The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting Read Free Book Online Page A

mother used to do when Violet was a little girl. She thought it was sweet, and she swore that she was even more attracted to him than ever in that tender moment.
    When he finished with the wash, he gingerly patted an antibiotic ointment on her knees before covering them with bandages.
    â€œThere,” he said, admiring his own handiwork. “Good as new.”
    Violet glanced at the ridiculously huge Band-Aids on her knees and looked at him doubtfully. “You really think so? ‘Good as new’?”
    He smiled. “I think I did pretty good. It’s not my fault you can’t walk.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him. She wanted to tell him that it was his fault, that she would never have tripped if he’d just stayed the same old Jay he’d always been, gangly and childlike. But she knew that she was being irrational. He was bound to grow up eventually; she’d just never imagined that he’d grow up so well. Instead she accused him: “Well, maybe if youhadn’t pushed me I wouldn’t have fallen.” She made the outlandish accusation with a completely straight face.
    He shook his head. “You’ll never be able to prove it. There were no witnesses—it’s just your word against mine.”
    She giggled and hopped down. “Yeah, well, who’s gonna believe you over me? Weren’t you the one who shoplifted a candy bar from the Safeway?” She limped over to the sink while she taunted him with her words, and she washed the dirt from the minor scrapes on her palms.
    â€œWhatever! I was seven. And I believe you were the one who handed it to me and told me to hide it in my sleeve. Technically that makes you the mastermind of that little operation, doesn’t it?” He came up behind her, and reaching around her, he poured some of the antibacterial wash onto her hands.
    She was taken completely off guard by the intimate gesture. She froze as she felt his chest pressing against her back until that was all she could think about for the moment and she temporarily forgot how to speak. She watched as the red scrapes fizzed with white bubbles from the disinfectant. He leaned over her shoulder, setting the bottle down and pulling her hands up toward him. He blew on them too. Violet didn’t even notice the sting this time.
    And then it was over. He released her hands, and as she stood there, dazed, he handed her a clean towel to dry them on.
    When she turned around to face him, she realized that she had been the only one affected by the moment, that his touch had been completely innocent.
    He was looking at her like he was waiting for her to saysomething, and she was suddenly aware that her mouth was still open. She finally gathered her wits enough to speak again. “Yeah, well, maybe if you hadn’t done it right in front of the cashier, we might have gotten away with it. Instead, you got both of us grounded for stealing.”
    He didn’t miss a beat, and he seemed unaware of her temporary lapse. “And some might say that our grounding saved us from a life of crime.”
    She hung the towel over the oven’s door handle. “Maybe it saved me , but the jury’s still out on you. I always thought you were kind of a bad seed.”
    He gave her a questioning look. “Seriously, a ‘bad seed,’ Vi? When did you turn ninety and start saying things like ‘bad seed’?”
    She pushed him as she walked by, even though he really wasn’t in her way. He gave her a playful shove from behind and teased her, “Don’t make me trip you again.”
    Now more than ever, Violet hoped that this crush of hers passed soon, so she could get back to the business of being just friends . Otherwise, this was going to be a long—and painful—year.

CHAPTER 4
    THE LAKE HOUSE WAS CROWDED WITH TEENAGERS , and they seemed to be coming and going in waves. The lawn leading down to the water was littered with towels and