TICK TOCK RUN (Romantic Mystery Suspense) Read Free Page B

goodbye, gave me another sly wink, which puzzled me, then left to continue shopping on her own.  
    I walked back towards the car with Laura.
    The bruised sky began dropping rain, so we picked up the pace.  A man bumped me from behind as he barged past on the pavement, knocking my shopping bag out of my hand.  I picked it up off the ground, then faced him expecting an apology.  My stomach dropped heavily.  The face was familiar.  It was that of a muscular man struggling to open his umbrella. 
    “Sorry, Ladies,” Carl said, politely.  “Not broken anything, have I?”
    I shook my head.
    Laura nibbled her lip. 
    “Do you know what the time is?” he asked. 
    I shook my head again.  “Nope.  Sorry.”
    He smiled then walked away, almost ran. 
    “I’ve not seen him in ages,” Laura muttered.
    “I have.  I see him around town on my lunch break sometimes.”
    Carl was my date on the evening Laura’s parents died.  Horrific memories of that night came bulldozing back. 
    My mobile rang from inside my handbag and I was glad of the distraction.  To escape the rain, Laura and I dipped under the supermarket overhang.  I answered the call.
    “I may have found you a plus one for Laura’s wedding,” my friend Jayne’s bouncy voice chimed through the phone.
    “A what?”
    “A date , silly.  I know you don’t like me using that word.  You’re meeting Phillip tonight at 7pm at the café bar on Queen Street.”
    I ran a hand through my hair.  “Please don’t set me up, Jayne.  You never pick the right guys.  Besides, you know I’m not into—”  I gulped.  “ Dating .”
    “Look, everything’s arranged now.  You need to get back out there.  I think you’re ready.”
    “I’ll be the judge of that.”
    “Go on, Chelsea,” Jayne said. 
    “No.”
    “If you go, I promise I’ll not set you up again, unless you ask me to.”
    This part sounded tempting.  “Umm…”
    “Nice one.  Seven o’clock.  Have fun.”  She hung up. 
    I stared at my phone, rattled.  Oh, God.  What have I got myself into?   Jayne was wrong.  I wasn’t ready to put myself back into the dating game.  Not until Laura married Paul on Saturday.  Once she’d made a fresh start, maybe I could. 
    My gaze shifted to a sheepish-looking Laura.  “Did you know about this?”
    She sucked her lips in.
    Of course you did , I thought, as it dawned on me why she’d taken me clothes shopping.  “So who is he?  Spill.”
    We left the shelter, and made a run for it to Laura’s car. 
    She began reversing.  “Jayne bumped into a guy she knows in the pole-dancing bar yesterday.  Phillip is one of his friends.  I don’t know him, but Jayne said he’s great, just needs cheering up.”
    I groaned.  “Cheering up?  Screw this!  I’m cancelling.”  I lifted my bag to get my mobile, secretly pleased to have an excuse to call the date off.
    Laura removed her hand from the gear stick and set it on my arm.  “Give him a chance.  You deserve to find someone wonderful, like I have with Paul.  You don’t really want to stay single forever, do you?”
    I thought about the question and gave a little shake of my head.
    “I don’t blame you for what happened last year, Chelsea.  I’m not stupid.  I’m aware that’s why you avoid dating these days, and why you stopped seeing Carl.”
    I gazed out of the window and didn’t respond.
    “It’s like you’ve put a whole section of your life on hold to punish yourself.  Bad things happen and sometimes we can’t control them.  You’ve helped get my life back on track.  It’s time for you to do the same.”
    “Carl wasn’t my type anyway.  Too many muscles and too few brain cells.”
    “That’s beside the point.  Anyway, I would be so thrilled if you at least try to go out with a man again.” 
    “I’ve been on dates this year.”
    Laura rolled her eyes.  “Yeah, but we had to trick you into it.  And then you refused to answer the poor guy’s