Little Secrets by Megan Hart Read Free Book Online Page B

beat of her heart. There’d been a long, long period of time when she feared she’d forgotten what it was like to want him that way.
    â€œMaybe I left the juice on the counter,” she conceded. “But I didn’t spill it.”
    â€œIt was probably Noodles.”
    Ginny frowned. “She doesn’t jump up on the counters.”
    â€œSo you say,” Sean told her. “She just doesn’t do it when we’re around.”
    â€œShe’s locked in the bathroom,” Ginny pointed out just as a familiar, plaintive cry meeped out from under the door to the pantry.
    Sean went to the door and turned the knob. Noodles slipped out nonchalantly, wound around his legs a few times and then sat to lick her paw. Sean looked at Ginny, who frowned.
    â€œI didn’t let her out,” Ginny said. “And I sure didn’t lock her in there.”
    â€œMaybe she snuck in there while you were cleaning, and you closed the door.” He opened it wider and looked inside.
    The narrow space, about four feet wide but easily eight feet deep, had floor-to-ceiling wire shelving Ginny hadn’t even touched. She peered around his shoulder at the inside, but aside from a few dust balls matching the dirt caught in Noodles’s whiskers, she saw nothing. At least the cat hadn’t crapped or peed on the floor. Sean was talking, but Ginny ignored him to push into the small room. She looked up, down, side to side. At last, admitting defeat, she turned.
    â€œâ€¦just tired,” Sean was saying. “You know she’s an escape artist. Remember when she got behind the furnace and wouldn’t come out?”
    This was true. Since kittenhood, Noodles had found her way in and out of places where she wasn’t supposed to be. But this time, it didn’t feel right. Ginny had shut the bathroom door firmly behind her this morning, and she hadn’t gone into the pantry at all…had she? She looked again. It was dirty. She hadn’t cleaned it. But it was possible the door had been open, even the smallest amount, enough for a nimble and mischievous cat to slip inside and hide before Ginny pulled it shut during her kitchen makeover.
    â€œSure,” Ginny said and bent to lift Noodles. She stroked the soft fur as the cat butted her head against Ginny’s chin. She smelled musty, and the white patches of her calico coat were smudged with grime.
    The cat let out a warning growl and struggled to get down, and Ginny let her go. Noodles ran out of the kitchen through the arched doorway into the dining room. Ginny thought about chasing her, but sighed, figuring she’d just open up the hall bathroom door until she could get the litter box into the basement. And, of course, convince the cat to use it there.
    â€œI’m going to set up the TV and stuff so we can watch something. I think we’re behind on a few episodes of Runner .” Sean pulled her close to kiss the top of her head, and before she could protest, followed the cat into the dining room.
    Ginny looked around the mess in the kitchen—dirty dishes, rice and beans left over from the Mexican takeout spilled on the table. So much for not having to take care of everything around the house, she thought and went to the doorway to peek through to the living room, where Sean had started pulling open one of the boxes and had his hands full of wires. So much for not unpacking anything until they painted the walls.
    So much, she thought, for all of that.

Chapter Five
    Ginny runs.
    One foot in front of the other, never faltering, she runs and runs, dodging and weaving through a landscape that looks like something out of The Terminator . Scorched earth. Dark skies.
    Her heart pounds, her fists pump, but this feeling is not harsh or bad. It’s glorious, working her body this way, like she never does in her real life. Ginny runs. She jumps. She stretches her arms; she grows wings.
    She flies.
    And she falls.
    * * * *