Read The Girl from Her Mirror (Mirrors Don't Lie Book 1) for Free Online

though Makenna had imagined the
couple celebrating an anniversary, the newcomers were not a matched set. The
woman was short and… round. Makenna tried to think of a kinder word of
description, but none came to mind. It wasn’t simply a matter of being
overweight; the woman was truly spherical. A smiling round face peeked from
beneath a puffy cloud of pale gold, her hair fashioned into an inflated
bouffant. With little sign of a neck, her shoulders sloped downward, curling
into beefy arms that hugged her bulbous body like quotation marks. The woman’s
mid-section was round and full, with no definable waist beneath her peach
colored pantsuit. Short, bowed legs kept her low to the ground and her feet had
a tendency to point inward, completing the illusion of circularity. ‘Round’ was
the only way to adequately describe the woman.
    The man with her was her polar opposite.
He towered over her, tall, straight, and thin to the point of gauntness. Where
her arms jutted outward, his hung straight and limp from bony shoulders. His
pearl-snap western shirt, still so new it sported factory-fold creases, was a
baggy fit on his angular frame. The man was all hard lines and angles,
including the downward slant of his
mouth.        
    Hardin stood during the introductions,
when the newcomers identified themselves as Bob and Lisa Lewis. After a round
of thank-yous and how-do-you-dos, he reclaimed his place at Makenna’s
side. 
    “I believe we may have been on the same
flight,” Lisa said as they settled into their seats. She had a high pitched,
nasal voice that bordered on a whine. “Did you board in Austin, or was it a
connecting flight?”
    “We boarded there,” Hardin answered for
them both.
    “Us, too. We live in Seguin. What about
you?”
    “I live in Austin,” Makenna supplied.
    “Gruene.”
    Makenna slipped her gaze to Hardin.
Where had her charming dinner companion gone? The man beside her now was brief
and reserved, even borderline brusque. Granted, Lisa Lewis’ voice did grate on
the nerves, but she could feel the tight coil of Hardin’s body next to hers;
something else about this couple put him on edge.
    As the waiter handed them each a dessert
menu, they perused the selections in silence, until Lisa declared that
everything looked delicious and Bob complained he hardly had room for dessert.
Lisa finally settled on an apple dumpling and her husband ordered an éclair;
Makenna and Hardin elected to share the over-sized brownie a la mode.
    “So what brings you two up here?” Lisa
asked after the waiter moved away. 
    Makenna motioned for Hardin to answer
first. “I’m training for the Ride for the Hills Cancer Charity.”
    “Ooh, you’re a cyclist,” she cooed in a
voice intended to be sultry. Her eyes slid over Hardin with lingering
appreciation, causing him to squirm. If Bob noticed, he didn’t appear to be
nearly as uncomfortable as the man beneath her hungry gaze was.
    With obvious reluctance, the rounded
woman pulled her eyes away from Hardin and settled her attention on Makenna.
“And you, dear? Just along for the ride?”
    “No. Actually, we aren’t traveling
together,” Makenna explained. She felt Hardin stiffen beside her, but she was
already living with enough lies; she saw no reason to complicate matters worse
with yet another misconception. “I’m here on an assignment for Now Magazine .”
    “Oh, you’re a reporter? How exciting!
Are you writing a story?”
    “I’m a photojournalist. I’m here
covering a controversial new power line that’s scheduled to come through the
area.”
    “Ooh, yes, we saw the signs!” Lisa’s
circular head bobbed up and down, causing her full cheeks to dance merrily. She
slapped the back of her hand against her husband’s arm, drawing a grunt. “What
did those signs say, Bob? ‘Fight the Giant’, or something like that?”
    “Saw something like that,” he agreed.
Where her voice was high and lilting, his was deep and flat. “Seems they