Playing for Keeps by Kate Perry Read Free Book Online Page A

like Mom would have wanted.”
    Nell and I were going to have a serious talk. I’d lay down the law, whip her into shape, and force her to let me do the flowers. After all, I deserved to have some fun for organizing this wedding.

Chapter Five
     
     
    Good warriors cause others to come to them and do not go to others.
    — Sun Tzu, The Art of War
     
    As soon as I got home from my tour of local florists, I called Nell and ordered her to come over so we could talk.
    She arrived three hours later. I was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing my second beer and mumbling to myself. The beer was for courage. The mumbling was to practice how I was going to lay down the law.
    The back door opened. I expected Nell to breeze through the way she usually does, hanging her purse on the doorknob before closing it.
    Instead, a small Wookiee darted in and did a lap around the kitchen table before rushing me with its head, which it buried in my crotch.
    I screeched. The harder I shoved it away, the more it pressed itself into my business.
    “ George .” Nell snapped her fingers as she entered the kitchen. “ Down . Sit .”
    George must have decided he liked me because he jumped up and licked my face.
    “Ugh.” I wiped the slobber with the back of my hand and scowled at Nell as she pulled him off. “Can’t you control your dog?”
    “He’s a puppy, and he’s actually very well behaved for being so young.”
    He didn’t look like a puppy. I don’t know much about dogs because we never had pets growing up but I remembered hearing you can tell the size a dog will be by how big his paws are.
    I glanced down at them. “Holy crap. He’s going to be the size of a small horse.”
    “The woman I bought him from assured me he wasn’t going to get very big.”
    Yeah, right.
    George lunged at me again and almost managed to make contact before Nell reined him in.
    “Out.” I pointed at the door. “The dog stays outside.”
    “Come on, Gracie. Don’t be such a hard ass.”
    Was I being a hard ass? I rolled that around for a second. Then I pictured George peeing, or worse, on the rug in the living room. What were the chances he was housebroken? Then I tried to picture Nell cleaning up the mess, but the only image coming to mind was Nell running out the back, leaving me to deal with it.
    “No way.” I shook my head. “The yard’s fenced in and he can run around and do whatever he likes out there.”
    “It’s not like we’re going to be here long.”
    I got up and opened the door. “Get him out of here.”
    Nell grumbled but did what I said. But when she came back I could tell from the set of her jaw she was pissed.
    She got unreasonable when she was pissed. I sighed as I sat down again. “We need to talk about the wedding.”
    She crossed her arms. “What about it?”
    “It’s six months away.”
    “No shit. Is that what you called me over here for, to tell me the obvious?”
    “Nell, you don’t have time to mess around. Did you know it could take six months to get your wedding dress? If you aren’t careful, you could end up walking down the aisle in something you’ve worn before.”
    She gasped at the thought. “We’re going this weekend to look at dresses.”
    I knew that’d properly horrify her. “Only it won’t be an aisle, because booking the church looks impossible at this point. Not that it makes any difference because have you even set a date yet?”
    She opened her mouth but I pressed my advantage now that I had her attention. “I went to look at the florists today, and I gathered information for you, but I can’t honestly recommend one without knowing what you want and how much you want to spend. We never talked about a budget. You know I want to help, but I need a little more direction. It’s your wedding, after all.”
    We sat in silence, frowning at each other for what seemed like forever before she said, “You’re right.”
    I almost fell off my chair. That might have been the first time those