Live to Tell (Live to Tell #1)(86)

“The forms I put into your backpack?”

“Why didn’t you want me to look at them?”

“I never said that.”

“You sealed them in an envelope.”

“I just didn’t want you to lose them, and anyway…you opened a sealed envelope?”

“I thought it was something else.”

“No, you didn’t. The school nurse’s name was on the envelope.”

“Okay. Whatever. I was curious.”

“About…?”

“You said I had to have an operation when I was little. I was just wondering what was wrong with me.”

“I told you—you were very sick.”

“You never told me I had some rare genetic disease and I almost died.”

“I never told that to the school nurse on those medical forms, either, Caroline.” Marin levels a look at her.

Caroline returns the gaze, her chin held stubbornly high. “I must have seen it somewhere else.”

She’s been snooping, Marin realizes. Does she know about Annie, then?



Driving down 684 toward White Plains, the wipers beating a soggy staccato against the windshield, Lauren wonders what her ex-husband is about to tell her, trying to prepare herself…

For what?

For Nick marrying Beth.

For Nick wanting to come home.

For Nick telling her he’s suing for full custody of the kids, or that he’s moving across the country, or…

God only knows what’s coming.

But whatever it is, she can handle it.

If you’re so sure of that, then why didn’t you tell the kids you were on your way to see him?

Well, the girls didn’t exactly ask. Lucy was barely awake by the time Lauren left, and Sadie was busy picking out board games for her siblings to play with her.

Only Ryan wanted to know where Lauren was going. She probably could have told him the truth, or at least have been more sensitive, but his attitude got to her.

Maybe he suspects that Lauren’s outing today has to do with Nick.

A boy needs his father. All three kids do, but especially Ryan. Especially at his age.

If Nick really does ask her to take him back…

He won’t. There’s no way.

But if he does…

“Arriving…at…destination…on…left,” the robotic voice of the GPS announces, and Lauren spots a tall apartment building just ahead.

This is it.

Can she really tell him no if he wants a second chance? Is that the right thing to do?

The right thing, she reminds herself, is to put her children’s needs before her own. She just has to decide whether they’re better off with him, or without him.

That’s if he called her here to ask for a second chance.

As she pulls into the covered parking garage, she tells herself she’s ready for absolutely anything that can possibly happen.

A scant five minutes later, she finds out that she’s wrong.

Dead wrong.



Before Mommy left, she promised Sadie that Ryan and Lucy would play a game with her.

“Right, guys?” Mommy asked them pointedly from the bottom of the stairs, just before she walked out the door.

“Right,” they said together.

Then Mommy drove away, and Lucy got on the phone with someone, and Ryan went into his room and shut the door.

That was a while ago. When Sadie knocked, her brother told her he was busy and to come back later.

Having decided this is later enough, she knocks again.

“Now what?” Ryan calls through the door.

“You’re supposed to play with me.”

“Geez, Sades, I said I will. But in a little bit, okay? I’m in the middle of something.”

“What?”

“Cleaning my room.”

Sadie turns away quickly, wondering if he’s finding stuff to give away for the tag sale. Nobody’s mentioned that today, and the fishing line has been strung across her doorway without any problems now, but Sadie’s still worried.

She goes down the hall to Lucy’s room. She can hear her sister in there on the phone, giggling and talking in a low voice.

Sadie knocks.

“Oh God, hang on a minute,” she hears Lucy say. Then she calls, “What’s up, Sadie?”

“How did you know it’s me?”

“Because it’s been you the last three times. What do you want?”

“You have to play Chutes and Ladders with me. Mommy said.”

“Yeah, I know. As soon as I get off the phone.”

“When?”

“When I’m done talking, okay?” Lucy lowers her voice and Sadie hears her say, “God, she’s such a pain.”

Feeling like she’s going to cry, Sadie walks down the hall toward her room. Lucy and Ryan don’t even care about her. And Mommy had to go somewhere, and Daddy… Daddy’s been gone for so long Sadie sometimes can’t remember what he looks like, exactly, or what his voice sounds like, or what it was like when he lived here with them.

If Daddy were around, no one would have snuck into Sadie’s room.

If Daddy were around, she would have Fred back, too.

She thinks of the pink dog as she walks into her room, and glances at the empty spot on her dresser.