Holly had spent a lot of time the past two weeks thinking of her time with Justin and the others. Despite the situation, she’d laughed more and been more relaxed around them than she’d ever been in her life. She’d enjoyed her budding friendship with Gia, and had often found herself laughing at the twins’ teasing as they trained her. She’d even enjoyed Justin’s attempts to woo her. More than that she’d missed talking to the man. She kept recalling their chat on the way back from visiting his parents, and the others they’d had on their shared dream dates. They’d laughed a lot while bowling and then at the fair, at least they had before passion had overtaken them. She missed that laughter. She missed a lot of things. But mostly, she missed Justin . . . which made her feel guilty as hell and didn’t help anything.
It seemed clear to Holly that unless she wanted to lose her marriage, she needed to stop thinking about Justin, banish him from her mind. She also needed to get past letting James’s thoughts affect her. But it was hard. She knew she wasn’t perfect and shouldn’t think James would believe she was. She even had complaints of her own about him, but she still loved him, and she was quite sure he loved her despite the mild criticisms and complaints she’d read from his mind. But knowing he probably had complaints, that all husbands did, and actually knowing what those complaints were . . . well, it was two different things entirely. And Holly didn’t have a clue what to do about it.
At this rate, it was looking like Gia, Justin, and the others were right and she was going to lose her marriage and her childhood sweetheart and then what would she do?
An image of Justin’s laughing face came to mind and Holly forced it away. She couldn’t let him affect her decision. She would not leave James for Justin. That could not be the reason. And she couldn’t give up on her marriage this easily. Marriages took work. She needed to work at it. She would get past her memories of him, or find a way to block them. She had to.
“So?” Elaine said as Holly finally settled on what she would order and lowered her menu. “Tell us about New York.”
Seventeen
“Bill was really weird tonight.”
Holly watched the lights flickering past the car and shrugged with disinterest at James’s comment. In her opinion, everyone had been acting weird tonight: Bill, Elaine, the waiter. Dear God, they’d all acted like she was Marilyn Monroe or something, fawning and sucking up to her, and hugging her too long as they’d left. Someone should have warned her about that side effect of being an immortal. She supposed it was handy when it came to feeding, but she had bagged blood to work with. Having everyone practically drooling on her was just embarrassing really when she knew she was the same person she’d been just a -couple weeks ago. It had been bad enough when Bill had flirted with her lightly, but then Elaine had started jokingly suggesting that they have an orgy . . . well, Holly had been glad when they’d finished eating and could leave. Fortunately, James had seemed just as eager to go home as her.
“Elaine was kind of acting strange too. I think she was actually hitting on you,” James said now.
“Jealous?” Holly muttered, glaring out the window now.
“What?” He laughed, but it didn’t sound like a natural laugh. “Did you just ask me if I was jealous? Why the hell would I be jealous of Elaine?”
Holly opened her mouth, and then closed it and shrugged. “She’s an attractive woman.”
“Maybe. I’ve never noticed,” he lied and Holly turned sharply to peer at him with disbelief.
“Really?” she asked dryly.
James shrugged, his attention firmly on the road ahead. “She’s not my type.”
“Oh, right, so you’ve never imagined it was her you were making love to on a Sunday night?”
“What?” he squawked with obvious alarm. “Where would you get something like that?”
“From you,” Holly snarled, suddenly furious. Between classes, work, and going out it had been a really long day for her, a long two weeks actually, and while she’d tried not to be hurt by all of his little thoughts this past week, she was. They had cut her to the quick and her self--esteem was now bleeding out and turning to red rage.
“Don’t be ridiculous, I would never say something like that,” he protested.
“No. But you sure thought it, James.”
“What, you can read minds now?” He laughed nervously and shook his head. “You’re just being paranoid.”
“Paranoid?” Holly asked in dulcet tones, her temper completely shredded. “Oh no, you don’t get to call me paranoid, James. You can think I’m OCD and socially awkward, and you can pretend it’s Elaine you’re banging to get it up, but you do not get to tell me I’m paranoid for knowing it.”
“What the hell?” He glanced to her with alarm and then back to the road. “Where are you getting this stuff?”
“From you, James,” she repeated grimly. “From your thoughts.”
Grinding his teeth, he tightened his hands on the steering wheel and shook his head. “That’s not—-”
“Possible?” Holly finished for him.
“You can’t—-”
“Read your mind?” she finished again, and then snorted grimly. “Actually I can. You see, I wasn’t away in New York at the start of the month. I was in Southern California, just outside Los Angeles, learning to be a vampire because I was stupid enough to run with scissors.”
“What?” he squawked turning to peer at her. Then shock turned to anger, and he growled, “You’ve lost your mind.”