Asking for Trouble by Rosalind James Read Free Book Online

to cook fresh ones.
And they’ll have sauce on them. You won’t really be able to tell,” he said, sounding
perfectly calm, perfectly reasonable.
    Mira had a husband who used his turn signal just so she’d
feel safe. And Alyssa couldn’t even get her way about the noodles, because Joe didn’t think her opinion counted for anything,
and he didn’t care if she was happy. The tears came to her eyes even as she
recognized the childishness of the thought, and she shoved the last plates into
the dishwasher, then threw the dish brush with a little extra force into the
sudsy water she’d been running into the left-hand side of the divided sink, hard
enough so foam and water splashed out and splattered onto her sweater, soaking
it to the skin over her stomach.
    She jumped, pulled at the wet fabric and swore in helpless
frustration, the worst word she ever said, which was pretty bad, and saw his
head jerk up at it. Because she didn’t usually swear in front of him, but why
shouldn’t she? Why the hell not?
    He didn’t say anything, just handed her the plastic
container. “Toss them, if you want. Makes no difference to me.”
    She snatched it from his hand and stuffed the noodles
savagely down the disposal, feeling like she was going to either scream or cry.
“Why won’t you ever fight with me?”
    “Do you want to fight?” He looked startled again.
    She realized how stupid she sounded. She blew out a breath, flipped
the switch for the disposal, and gave the noodles a couple pushes to help them
down.
    Joe grabbed her wrist hard, pulled her hand out of the sink.
“Get your hand out of there!” He reached around her, turned the motor off. “You never put your fingers that close to
something that sharp. Use a spoon! Use the brush!”
      “I wasn’t going
to cut them!” she flared back. “I was being careful. I’m not going to stick my
hand down the hole. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
    “No. I think that was careless,” he said, back under control
again. Of course he was. “I think you need to think before you act, so you
don’t get hurt.”
    She opened her mouth to defend herself, but couldn’t think
of anything good to say. She’d said she wanted him to fight with her, and he’d
yelled at her. She’d got her wish. She picked up the dishcloth and turned away
from him, began to wipe down the stove. Saw him, out of the corner of her eye,
starting to scrub serving dishes with her abused dish brush.
    “I’m grouchy,” she admitted after a minute. “Too much family
time. I did a run this morning, but it wasn’t enough, I guess. Want to go for a
walk with me when we’re done with this? Look at the Christmas lights?”
    He kept washing, and she wondered mutinously why Joe always
took so long to answer. How long did
it take to answer a simple question like that?
    “I brought some work,” he said at last.
    “On Christmas Eve?” She felt the lump forming in her throat,
the prick of tears. He couldn’t even stand to take a walk with her?
    Luckily, Rae came through the swinging door into the kitchen
then. “Hey, Alyssa. You guys need any help?”
    Alyssa began wiping off counters. “About done,” she said.
Then added impulsively, “Want to go for a walk with me?”
    “Sure,” Rae said. “OK if Alec comes too?”
    “Fine,” Alyssa muttered. Couples again.
    “I’ll come too,” Joe said.
    She stared at him. “I thought you didn’t want to go.”
    “I didn’t say that,” he said. “I said I brought work. I’ll
do the work after the walk.”
    You just didn’t want
to go with me, she didn’t say, and swallowed against the sudden desolation
of it. Tomorrow morning, in church, she’d count her blessings. But not tonight.
Tonight she was going to feel sorry for herself. Because Joe still didn’t like
her, not really. He just put up with her, as part of the family. Alec’s silly, careless,
troublesome little sister.

 
    He’d been so hot, that first Christmas. When she’d first
seen him