Marianne by Elizabeth Hammer (best books to read in life TXT) 📕

“Aww...” Marianne stuck out her bottom lip. “It’s not Godzilla’s fault—he can’t help bringing destruction wherever he goes.” She patted the toy on the head, bizarrely giddy.

Patrick frowned and turned Godzilla to face him. “I think she likes you better than me, man.”

“Patrick, be reasonable.” Marianne looked at him sternly. “Godzilla and I have a history, that’s all. No need to get jealous.”

He walked Godzilla through the air toward her face.

Marianne pretended to slap the toy. “Back off, you brute. As if I would ever kiss that flaming mouth.”

Patrick laughed and tossed the toy into the hallway. It screeched again. “Look at you torturing all these men. No kiss for Alvin. No kiss for Godzilla.”

Marianne smirked at Patrick. “Yup. You’re the first guy to ever escape my persecution.” Now that he’d kissed her, she was cool to admit her lack of romantic history. If he ever stuck his tongue down her throat, she’d probably tell him anything.

Patrick blinked at her. “What?”

“I was just joking,” she said. “I’ll still torture you, don’t worry.”

Patrick reached up, grabbed her shoulders, and pushed her slightly away from him. “Marianne.” He looked her right in the eyes. “You have kissed a guy before, right?”

“No.”

Half a second later, she was sitting alone, and Patrick was standing in front of her. He stared at her, but there was no expression on his face. “Tell the truth,” he coaxed.

Oh, crap. What a time to change her deceitful ways. Marianne kind of squinted. “I am this time.”

Patrick looked ready to puke. Did he think she was a dweeb? No. He didn’t think like that. In fact, it was probably the opposite. Loss of innocence, that was his hang-up here. “Patrick—”

He shook his head. “Lie to me,” he begged.

Marianne did her best. “You’re right,” she nodded, getting her face to look serious. “I’m super experienced. I totally have all kinds of romantic relationships. All the time. Men just follow me around; they can’t get enough of me.”

“Marianne,” laughed Patrick. “Your father is going to kill me.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged. “My dad’s going to throw you a party. He thinks there’s something wrong with me.”

Patrick covered his eyes with his hand.

“I’m not joking,” she said. “I could call him up right now and tell him I’m having your bastard baby. He’d weep with joy.”

Patrick peeked over the edge of his hand. “That’s awful.”

She shrugged. “Yup. He’s the worst.”

He lowered his hand and acted like he was flicking her from across the room. “I meant you.”

Good. He was over it. Patrick’s cell phone started buzzing just then, and he reached over on the dresser to pick it up. Marianne smiled and looked down, laughing at the hilariousness of all her own jokes. “Oh geez!” she said. “What am I wearing?”

Patrick shook his head at her as he answered, “Hello?”

Marianne rolled over to lie on her stomach. She crossed her legs and started flipping through the stack of books on the foot of his bed.

“Sorry, I must have been in the shower when you called,” he said into the phone.

Stephen King... Keats... Harry Potter... Orson Scott Card... “No, I didn’t get the message — What? Yeah, that was my girl,” he laughed. “She’s a robot.”

Marianne looked up with wide eyes.

“My boss,” he mouthed.

She buried her face in the blanket and covered her head with her arms. How humiliating. She shook it off and continued book browsing.

“Yeah, that’s fine. When do I need to be there?”

Joseph Conrad... something about the Revolutionary War... Harlequin Temptations... more Orson Scott Card... Wait. Back up.

“I have some conduit in my truck. I’ll have to get more, though.”

She picked up the little paperback. Yep. The cover featured a burly, half-naked hero ravishing some woman in a wedding dress. It was Danielle’s book, she’d seen it lying around before. Marianne started laughing quietly. Bad-Boy-Desire was kind of cute, actually, if you took off all the chest hair... Wam!

She got pegged in the back of the head with a balled-up t-shirt. Patrick covered the microphone with his hand. “That is not mine,” he whispered.

“Riiiight...” she said.

Patrick came and snatched the book from her. “Okay. And tell Jose to bring the good drill.” He walked over to the hallway and chucked the book into Danielle’s room.

Marianne sat up against the wall and just watched him. He was so dang cute all embarrassed like that. Like a little boy who refuses to play with a pink ball because someone might think he’s a girl.

“Okay, I’ll call you later tonight when I get there,” he nodded. “Don’t mention it. Bye.” He snapped the phone shut.

“What’s up?” asked Marianne.

“I have to go to work,” he sighed. “They need me at the job up north. In Monterey.”

14

Primeval Train Wreck

Marianne scrubbed at Nana’s toilet with a vengeance. She hadn’t been over to clean in a while, so yeah, it wasn’t exactly a fun job. But fun was lost to her, anyway. Gone off to Monterey until a future day unknown.

She really hated Monterey. She hated the name; she hated the people who lived there and needed electricity; she hated the location. Six hours away?! If she was Elijah, she’d call down fire from heaven and obliterate the place. And she’d smoke Patrick’s stupid boss while she was at it. With the lack of local jobs, he’d had to bid on stuff out of town so the company could make money. Jerk.

Marianne had been left alone in utter darkness for months now. Okay, only nine days, but still. It felt like months since she’d had any contact with Patrick. Okay, he called her all the time, but still. Marianne reached over for the can of Ajax and accidentally let her hair fall in the toilet water. Fricker!

She got up, snapped off her rubber gloves, and rinsed the ends of her hair in the sink. Just then, she heard her cell phone ringing from the living room where she’d left her purse.