08 - December Dread Read Online Free PDF Page B

haven’t even been into town yet.” Town meant Paynesville, and she was right. Because her farmhouse was so far into the country, I’d easily and purposely skirted Paynesville to get here. I wasn’t ready for it yet.
    “I’m going to be here for at least a week.” I’d told her this several times already. I think she just liked to hear me say it. “We’ll have plenty of time to catch up.”
    “You sure Johnny can’t join us?”
    I sighed involuntarily. Hot, sexy Johnny Leeson and I had been seriously dating for a few weeks. He was a blonde Adonis with lean hips and large hands, and he got my blood humming like nobody’s business. He was also smart, sweet, and supportive, which is exactly why I was sure I was going to mess up the relationship. To stall the inevitable crash and burn, I’d put up boundaries. No telling each other we loved each other or full-on sex for six months. It was tough work, a first for me, really, and I couldn’t say that I liked it. I did like Johnny, though, and I wanted to keep him around as long as I could, even if it meant pretending I was someone I wasn’t. “He and his mom flew to Texas to stay with his aunt. He won’t be around this Christmas.”
    “Maybe he can join us for Easter, then?”
    “Mom, I’m here now. Let’s just focus on that, ’kay?” I could feel my blood pressure rising. She hadn’t changed at all, which was both good and bad. Good because she’d always been a great mom. Bad because I had changed, and it left me feeling older than her somehow. It was uncomfortable.
    “I was just asking. It’d be nice to see him, you know. And his mother. We had such a nice visit in Battle Lake in August.” Mom cupped her elbows while she spoke. “What about Mrs. Berns? What is she doing for Christmas?”
    Mrs. Berns was the first actual, close, do-anything-for-you friend I’d ever had. She was under five feet tall, over 80 years old, and lampshaded everything. I missed her something terrible, which just added to my annoyance at my mom’s line of questioning. “Visiting family in Fargo.”
    “Hmm. It would be wonderful to see her. And Mrs. Leeson and Johnny. Just wonderful.”
    “All right,” I said, my tone unexpectedly harsh. “I’ll see what I can do. Is that good enough?” I wished I hadn’t snapped, but it felt like the little farmhouse was closing in on me all of a sudden, and my world was shrinking with it. I hadn’t even been here 24 hours. It didn’t help that I’d slept so poorly last night. I kept tossing and turning and waking up to find Kevin Bacon staring at me. “Look, I’m sorry, but I have to go, all right? The class starts in an hour, and all the roads might not be plowed yet.”
    She handed me a brown paper sack. “I packed you a lunch.”
    “Of course you did.” I drew in a deep breath and gave her a peck on the forehead. “You’re going to be fine with Tiger Pop and Luna?”
    “I’ll relish the company. When are you going to be home?”
    “Mom.”
    She held out her hands. “I want to know if I should cook supper for one or two.”
    “I’ll be home for supper, okay?”
    Her smile was bright enough to read by. “I’m making your favorite.”
    She was my mom. Everything she cooked was my favorite. Still, I couldn’t escape that house fast enough. It wasn’t just my room or my mom. None of it had changed. The kitchen had the same blue-flowered wallpaper, chipped cupboards, and Goodwill plates. The dining room table was the same one I’d fallen into when roller skating in the house at 12. I’d earned 13 stitches on my head and still bore a faint scar. My dad had threatened to spank me, something he hadn’t done since I was little, but my mom had stopped him. Even their bedroom was the same, a dusty little space with photos of them together the day my dad returned from the Vietnam War with his honorable discharge papers and a Purple Heart. The pictures were color, but a weird 1969 version that was both brighter and less