Kiss and Tell 3 by Faith Winslow Read Free Book Online Page A

tiredness. I was only inches away from sleep, and my body could no longer fight it. I drifted off to dreamland, though I slept so soundly I don’t think I dreamt.
    The next morning, I awoke, rather abruptly, to the sound of screaming. I looked at the digital clock next to my bed. It was 9:23 a.m., which meant I’d slept about nine or ten hours.
    The screaming came from outside my window. I ran to it and saw London and his dad arguing outside, in their driveway.
    “You deal with it, London,” Mr. Gallagher said as he got into his car. “I’m already late for work, and I’m not gonna wait here for the guy any longer.”
    “But, Dad,” London shouted. His father peeked his head out of the car window and shouted back before he could continue.
    “It’s your fault anyway,” Mr. Gallagher said. “You let that guy into the house. You gave him the keys… and he robbed us! So you should be the one to deal with the police when they get here, not me.”
    With that, Mr. Gallagher rolled up his window and drove away, leaving London standing, barefoot, in the driveway. As the car sped away, I saw London start to cock his head and look up, and, quickly, I darted back from the window, hiding myself behind the curtain.
    I spied out from behind it and saw him looking up at my window, but I was confident he hadn’t seen me. But, wow, what I had seen… what I had seen sure was something.
    I guess that Luke fellow—the pool guy—ended up robbing the Gallaghers?!?! How and when did that happen? Talk about things happening right under your nose! And, the whole thing actually made me feel kind of bad for London. First his blackmail plan fell through, then he hands the keys to his parents’ multi-million-dollar home over to someone who robs them. He sure didn’t have good luck!
    I slunk away from the window and went off to the bathroom to take care of my morning business and freshen up before deciding what to do with my day. It was Tuesday morning, and I had nothing planned until late Wednesday afternoon, and what I had planned were big things, which made it seem like it’d be a million years before Tuesday morning gave way to Wednesday afternoon. I didn’t know what on earth I was going to do with myself in the meantime.

Chapter 12
     
    Once upon a time, I had more than four dozen T-shirts in my closet, 26 pairs of jeans, and 18 hooded sweatshirts. I also had about twenty dresses, twenty blouses, and a score of skirts, shorts, and trousers. But, by Tuesday night, I had about half of that.
    Yep, that’s what I decided to do all day to distract myself. I cleaned out my closet—and my dresser—to rid myself of my excessive and outdated clothing. I hadn’t gone through it in years, and hadn’t gotten rid of anything since I was a teenager, so it was an arduous task, and I knew it would take the greater part of a day, which is exactly the amount of time I needed taken away from me. The time between “now” and “then” would have killed me if I didn’t have something to do with it.
    I’d bagged up several garbage bags full of designer clothing and accessories and was planning on delivering them to the thrift store the next day, before my other appointments. That was part of the itinerary I’d come up with for myself while sorting through my closet.
    I figured I’d start getting ready around 10 a.m. tomorrow morning and leave home by noon. I’d drop my donations off at the thrift store as soon as I got to town, and I’d stop in and have a leisurely lunch at a causal eatery close to Dessert Oasis, and wrap my meal up just in time to show up a wee bit early for my interview. Then, after that, I’d be off to Anthony’s office.
    My plan was a great one. But, the one thing I hadn’t planned on was the time that would pass between making the plan and executing it. Before tomorrow came, I still had to get through the rest of today. Cleaning my closest helped me get through a lot of it; but, it was now nearly 11 p.m. I was