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He took a wide curve in the road with just the right mix
of skill and speed.
I shook my head and my hair whipped across my face. I
laughed and whispered, I m with you.
We drove on under a canopy of falling leaves.
He didn t say a word.
He d asked me to listen to him but he did not seem ready
to actually tell me anything. I wasn t sure what to make of
it.
He just gripped the wheel and drove on.
To try to loosen things up a bit, I flipped on the radio.
Granny and Dylan had installed a new one with an old-
style façade, but in these roads tucked into the mountains,
I wondered if we would pick up any signals at all. I hoped
to avoid hollering preachers or call-in shows where people
reported possible alien abductions. When the sweet, unfa-
miliar notes of a Latin-American radio station filled the
night air, I left it there.
I laid my head back on the thickly padded seat and let
the richness of the music wash over me.
You okay? Ry finally asked.
L ove and a Bad Hair Day 171
Better than okay. I m free at least for now.
Free?
Uh-huh. I shut my eyes. For once in my life I m doing
something I shouldn t, something just for me, and nobody
in town is ever going to find out about it.
You really find it so restrictive to live there?
Restrictive? No, I never said that. I lifted my arms up
with my hands open. Small-town life comes with some
definite boundaries, but those work to the good more often
than they become a detriment.
Boundaries? Funny you d use that word.
Just then the car hit a dip in the road.
I opened my eyes and waited for him to say more.
Isn t that what you ve been telling me Sugar Anne is
practically begging for with her attitude and actions?
I sat back again. Yes.
He took a left at a broad intersection and suddenly we
were under a long, low archway of tree branches.
You don t dive into the pool without testing the waters
first, I concluded.
You did.
Yeah, well, I could do that, couldn t I? A shower of red
and yellow leaves tumbled downward toward us and I
tried to snatch at one, but the car slipped past too fast and
the chance had gone. I could just go on and jump in be-
cause I knew the lifeguard had his eyes glued right on me
the whole time.
He chuckled. It was that pink bikini.
I inhaled and stretched like a cat, keeping my gaze on
him from the corners of my eyes.
But seriously, you re saying that because Sugar Anne s
172 Annie Flannigan
too young to dip her toes in the waters of adulthood just
yet, she s pulling these stunts to make sure she has my at-
tention?
You know of a better way to feel secure than to push the
one person you hope you can always rely on to the very
limit and find out for sure that he won t falter or take his
eyes off you?
Should I feel good that she s testing me? Or bad that
I ve failed her so much that she feels I have to prove my-
self?
Good. Definitely good. All children test their parents.
I ll bet you didn t.
Shows how much you know. The day I went over to the
pool to show off in front of you it was against my parents
orders.
Yeah?
Suddenly I thought of that day, of the misguided belief I
had held about it for so long, and my heart grew heavy.
And that one act of rebellion changed the course of my
life.
He took his eyes from the road for only a second. You re
kidding, right?
I wish I was. But for years and years I thought that my
dragging in all wet from swimming at the South Winds just
showed the bank man that even the Hadleys would prefer
to spend their time and money at your grandfather s place.
I always suspected he took it as a sign. I can t tell you how
confused and hurt I was when I heard Granny tell the truth
of that story.
I d come out with him for one tiny escape from reality. I
had come to listen to him, secretly hoping he would confess
L ove and a Bad Hair Day 173
something dark and horrible about his family. I knew this
would relieve him and that I would enjoy hearing the dirty
details more than any upstanding compassionate girl
should. What I had not planned upon was disclosing some-
thing disturbing about the people I loved.
Ry, I think my family let me feel badly about the swim-
ming pool incident for a reason. They told me it wasn t my
fault about the loan, but they never let me forget what a bad
impression I made that day.
All these years you still thought you d been a bad
omen? he asked.
No one ever explained it all to me. I always thought the
buffet deal came after they turned down Daddy s idea
you know, like they had to choose between the two options
and I spoiled it for my family.
Kids are self-centered in a way that makes them believe
they have something to do with the bad things that happen
to those they love. He slowed the car. He did not look my
way but I could see that he was not only talking about me
when he added, It s only natural to feel like there is always
something you could have done to stop something bad
from happening.
And I think my family let me go on blaming myself just
a little bit to keep me from trying to push the limits again.
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