Read His Strings to Pull for Free Online

Sky out, Jenny made her way home. She crawled into bed, her body tired but her mind too hyped up to sleep. She thought over her conversation with Sky for the hundredth time, and after a deep consultation with herself, she decided while her friend said those things because she cared about Jenny’s well-being, she was wrong where Ving was concerned. He was a great man and she could trust him. She was sure of it. With that last thought in mind, she fell asleep, anxious to see him first thing tomorrow morning.
    A bird outside Jenny’s window pulled her awake. She blinked her eyes open and groaned when she noticed that it was only six in the morning. She tossed and turned for half an hour, all the while thinking about Ving, and when she finally concluded that she wasn’t going to fall back to sleep, she pushed her covers off.
    She jumped from her bed, showered and dressed, then made her way to Sweetie’s Café. Knowing Ving had said he’d be up early to meet her at the pool, she decided to surprise him and the kids with a special breakfast before they all began their day. She ordered bagels, old-fashioned donuts and croissants, and two strong coffees for her and Ving. A short while later she drove down his street, stopping when she spotted his truck. She made her way to his door, taking note of the swingset in his backyard. Why would the set be in his yard and not the neighbor’s? Just as she was about to knock, the door flew open.
    She came face to face with the three kids he was babysitting, and the littlest girl, Kate, looked at the bag of goodies with bright-eyed enthusiasm.
    “Are those for us?” Andy asked.
    “They are.” She handed him the bag and looked past his shoulder, expecting to see Ving milling about. “Isn’t Ving up?”
    “No,” Marley, the oldest girl, said. She pointed toward the hall, to where Jenny assumed the bedrooms were. “And you don’t want to go in there. He’s grumpy.”
    “Grumpy? Why is he grumpy?”
    Kate rubbed her tired eyes. “Because he was up all night with Ella.”
    An uneasy feeling moved through Jenny as the seed of doubt Sky planted last night started blossoming inside her. “Ella?” Who the heck was Ella?
    The boy reached into the bag, pulled out a croissant, then handed the bag to Marley. “Yeah, and she was so loud, she kept us up all night long.”
    Kate plugged her ears, like she was reliving the god-awful noise.
    “No one got any sleep,” Marley said, grabbing a bagel.
    “He was supposed to take us to the pool,” Kate said, as she pulled a treat from the bag. “But every time we go in there to get him, Ella whines so he doesn’t want to leave her.”
    Jenny’s heart raced. What the heck was going on? Why would Ving be in bed with a girl when he was babysitting three kids, and why would Ella be so loud that they could hear her?
    Deciding to get to the bottom of matters, she looked at Andy and tried to keep her voice even when she said, “Why don’t you take your sisters to play on the swingset while I check on things.”
    “Sure,” he said around a mouthful of croissant.
    Once they disappeared through the door, Jenny made her way down the hall. She knocked quietly, worried about what she was going to find on the other side. For a second she thought about leaving and trying to put Ving out of her mind, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t possible, and she did want to get to the bottom of matters.
    “Come in,” he grumbled.
    Jenny sucked in a breath and held it as she opened the door, and when she saw a figure in bed beside him, her blonde hair splayed across the pillow, her heart fell into her stomach. As the image dredged up old memories, a lump pushed into her throat, and she gripped the doorframe.
    “Ving,” she managed to get out as her heart slammed in her chest. “What’s going on?”
    “Jenny,” he said, surprise in his voice as he jolted upright in bed. “What are you doing here?” He pushed the covers off, and slid his legs over the