To Trust a Stranger

"He's late," Jessie Barker said to her sister. "You said he was going to be here by eleven." "Well, he isn't here, is he?" Laura rolled her eyes the same way she had when they were kids. "Not broke down, or the traffic is backed up on the bridge, or he overslept or something." Jessie sniffed. "Those are all excuses I don't let my students get away with. Why should I take them from a Web site designer?" "Because he's willing to work cheap and give us a decent product. And stop shaking your head at me like that, unless you want to hear my opinion on your hair color." "I don't. I like my brown just the way it is. And I don't see why a beautician needs a Web site." Laura sighed in her dramatic way. "Esthetician, sweetie. I'm not a beautician. Leave it to you to look down your nose at my businessandget things wrong at the same time." Her attitude made Jessie want to stick her tongue out at her sister. Why did they always argue like this? Probably because neither of them had anyone else to turn to. Laura wasn't ready to let it go yet. "Having my own Web site would be a great help for my business. I could link it to the day spa's site and get more clients. Besides, I figure I could interest some people with a few beauty hints. That would reach a lot more women on the Web than a newspaper ad." Unable to sit still while she talked, Laura dusted the coffee table. "So the print medium is worthless now?" Jessie looked over her glasses at Laura, who looked as though she could feel a headache coming on. "Nuts, Jessie. Why do you always make me feel like I've said the wrong thing? I'm twenty-nine years old and around you I still feel like a kid. And not a very smart one, either." Jessie melted a little. She always did when Laura looked hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to growl at you, but you hit a nerve with that newspapers-areworthless comment." Laura waved a hand. "Now I didn't say they were worthless. You know I wouldn't ever say that. In fact, I thought you'd want a Web site to promote your new book and link to online bookstores. It would sell a lot more copies that way, wouldn't it?" Jessie shrugged. Laura might not have been labeled the "smart one" when they were kids, but she'd always been creative. "If you think that many people would be interested in a history of urban legends published by a small university press." Her sister's face lit up, showing how beautiful she was. "Of course I do. You could probably get a spot on the radio or even get interviewed by one of the TV features reporters just by promoting your book on the Web." It sounded good, but first things first, Jessie thought. "If you say so. But to do that I'd have to have a Web site. And to have a Web site your Web designer would have toshow up, now wouldn't he?" Laura pressed one hand to her temple. "Couldn't you be something other than logical and literal just once in your life?" Then she laughed. "No, probably not. You wouldn't be Jessie then." Before Jessie could respond, Laura was grabbing her purse. "Look, if it's such a big deal I'll go looking for him, okay? Give him a break, anyway. He's not a whole lot older than most of your students. He probably just overslept or something. Computer geeks keep odd hours." Jessie tried to still the aggravation she felt. "I'm not all that familiar with them. They don't speak up in class." Not even in the "pop culture" class that was her favorite, where she got a lot of responses from most of the students. Laura grabbed her car keys and headed for the garage. She called over her shoulder to her sister. "I'll call you if there's any kind of problem. Otherwise I'll be back here, probably with Adrian in tow, in the next hour, okay?" "Fine." Jessie tried to look interested in a stack of papers she had to grade. Anything so that Laura didn't see the look of worry she knew crossed her face as her sister left. Laura was an aBulock, Lynn is the author of 'To Trust a Stranger ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373442591 and ISBN 0373442599.