Every Girl Does It by Rachel van Dyken Read Free Book Online

this? Why is he weaseling his way into my life like this?
    “His name is Preston , he ’ s one of the firefighters from the calen— ”
    “ R ight, ” I cut her off . “Well , sounds great . S ee you Monday. ”
    “Wait!” She shrieks on the other end making me pull the phone away from my ear . “I have to send all of them to you this afternoon so we can get the measurements for the shoot tomorrow . T hat’s why I’m calling. You shou ld expect them around two .”
    I look at my clock and pale . I t ’s one forty-five .
    “ Jane !” I warn loudly not even bothering to hide my frustration . “Why didn’t you call sooner?”
    “Sorry , I was busy . P lus , I thought you were one of those people who went to church. Geez , calm down.”
    I ’ m hyperventilating into t he phone . M ust. Get. A ir.
    “So that’s all. Make sure you get all of their measurements . T hey have to take of f their shirts , too , so we can see the correct fit of the muscle T ’s. Makes me wish I had your job. Have fun .”
    She h a ng s up, leaving me in a state of panic and disarray. I look down and moan. Yup , still in the sweat pants. I hear my door bell and fe el myself say in slow motion, “J ust a sec!” Only it sounds low , like you see on TV when they do the really dramatic scenes . Luckily, my body is still moving at normal speed, so I dive into my room like a tornado and thro w on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, grab my measuring supplies , and return to unbolt the door.
    February. It ’ s Mr. February. I remember because he has blue eyes you can get lost in , yet he look s way older than me, most likely in his fortys .
    “Hey, sorry to barge in , but th e girl at the store said –”
    I cut him off with my hand. “No , it ’ s fine . C ome on in. ”
    “Oh okay, thanks .” He stuff s his hands in his pockets and duck s , yes I did say duck s , into my family room. “Nice place.” He turn s to smile at me , but his teeth were , well , let ’ s just say, not straight. Now I know why he didn’t smile in the calendar picture. He does have a good smolder , but a goo d smile? Not so much. I did his measurements and sent him on his way.
    January was next, then March, April, June, May, September, November, July, and August.
    All I had left was October and December. I was hoping that Mr. October would arrive before Mr. December, then maybe I could bolt my door closed and say s omething in a creepy accent . “She no here no more, she die.” Then Preston would be forced to leave and get his measurements done elsewhere, anywhere . I don’t even care. I ’ ll give references , or better yet , I ’ ll have my own personal seamstress call him.
    The doorbell r ings again . I take a deep breath , open it , and came face to face with my past.
    “Bobby?”
    I didn’t see that coming. H e wasn’t in the calendar . Not once did I see him in the calendar. What ’ s he doing here? He couldn ’t be one of the male models. Yeah, that would be ironic. He pushes his fingers through his curly st ill sandy brown hair and gives me the smile, dim ples and all. Nope, I know he ’ s not in the cal endar. I would n’ t have bou ght it had I known or seen him.
    “What are you doing here?” I ask a little too rude for someone I hadn’t seen in over five years.
    His smile fade s as h is eyes scan me up and down.
    “I thought this was where Jane said to come for the measurements?”
    “For the male models ,” I sa y slowly . T he p oor guy , maybe he ’ s confused, not that he couldn’t be a male mo del.
    “Yeah , um , I got that part. I’m Mr. October, Nampa F ire D epartment ? A ll of us are doing the shoot?”
    “I thought you were going to be a pastor?” I manage to say with heavy sarcasm as I widen the door for him to enter. What a weird twist of events.
    “Yeah, about that,” he look s sheepish almost .
    W hat had happened to my Swedish fish loving ex- boyfriend who thought I was materialistic?
    “It wasn’t really