12bis Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich Read Free Book Online

phone.
     
    "Your sister is coming over for dinner tonight," my mother said. "I'm making lasagna, and I've got an ice-cream cake for dessert. I thought you would want to come."
     
    "I think I might be working tonight."
     
    "What, you can't take time out to eat? Everybody has to eat."
     
    "Yes, but I have a partner—"
     
    "There's always extra. Bring your partner. Is it Lula?"
     
    "No."
     
    "Is it Ranger?"
     
    "No."
     
    "Who is it?"
     
    "Diesel."
     
    Silence.
     
    "From that Christmas where our tree burned up?" my mother finally asked.
     
    "Yeah."
     
    I imagined her making the sign of the cross.
     
    "What are you doing with Diesel?" she asked. "No, don't tell me. I don't want to know."
     
Chapter 5
     
    It was midmorning and clouds were creeping in above us. We were in front of Jeanine Chans house, and we were reading her file,
     
    "Not much here," Diesel said. "She's thirty-five. Single. Never been married. No kids. She works at the button factory. File says she has a problem."
     
    Jeanine lived in a single-story, low-rent row house about a quarter mile from my parents' house in the Burg. There were twenty-one units to a block. They were all redbrick. Front doors opened to small stoops that were directly on the sidewalk. Back doors opened to tiny yards that bordered an alley. Two bedrooms, one bath, small eat-in kitchen. No garages. All the units were identical.
     
    I rang the bell twice, the door opened a crack, and Jeanine looked out. "Yes?" she asked.
     
    "We're looking for Jeanine Chan," I said.
     
    "I'm Jeanine."
     
    She was maybe an inch shorter than me. She had brown almond-shaped eyes and shoulder-length dark brown hair.
     
    She was slim and dressed in a gray shapeless sweatshirt and matching sweatpants.
     
    I introduced myself, and then I introduced Diesel.
     
    Jeanine's eyes sort of glazed over when she saw Diesel.
     
    "Annie suggested you might have a problem," I said to Jeanine.
     
    "Who, me?" Jeanine said. "Nope. Not me. Everything's just fine. Hope this wasn't too inconvenient. I have to go now." And she slammed and locked the door.
     
    "That was easy," Diesel said.
     
    "We didn't solve her problem."
     
    "So?"
     
    "So you're paying me to close the deal, and that wasn't closing the deal. Besides, I'm starting to like this matchmaker thing. It's a challenge."
     
    I rang the bell again. And again.
     
    "Now what?" Jeanine said, opening the door, sticking her head out.
     
    "I thought you might want to reconsider. Are you sure you don't have a problem?"
     
    Jeanine's eyes locked onto Diesel.
     
    "Excuse me a minute while I confer with my associate," I said to Jeanine.
     
    I took Diesel by the arm and walked him down the sidewalk to the car.
     
    "It's you," I said to Diesel. "You're making her nervous."
     
    "I have that effect on women," Diesel said, smiling. "It's my animal magnetism."
     
    "No doubt. Wait in the car. I'm going to talk to Jeanine, and I'll be right back."
     
    "Okay, what's the problem?" I said to Jeanine when I closed her front door. "I know there's a problem."
     
    "Annie didn't tell you? Gosh, this is so embarrassing. I don't know how to say this." She sucked in some air and scrunched her eyes closed.
     
    "Hello? Anybody home?" I said after a minute of Jeanine with her eyes closed tight.
     
    "I'm working myself up to it," Jeanine said.
     
    "Boy this must really be bad."
     
    "It's the worst."
     
    "Murder? Cancer? Chocolate allergy?"
     
    Jeanine blew out a sigh. "I can't get laid."
     
    "That's it?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "That's not so bad," I said. "I think I can handle that. I just have to find a guy to have sex with you?"
     
    "Pretty much."
     
    "Do you have requirements?" I asked her.
     
    "I used to, but I'm getting desperate. I guess I'd like him to have at least some teeth. And it would be good if he wasn't so fat he smothered me. That's about it. I got all panicked when I opened the door because I thought maybe Annie sent that Diesel guy over to get the