Briar Rose Read Free Page A

at the lake during her short, but spectacularly doomed, relationship with Mike Roth. Which had led her to wonder why some boys were better at kissing than others. Just one of
life’s mysteries. She knew Pat would be a good kisser because anything he did, he did well. As she daydreamed about exactly how wonderful that might be, Reena jogged her elbow.
    ‘Helloooo? You still there? Let me guess, you were redecorating the castle, right?’
    It was Reena’s way of poking fun at Briar’s ‘obsession’, as she called it. It was her father’s fault: when Briar was four, he’d read her ‘Little Red
Riding Hood’ at bedtime. She’d come away from that experience with a true love of fairy tales and a morbid fear of wolves. From there she’d gone through the Disney phase where all
fairy tales ended happily ever after. Now she was solidly in the Brothers Grimm camp, where happy endings usually required a few corpses just to even things out.
    Then Patterson Daniels had moved to Bliss, every inch a Prince Charming.
    Briar wasn’t about to admit to her friend she’d been daydreaming about him sweeping her off her feet, how they’d melt into each other’s arms as they left Bliss in the
dust.
    ‘No, I was just . . . thinking about—’ she began.
    ‘Give it up, girlfriend,’ her friend cut in. ‘You keep chasing after guys with big egos and you’re going to get burned. Trust me on this.’
    Briar frowned, knowing this cold shower had nothing to do with her. This was fallout from Reena’s last big crush, a hunky guy from Savannah she’d met at a track-and-field meet.
Convinced he was the stuff of legend, she’d fallen for him hard, though he was a couple of years older than her. He’d made all the right moves at first, but it had ended badly when
he’d taken her for an unscheduled ride – in a stolen car.
    ‘Doesn’t mean anything bad will happen to me,’ Briar said quietly.
    Reena shook her head in exasperation. ‘I know – I just want you to find a nice guy. Someone whose brain isn’t in their pants.’
    ‘Like who? There’s no one like that in Bliss except maybe Joshua Quinn and that’s only because he’s more interested in horses than girls. Anyway, it would be a cold day
in hell before I let him kiss me!’
    Reena rolled her eyes. ‘Forget it. Josh is hot and he’s not an asshat like Pat. You’re just too blinded by your weird family grudge to notice.’
    Unbidden, the darker memories came now, how when she and Joshua were small they’d played together at preschool, then in kindergarten. They’d spent every minute together, until one of
them had died and come back to life. It had never been the same from that day forward.
    And it never will be again.

CHAPTER TWO

    To take advantage of the re-enactment spectators, a flea market had sprung up underneath the century-old magnolia trees in Bliss’s city park where folks browsed and
bought stuff they didn’t need. Nearby, the bandstand hosted a group of local guys playing bluegrass music, each sporting new beards in honour of Elmer Rose Month. Like many location
traditions, it didn’t make much sense: Elmer had never lived long enough to grow a beard.
    As Briar and Reena headed towards the shade, a visiting family rolled across the street, the littlest child in a stroller. She had bright red hair and was clutching a rag doll. As the elder kids
raced forward towards the swings, the doll tumbled on to the ground, left behind in the street. Briar stared at it, riveted by its button nose and the line of dark stitches for its mouth.
    The little girl turned and began to wail, pointing at her lost treasure. Reena didn’t hesitate, but dashed out to grab it, trained by her younger siblings that it was the only way to end
the racket. As she reached the middle of the street, a car turned the corner and accelerated, heading in her direction.
    Briar froze. Her voice wouldn’t come; her mouth wouldn’t work. She heard the screech of brakes, the