Romeo Fails by Amy Briant Read Free Book Online Page A

Sarah.”
    Good stood up to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Sarah. Welcome to Romeo Falls. I think I saw you at the market with the Bigelows earlier.”
    An attractive young woman in town was bound to garner attention. The grapevine must be quivering with the news, thought Dorsey. And if Good knew who she was, then everyone must know.
    “Nice to meet you, Goodman.”
    “Would you like to join us?” he said, gesturing at Dorsey’s side of the booth. At six foot three and two hundred and fifty pounds, clearly no one else would fit on his side.
    “Oh, I don’t want to intrude…” Sarah began, casting an uncertain glance at Dorsey.
    “No, please join us,” said Dorsey with a smile, scooting back to make room. “Oh… unless you’re meeting someone else?”
    “No,” Sarah said with a laugh and to Dorsey’s great relief. She slid into the booth next to her, slipping out of her leather jacket to reveal the same sleeveless blouse she’d been wearing at brunch. It looked good with her jeans, Dorsey thought. Goodman was still on his feet, being a gentleman, although he looked more like a lumberjack in his beard and his bulk and his denim shirt.
    “Can I get you a beer?” he asked politely.
    Sarah smiled sweetly at him and said, “How about a glass of white wine instead?”
    Good hustled off to get it, apparently not impervious to the newcomer’s charms. Dorsey didn’t like that thought much.
    “Your brother seems nice,” Sarah said to Dorsey, who merely nodded while taking a sip of her beer.
    “And kind of cute too, if you go for the Mountain Man look,” Sarah added with a grin.
    “Do you?” Dorsey asked her, suddenly wondering if Sarah was bisexual or bi-curious or whatever people were calling it these days.
    “Me? No. Definitely no,” Sarah said firmly. She leaned in for a moment to speak directly into Dorsey’s ear. Her breath was warm on her neck, her arm pressing lightly against Dorsey’s breast. “I like girls, Dorsey. Just like you.” She leaned back, a smile playing about her lips, her blue eyes sparkling.
    Again with the possible double meaning, Dorsey thought with more than a hint of frustration. ‘Just like you’ meaning ‘I like girls just like you do’? Or ‘I like girls who are just like you’? Why couldn’t she just be clear… Or maybe she was clear and Dorsey couldn’t read the signals. Frankly, she often found other lesbians completely incomprehensible. Not that she knew many. She just wished she could figure out the secret handshake, or the magic password or whatever it was that allowed other gay women to communicate with ease, instead of always being the one left wondering… All she could do was go with her usual direct and honest approach, not that it had worked particularly well in the past. She took another sip of her beer to cover her confusion, then flicked a sidelong glance at Sarah, who was examining her surroundings with interest.
    Good returned with her glass of wine and eased himself back into the booth.
    “So where’s Maggie?” he asked Sarah, looking around to see if Maggie had come in while he’d been at the bar.
    “She and Aunt Viv have some kind of meeting tonight. Quilt circle or barn raising or something,” she said jokingly, rolling her eyes a little bit.
    “Quilt circle sounds more plausible,” Good said dryly.
    “Yeah, I guess so. They invited me to go, but honestly, I needed some alone time. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mags and Aunt Viv to death, but I’m used to spending a lot of time by myself. Of course, then I remembered there’s not a drop of booze to be found in Aunt Viv’s house. So when it stopped raining, I thought I’d take a walk and see if I could find a place to have a glass of wine somewhere.”
    “Well, you found it,” Dorsey said. “The only bar in Romeo Falls.”
    “The Hamlet,” Sarah said. “So is this town full of Shakespeare references? I haven’t noticed any others.”
    “Nope, this is the only one. And I