"Jason was a piece of work, wasn't he?" Lara shook her head as she drove them home. "He was." Ryan paused, trying to get a sense of Lara's mood. "No worse than usual, I guess, but he does get under my skin. I think he does it on purpose." "Yeah. God." Lara smacked the steering wheel. "'Too bad you didn't get an earlier date?' Next time he can plan the damn gigs. I don’t see him offering to help. He won't even put up any f...

A few days later, Brody huffed out a breath as he dropped onto the bench in the dressing room. He grabbed some Gatorade and gulped it down, exchanging high-fives with his teammates as they filed past. "Good job." Chuck Baxter clapped him on the shoulder as he dropped to the bench next to him. "Now we just have to do it all again next game." "No problem." Brody grinned. "Give me ten minutes." Baxter laughed and started unl...

© 2011 All Rights Reserved A week later, Ryan was pleased to be in a soft cast. Her ankle hurt far less and she was off her crutches, but she couldn't wait to be done with the whole damn thing. At least, she thought as she came in from work, she wasn't thinking about how it had happened every time she walked more than a block. Just a few more days, she reminded herself as she stared at the contents of the fridge. She frow...

Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch 04 © 2011 All rights reserved Brody stared at the screen. " This is what you watch when you're upset?" "I warned you." Ryan reached into the bag of chips. "You're the one who wanted to make the bet." "You are . . . different," Brody said. "I mean, most girls I know, they'd be sniffling through The Notebook or something. Eating a gallon of ice cream and watching Titanic. When you said dark, I fi...

Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch 03 © 2011 All rights reserved "Hi, Mom," Ryan said. "Hi, sweetie. How are you? I've been worried about you. Maybe you should come home while you heal up." "I'm fine, Mom. Really, I'm fine. I promise." Ryan stared at the ceiling. "The insurance is covering it. I can come off the crutches this week, and they'll give me a soft cast for a week or so." "I called you last night but you didn't answer....

Rhythm and the Blue Line Ch 02 © 2011 All rights reserved "So, Mark, what's the story with Ryan?" Brody asked a couple of days later. They sat in the dressing room, lacing up their skates before practice. "What?" Mark looked up. "What story?" Brody shrugged. "She seeing anybody?" Mark narrowed his eyes. "I don't know. Why?" "Just curious." "I don't think she's your type." "My type?" Brody raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" Mar...

© 2011 All rights reserved "I gotta go, man," said Mark. "I told Hilary I'd meet her." "Right." Brody grinned. "You're just mad because I was kicking your ass at Madden." Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's it. I'm so pissed about losing that I'm using my girlfriend as an excuse. Jesus, Brody." Brody snickered. "You have been whipped since she moved in with you." "Just get out." Mark glared at him. "Man, I never thought I...

Pretending Ch. 09 © 2009 All Right Reserved Connie let the water run down on her from the shower head after she'd finished. The hot water felt wonderful after such a long day. She turned off the water, wrapped her hair in one towel and grabbed another for her body. While she'd been in there, she'd gone back over what Emily had said. Her sister was right. She needed to tell him, and tell him now. She tucked in the corner o...

Pretending Ch. 08 © 2009 All rights reserved Emily proved prophetic. Despite Simon's grandiose claims, John had wiped out both him and Edward in a few short hands. He was more than happy to see Emily and Connie return. Lydia came in a few moments later, and headed into the kitchen to make coffee and tea to go with their pumpkin pie. Overstuffed from dinner, there had been unanimous agreement to save the pie until it could...

Pretending Ch 07 © 2009 All Rights Reserved "Connie!" Emily shouted at her sister happily while sitting on the front porch. Connie grinned as she stretched. She hadn't seen Emily in months. She got a shock, though, when Emily stood up—Emily was pregnant! "Em!" She ran over to hug her sister. They embraced, then Connie stepped back, looking at Emily's slightly rounded figure. "When did this happen? How far along are you? W...

Pretending Ch. 02 © 2009 All Rights Reserved Sunlight peeked through the blinds and prodded Connie awake. She took a moment to orient herself. I don’t have piles of books on top of my computer, she thought. Then she remembered where she was and turned her head. Simon lay behind her, his hand on her waist, sleeping like a log. Her first instinct was to jump out of the bed, but she resisted. That would wake Simon up, and sh...

Pretending Ch. 05 © 2009 All Rights Reserved "Rachel! Rachel, look out!" Connie was shouting and pointing, but nothing was coming out. The SUV loomed larger and larger as it approached from behind. Connie had seen it in the side mirror and watched in horror as it grew and grew, until the grille filled the little glass. Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear, she thought with dread. Suddenly the little Corolla w...

Pretending Ch. 04 © 2009 All Rights Reserved Neither of them mentioned the kiss after that. They did agree to Simon's idea of going on dates and acting like a "real" couple. Connie found she couldn't keep her guard up all the time. More than once she realized she had forgotten the "pretend" part of the whole thing, and she gave up on trying to keep a mental buffer. She rationalized that it would make things look more conv...

Pretending Ch. 03 © 2009 All Rights Reserved Dinner and a movie did wonders for both Connie and Simon. Connie felt much better that she'd told him, and Simon was relieved to find he hadn't done anything to offend or scare her. The weekend was too cold to do much, although they did get out for groceries. Simon teased her and said she should cook for the next week to make up for him having to live on ramen noodles while she...

Pretending Ch. 2 © 2009 All Rights Reserved Simon was frustrated over the next few days. Connie went to lengths to avoid him, although since they lived together, she couldn't avoid him all the time. After three days, frustration turned to a strange sort of admiration. It was impressive how she managed to see him for the barest minimum of time every day. She left early, came home late, then went straight to her room. He wo...