Read Thinking of You for Free Online Page A

teases him. I mean, can’t the woman get a grip? Doesn’t she realize she’s ruining his whole life?”
    Poor Davy. Poor Davy’s mother. Poor her . Feeling sick, Ginny drank some water. Part of her was relieved that Jem hadn’t an inkling how utterly bereft she felt. The other part realized that, clearly, from now on, she was never ever going to be able to admit it.
    â€œShe doesn’t mean to,” Ginny protested on Davy’s mother’s behalf.
    â€œYes, but it’s so… pathetic! I mean, it’s not as if we’re babies anymore.” Jem waved her fork around for emphasis. “We’re adults .”
    â€œIt’s not very adult to tease a boy just because he’s still living at home.” Ginny recalled how Jem, as a toddler, had sat in her highchair imperiously waving her plastic fork in exactly that fashion. “I hope you haven’t been mean to him.”
    â€œOh, Mum, of course I haven’t been mean. It’s just a bit of a nerdy thing to do, isn’t it? And it means he doesn’t fit in. It’s like if a crowd of us go out for a drink we always pile back to somebody’s rooms or flat afterward for beer. But what can Davy do, invite everyone round to his mum’s house? Imagine that! Sipping tea out of the best china, having to sit up straight and make polite conversation with somebody’s mother .”
    Ginny winced inwardly. Why didn’t Jem just stab her all over with the fork? It couldn’t hurt any more than this.
    â€œDon’t bother with him. Just leave him to get on with it.” Gavin, who was to political correctness what Mr. Bean was to juggling, said, “Concentrate on your other friends. That one sounds like a nancy boy, if you ask me.”
    ***
    Ginny was balanced on a stepladder singing along to the radio at the top of her voice when she heard the distant sound of the front doorbell. It took a while to wipe her hands on a cloth, clamber off the ladder, and gallop downstairs.
    By the time she reached the hall, Carla was shouting through the letterbox, “I know you’re in there; I can hear all the horrible noise. Are you crying again? Come on, answer the door. I’ve come to cheer you up, because that’s the kind of lovely, thoughtful person I am.”
    Ginny opened the door, touched by her concern. “That’s really kind of you.”
    â€œPlus I need to borrow your hairdryer because mine’s blown up.” Impressed, Carla said, “Hey, you’re not crying.”
    â€œWell spotted.”
    â€œYou’re wearing truly revolting dungarees.”
    â€œNot much gets past you, Miss Marple.”
    â€œAnd there’s bright yellow stuff all over your face and hands.” Carla paused, considered the evidence, and narrowed her eyes shrewdly. “I conclude that you have been having a fight in a bath of custard.”
    â€œYou see? That’s why the police never take a blind bit of notice when you try and interfere with their investigations.”
    Carla grinned and followed her into the kitchen. “Any man having his ‘investigations’ interfered with by me is definitely going to take notice. So what’s brought all this on? What are you painting?”
    â€œSpare bedroom.”
    Carla, who was no DIYer, raised her eyebrows. “For any particular reason?”
    â€œOh yes.”
    â€œAm I allowed to ask why?”
    Ginny made two mugs of tea and tore open a packet of caramel wafers. “Because I’ve had enough of feeling sorry for myself. It’s time to sort myself out and make things happen.”
    â€œWell, good. But I don’t quite see where decorating the house comes in.”
    â€œJem rang last night. She and Lucy were on their way out to a party. She sounded so happy,” said Ginny. “They’re having such fun together. Lucy got chatting to one of the boys from the rugby team and he invited her and Jem