair was cropped short. But she still had warm brown eyes and a crooked front tooth.
    “Thanks for meeting with me this morning,” Luke said.
    “No problem. You sleep okay?”
    Hell, no. He’d been awake most of the night.
    From the moment he’d stepped foot into Maguire’s Pub, he’d been hit with memories. The Marine Corps may have been maniacs about their rules and regulations, but they’d taught him one thing. Control.
    So after that first episode when he’d exited