Live to Tell (Live to Tell #1)(68)

Sadie pointedly ignores him.

“Sadie!”

She turns to look at him, waves.

“Come back over here, near me.”

“In a minute.” She turns to grab a sponge ball as it floats past, and tosses it back to the little boy who let it go.

Hmm. Maybe he should just move over there so that she can play with the other kids. Sadie could probably stand to make a few friends. Maybe that would help her act more…normal.

He feels bad for even thinking that, but it’s true. His little sister is downright weird lately. She’s always worrying about her stuff, and she throws tantrums and cries at the drop of a hat. What if she gets to school and none of the other kindergarteners like her? What if she goes through life as one of those pathetic kids who have no friends?

That’ll be Dad’s fault, too, Ryan tells himself. Sadie was just fine before he left.

We all were.

“Is that your little sister?”

Ryan looks up to see a lady talking to him. “Yeah,” he tells her, “that’s Sadie. I’m watching her for my mom.”

“Aren’t you a sweet big brother.”

“She’s paying me.”

The woman laughs. “Sweet, and smart, too.”

Obviously a mom, she’s in up to her knees, holding a little kid who looks petrified of the water. But of course Ryan would know she’s a mom even without the kid attached to her, because she’s wearing a one-piece black bathing suit with a little skirt. Only moms wear those—including his own.

She lowers the baby so that the bottoms of his feet skim the water. He screams.

“It’s okay, little guy,” his mother tells him. “See? It’s fun.”

The baby screams harder. He obviously does not think it’s fun.

“My sister used to do that when she was a baby,” Ryan offers, feeling sorry for the mom, who holds the baby up high above the water again.

“Really? Do you remember how she got over it?”

“No, but my mom probably does. She used to read all these books about stuff like that. You know—how to get kids to do stuff.”

The woman smiles. “Where’s your mom?”

Ryan points at the lap lanes on the far side of the pool, where his mother is gliding toward the opposite end in a rhythmic freestyle.

“I’ll have to ask her for some tips, or at least some good book titles. What’s her name?”

“Lauren. I’m Ryan,” he adds.

“Good to meet you, Ryan. I’m Jessica Wolfe.”

She’s nice. Maybe she can be friends with Mom.

Oh geez. Why am I so worried about finding friends for other people?

Ryan isn’t quite sure. All he knows is that his mother and sister both seem lonely, and he feels like he should probably do something about it now that…

Now that I’m the man of the house?

But he’s only twelve. He doesn’t want to be a man. He doesn’t want to take care of other people. Half the time, he feels like he wants someone to take care of him.

Mom does, to be fair. Yeah. She takes good care of him.

But Dad doesn’t. Not anymore. These days, Dad only takes care of himself.

Again, Ryan feels a flash of anger toward his father.

His jaw clenches and he tries to think about something else. Something happy.

He watches Jessica scoop some water over her baby’s feet. More screams. Okay, that’s definitely not happy.

“Shh, sweetie, you’re not even in the water, see?” Jessica says. “I’m just splashing you. See the big girl? See how Sadie splashy-splashes over there?”

Hearing her name, Sadie looks up with interest. Ryan notices once again that she’s drifted too far away.

“Hey, Sades, c’mere.”

“No! You come here!”

Ryan sighs, hoists himself to his feet. He might as well go sit on the other side.

“It was nice meeting you,” he tells Jessica.

“You too, Ryan.”

As he makes his way around the stairs, he glances over toward the lap lanes again, wishing he could introduce the nice mom to his mom. She said Trilby is coming back any day now, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need someone else to hang around with.

His mother is no longer swimming in the lap lanes.

Where…?

Oh. She’s over there, out of the pool, and no wonder it took him a minute to recognize her. She’s not wearing one of those black mom bathing suits with a little skirt today, he notices. She’s wearing a red two-piece. And— Ryan’s eyes widen—she’s talking to some guy.

His heart sinks.

Weren’t you just thinking Mom can use some new friends? Maybe she made one.

Yeah, but he’s a guy. And he’s not looking at Ryan’s mother like he wants her to be his friend.

He’s looking at her like…

Ryan sighs.

Yeah. Life definitely sucks.



Three hours—and well over three thousand dollars—after stepping out of the Town Car on West Broadway, Caroline is well outfitted for the fall season. In Marin’s opinion, anyway.

In Caroline’s opinion, they’re just getting started. Funny, because she’s the one who didn’t want this shopping expedition in the first place.