Sinister

Sinister Read Free Page B

Book: Sinister Read Free
Author: Lisa Jackson
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only a few women could pull off without looking schoolmarmish. Toni was one. “Talking to yourself. Am I interrupting some morning affirmations?”
    Sabrina tapped the heavy stock card against her desk. “My invitation came. A little late, but it’s here.”
    She snatched it away for a closer look. “You must have been on the B-list.” At thirty-four, an ex–beauty pageant finalist, she was as smart as she was good-looking.
    “Just lost in the mail. But now it’s a problem because I don’t want to offend our biggest client, but there’s no way I can go.”
    “Why not?”
    “Colt could be there.”
    “So, that’s why every relationship you’ve had since has been lukewarm. Now I get it!” She shrugged; then, no longer teasing, added, “Look, you’ve both moved on, right? He has a family and bought a ranch up in Montana.”
    “Had a family,” Sabrina corrected a little too quickly. Colton had lost his wife and daughter in a terrible automobile accident.
    “That’s right.” Toni sucked her breath through her teeth. “That was tough, but it’s been a while. “The point is he does have a life, one without you.”
    “I know.”
    “And you, you’ve got this fantastic clinic with an even more fantastic partner.”
    Sabrina rolled her eyes, but the point was well taken. Her romance with Colton was ages ago. There was lots of water under that particular bridge. She pushed the reply card away on her desk. “You’re right.”
    “Scuttlebutt on the street is that Colton refuses to attend the wedding anyway. Besides, a big bash like this hits Prairie Creek once in a century. You can’t sit home just because you don’t want to run into an old boyfriend. Do you know that statistically, ninety percent of all childhood sweethearts don’t last?”
    “You’re making that up. And it’s easy for you to push me out there. You’ve already got a husband.”
    Antonia grabbed a pen from her pocket and leaned over the desk, turning the RSVP card her way. “You would think I was signing you up for the wet T-shirt contest in Jackson Hole.” She checked off a box, tucked the card into the small envelope and licked it. “Done. Now you’re committed, and you’re going to have a blast.”
    “Not likely.” Sabrina reached for the small envelope. “I’ll come up with an excuse.”
    “Nope.” Antonia scurried toward the door with the invitation behind her back. “Do it for our clinic. Think of the animals who need you to keep the peace with Ira Dillinger.”
    “That’s not fair.” Sabrina folded her arms.
    “It’s good business,” she said with a smile.
    “I’m telling you, I’m not going. I’ll get the flu.”
    Antonia held the envelope high. “Oh, Renee? I’ve got something that needs to go out in the mail today,” she called, disappearing down the hall.
    Sabrina made a sound of exasperation. Was she overreacting? Colton Dillinger had been out of her life for a lot longer than he’d been in it. He’d moved on long ago, and she sure as hell had tried to, though it had been something of a losing proposition.
    “But it doesn’t matter anymore,” she said aloud. Colton Dillinger was out of her life. Forever. He’d proved that well enough. And she’d moved on. After all, it had been eighteen years. Too long a time to carry a torch or hold a grudge.
    She heard the buzzer at the front door and looked up to see one of her patients—a corgi/beagle/God-knew-what-else mix of a dog and as bad-tempered a little beast as they came—being carried in by its owner.
    Pasting on a smile, she dropped the invitation from her mind, then headed down the hallway and into an examination room.
    “Hey, there,” she said to the dog, which promptly pulled its black lips into a snarl and, with wildly rolling eyes, started barking loud enough to raise the dead.
     
     
    “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Colton Dillinger told the cattle as he closed the door of the holding pen. The wind was howling outside,

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