Moonlight in the Morning by Jude Deveraux Read Free Book Online Page B

apartment, first with just each other, then Sophie had been added. The three of them had been a great team, each girl with her own love of an area of art, each with her own personality.
    Whereas Kim’s only love was jewelry, Jecca just wanted to create. She was the one who used her mother’s old sewing machine to make curtains. And Jecca knew all about the rods needed to hang them. “Courtesy of Layton Hardware” was a frequent saying in their bare-bones apartment. Sophie used to say that if Jecca had her toolboxe t her to she could fix anything.
    Now, the two women, hands on shoulders, kept looking at each other. “The whole summer!” Kim said. “I can’t believe it! Did you bring enough paper? Enough paint?”
    “I hope so. But if I run out, how far do I have to go to get more?”
    Dropping her hands, Kim looked serious. “You have to take a puddle jumper to the big airport where you can get an oxcart, then—”
    “Okay, I stand corrected,” Jecca said, laughing. They were nearly the same height, but Jecca’s dark hair was short, while Kim’s auburn was longer. While they were both very pretty young women, their personalities made them look very different. Jecca always looked as though she were about to laugh, while Kim was more serious. Jecca had always attracted men to her, but Kim sometimes seemed to scare them away. If someone had suggested climbing a pole, Jecca would have agreed to give it a try. Kim would have said, “Let me make some calculations to see if I can do it.” Jecca liked adventure; Kim liked to succeed.
    “Hungry?” Kim asked.
    “Starving.”
    “Nothing’s changed.” Kim smiled, still unable to grasp that her friend was really there. She started toward the dining room.
    “I hate to leave this room,” Jecca said, looking back at the conservatory and the orchids. “I can’t wait to do some painting in here. I’ve been learning some new techniques of how to put light in my work, and I plan to give it my full attention. Who made this place?”
    “Tristan.”
    “Oh. Right. The doctor next door.”
    They went through the living room, past the staircase, and into a big white kitchen. In the center was a heavy oak table that looked as though it was put there when the house was built. Gleaming white subway tiles covered the walls. The appliances were top of the line—about forty years ago.
    “I’m back in time,” Jecca said.
    “And aren’t you lucky?”
    “I am,” she agreed. “I want to hear everything that’s happened in your life lately.”
    “Me the same,” Kim said as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a quiche, salad, olives, asparagus in a vinaigrette sauce, and bottles of raspberry-flavored sparkling water.
    “Nice,” Jecca said. “Did you cook all this?”
    “It’s from our local grocery, and before you ask, we have pretty much any cheese Zabar’s does.”
    “Velveeta?”
    “Of course. We’re Southern.”
    Smiling, Jecca picked up a couple of plates that were on the countertop.
    “We could eat out there with Tris’s orchids,” Kim said, and Jecca had her arms full of plates and food before she finished the sentence.
    Kim got a Rim">Kim tray, filled it, and they went back to sit among the plants.
    Jecca looked about the room as she began to eat, noticing the way the light came through the windows and played off the colors of the flowers. She thought how to layer her watercolors to achieve just that shade of pinkish red. “My apartment isn’t as big as this conservatory—and certainly not as pretty.”
    “Mrs. Wingate’s husband added it right after his father died. But Tris put the plants in here and he takes care of them. He was over here a lot when he was a kid. The Wingates never had children, so Tris and his sister sort of filled in.”
    “Nice for all of them,” Jecca said. “This food is good.”
    “Not what you expected in backwater little Edilean?” Kim asked.
    “After all the times I’ve been here, I know about you guys. You