Your Planet or Mine? by Susan Grant Read Free Book Online

everyone worried about. When all she’d wanted was to be normal.
    Grandpa wagged a finger at her. “No making headlines for anything but the bills you pass.”
    “I’ll stay in, I swear. No dating. I’ll be a nun.” It fit nicely with her plan to take a break from dating, anyway.
    “A nun?” Jared made an amused sound in his throat. “Don’t you think that’s a little above the call of duty? Don’t set these kinds of examples of extreme celibacy or Mom’s going to expect me to do the same.”
    “I’d never expect that from you, Jared,” Mom said dryly.
    As Jared gaped at his mother, who despite her angst had cracked a small smile, Jana assured her grandfather, “Just call me Miss Snow, Virgin Snow. I’ll stay under the radar. I’ll keep my nose clean.”
    And she would. The last thing she needed was more trouble, especially man trouble, if she was going to keep public opinion on the Jasper side—and the Jaspers out of jail.
     
    A FTER DINNER , Jana left for her high-rise apartment downtown. She always had her room to use at the ranch, and she often did, but her cell phone was filled with text messages and voice mail, and she had a pile of paperwork to go through before the next day, not to mention preparing for an appearance with the first lady that included breakfast with a Brownie troop and judging their Save The Environment poster contest. Jana looked forward to a busy night. It would keep her mind from chewing on things she couldn’t help or change.
    Her grip on the steering wheel remained finger-throbbing tight as she motored past Evie’s neighborhood on the way from the ranch to the highway. Roseville: a paragon of suburbia. The thought of taking refuge for the night in her sister’s noisy, loving home almost made Jana swoon, but Evie wasn’t home. The lucky girl was in Disneyland on vacation with her kids, John and Ellen. She’d picked a great time to be gone. But then Evie had always had a killer sense of timing.
    Jana rolled into the parking lot of the Safeway supermarket in Evie’s neighborhood. “Ice cream,” she murmured. “Must have ice cream.” Yes, Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food…chocolate ice cream with gooey marshmallow, a caramel swirl and fudge fish. Not only would it give her the chocolate fix she needed to get through this, she’d be able to wreak symbolic vengeance on the sturgeon, one little chocolate fishie at a time.
    She sat there, the motor running, her hands seemed glued to the steering wheel.
    She thought of her normally lighthearted brother’s battle-weary face, how wan her mother had looked, and Grandpa’s rage when he should have been happily tending spring peas in the garden. They were good people. The best. They didn’t deserve what was happening. A weird sobbing breath came out of her. She bit her lower lip. No meltdowns , Jana. No, they’d beat this thing. All it would take was an accounting of the books. No crime had been was committed. By next week it will have blown over.
    Her part in all this was simple: keep a low profile, stay under the radar and stay out of trouble. Be normal. Now, how hard could that be? Chin up.
    Jana killed the engine. She opened the car door and let the cool night air rush in. Fog would form before long, but for now the moon was visible. Big and creamy yellow-white, it peeked over the roof of the supermarket. How long had it been since she’d gazed at the moon. Too long, she thought with a strange, poignant longing. The conversation she had with her grandfather about looking for magic had brought back memories of another time. Another Jana.
    A long-ago summer evening when everything seemed possible.
    There’s magic in the air tonight.
    A soft laugh escaped her. If only there were magic in the air. She could use some to speed along the investigation into her father’s campaign finances.
    Pulling her suit jacket around her, Jana took off across the parking lot. The March evening had turned damp and chilly. It was a night to be