Foxe Hunt by Haley Walsh Read Free Book Online Page A

the phone was still in his hand, it suddenly rang. He opened it, assuming it was Sidney when a much deeper voice spoke. “I just wanted to hear your voice one more time.”
    Skyler felt his face flush and he sunk, jelly-legged, to the sofa Foxe hunt 39
    arm. “Oh. Hi.” So much for playing it cool.
    “I’m trying not to be too presumptuous.” Skyler could hear Keith’s truck move into traffic in the background. “But I don’t think I want to wait till next weekend to get together with you again. How do you feel about that?”
    “Well, we have to be careful…”
    “I know. But how do you feel about it?”
    Skyler repressed a giggle. “That would be fine.”
    “Really? ‘Cause I’m wracking my brain trying to come up with something we can do on a school night. You know. Other than…”
    “As long as that’s still on the menu.”
    “Definitely.”
    “I’ll think of something. It is my town. I’ll let you know when I see you tomorrow.”
    Skyler plainly heard the smile in the man’s voice when he said, “Okay. See you, Skyler. Have a good day. What’s left of it.”
    “Yeah. You too.”
    He waited until he heard the click from Keith’s phone before he hung up and called Sidney.
    “Well?” she said. “Hey, is that Dreamgirls on in the background?
    Someone’s happy!”
    “Someone is! Oh Sid. Where has this man been all my life!”
    “Seattle, from what you were saying. So? Dish! Is he hung?”
    “Why do you always ask that?”
    “’Cause I’m living my sex life vicariously through you these days. Was he?”
    “You know I’m not a size queen.” Skyler paused for only a moment. “Oh my God! Like a horse! I am so sore.”
    “Poor Skyler. Want me to bring over some ice for your ass?”
    “My ass is fine, thanks. But it was so much more than that. It was really…really…nice.”
    40 Haley Walsh
    She snorted. “Some English teacher you are. One date with super hunk and your vocabulary goes to hell.”
    He fell backwards onto the sofa and stared at his ceiling.
    “But it was. It was so nice to connect with someone. To have a conversation. To…well…wake up to someone.”
    Sidney sighed. “Yeah. I miss that. So I guess I don’t have to ask if you’ll see him again.”
    “I will. But I think we should take it slow, you know. I don’t want to go crazy after the first date.”
    “Yeah. Okay. I can see that… And this will last how long?”
    “No, I mean it. I’ve never dated before and I don’t want to make an ass of myself. Especially since we work together.”
    “You work at the same place. Not together.”
    “Whatever. It could get awkward. I want to keep it light.”
    There was a pause.
    “Sid?”
    “Skyler, this is the first time you’ve ever done anything like this. Caution is good, but too much caution might scare him off.
    And I don’t want you to do that.”
    “ You’re telling me not to be cautious? Why detective, what gives with that?”
    “Just have fun, for God’s sake. And then promise me we’ll make a short night of it.”
    “Short night of what?”
    “Skyler! Have you already forgotten that in four brief hours you are taking me to your mother’s for dinner?”
    “Oh shit ! Oh fuck. I did forget. Can’t we get out of that?”
    “No. She’s your mother. See you at five.” She hung up. There was no arguing there. And she was right. He hadn’t seen his mother in a while and it was time to make the pilgrimage.

chAPteR thRee
    Sidney arrived promptly at five, and Skyler drove her the few blocks to his childhood home. It was a small bungalow cottage from 1919, and though it was looking a little rundown these days, Cynthia Foxe kept the cottage garden impeccable. Wisteria vines grew over the front porch but the blossoms were beginning to drop. Even with the onset of November, the weather was still hot as the Inland Empire’s perpetual Indian summer invaded fall.
    They walked up the flagstone walkway that Skyler and Sidney had installed his senior year of