If The Shoe Fits by Judi Fennell Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t sure Staci toning it down was
possible even for a Guardian. The Boss knew, Madeleine’s Guardian
hadn’t had any better luck with her either.
    But Madeleine and Staci were other Guardians’
problems and Jonathan had enough issues with his two—most of which
could only be helped by that wonderful kiss and their
soon-to-happen convergence of agendas.
    He sat back in his chair and took a sip of
lemonade. Cool and sweet, the perfect thing for a perfect
springtime.
    And oh, was it going to be perfect.
     
    ***
     
    “ Now look what you did, Drew!”
Staci yelled. “You scared him off!”
    “ I did not.” Drew stomped her
foot.
    Typical. Staci would have thought that, at
some point, her sister would have grown up. It was so embarrassing
being related to someone who was still stuck in high school
mode.
    “ You did that all by yourself,
Stace.”
    “ How do you know him?”
    Drew wobbled her head like the airheaded
bobble-head she was. Smug little witch. “I met him
yesterday.”
    Staci didn’t like that one bit. “So...” She
twisted a lock of her two-hundred-dollar-freshly-colored hair.
“What’s his name?”
    That knocked the air of superiority out of
Drew. Good. Her sister should never try to out-think her. It was
never going to happen.
    “ Well, I didn’t actually meet him.” Drew shrugged. “He was helping Bella get up. You
know what a klutz she can be.”
    Staci nodded as if this was an accepted fact,
but she’d never known her stepsister to be anything but
disgustingly graceful. And competent. And cheerful. On everybody’s
BFF list. As goody-goody as the real Cinderella, and completely
annoying to be related to. Talk about a perfectly cliché-d
nickname.
    “ Anyhow,” Drew continued, “I
caught sight of that car. I mean, who wouldn’t? Then Mr. Gorgeous
there was having a chat with good ol’ Cindabella. Naturally, I had
to save the poor man from a cooking lesson.”
    “ He did say he’d met with the
caterer.” Staci tapped her lips. Tacky she might be, even cheap in
the eyes of a few, but dumb she wasn’t. The jury was still out on
Drew.
    “ Let’s go find out why,” said
Drew. “That’s twice in two days he’s seen her. What’s she got that
we don’t?”
    It was on the tip of Staci’s tongue to say,
“Brains,” but Drew would think she meant both of them and that so
wasn’t true. Instead, she shoved open the door to Casteleoni’s,
bracing herself as she always had ever since Mother had told them
she was going to marry Sal.
    The fact that Mother hadn’t met the man before
her declaration had been beside the point. Mother had known about
the accident, his wife’s death, and, most importantly, his
lucrative business. It hadn’t been hard to then make events go the
way she’d wanted. Mother never had any trouble making things go the
way she wanted, which, at times, was majorly annoying. Just once,
Staci would love to be able to beat her at something.
    Though, actually… Mother had managed to snag a
guy who owned merely a diner . Had it been a nightclub or a
four- or even three-star restaurant, that’d be something different.
But, nope. Diner.
    Staci was setting her sights much higher—like
six-foot something with a broad set of shoulders, a face worth
looking at every day, and a great car. Mr. Gorgeous had to
be made of money.
    She’d find out for sure from Cindabella . The cook. Staci always got a giggle over that
one. If she were Bella, she would have sold her shares in this
place eons ago and be off living the high life somewhere. She’d
never understand why someone would elect to bury herself in this
hole of a town or greasy snack joint for the rest of her life,
subjugating herself for the good of a sister.
    And for what? Staci looked around and
grimaced. To keep this place operational so some screaming brats
could smash cookies on the floor? Or for Mr. Comb-Over over there
to meticulously count out his tip to the last penny for a stupid
egg sandwich?
    Oh no, this