A Small Town Dream Read Online Free PDF Page B

class,” Annie said, turning to leave. Parker grabbed her arm.
     
    “Thanks for reading it, Annie. I knew you’d love it.”
     
    “I do...I did...it was just...I’ll see you two later.” She hurried off but paused before the corner. She looked back to see them kissing again. She smiled.
     
    “Connie’s lucky,” she told herself. “She deserves somebody like Parker.”
     
    The jealousy, however, continued to ride on her shoulder.
     
    ***
     
    “I just can’t .” Connie flopped down next to Annie in the cafeteria. She dropped the book on the table. “I can’t. It’s just... weird ,” she said and sipped her Styrofoam cup of coffee. Annie’s mouth fell open. She didn’t expect Connie to love the book as much as Parker did. She didn’t think anyone could, but assumed Connie would at least like it. “I can’t get past the first ten pages. You liked this thing?”
     
    “I loved it,” Annie said, picking up the book and running her hand over the cover. “I read it in one night.” Connie did a double-take.
     
    “You’re not serious .”
     
    Annie shrugged. “I’m surprised you didn’t. It’s all about adventure and freedom and escape...and romance .” Annie smiled, recalling passages from the book that had touched her heart. “It’s the voice of a generation .”
     
    “Not my generation,” Connie snorted. “Okay, Annie, tell me what it’s about, and what I should like about it, so I can tell Parker.” Annie looked incredulous. “I’m not joking, Annie. There’s no way I can get through this thing, and I don’t want to disappoint Parker, so help me out here.” Annie thought for a moment. It seemed dishonest and somehow wrong.
     
    “No, I can’t. I mean, Connie, it’s okay if you don’t like it. Parker loves you. He’s not going to change his mind just because you don’t like a book.”
     
    “But it’s so important to him,” Connie said, taking the book back and rifling the pages, looking disgusted. “I want to like the things that are important to him.”
     
    “Tell him.”
     
    “Tell him what? That I can’t stand it?”
     
    “No, tell him the truth, that you want to like it, because what’s important to him is important to you. Tell him that, and it’ll be fine.”
     
    “You think?” Connie bit her cheek.
     
    “I’m sure.”
     
    But am I? Annie wondered how Parker would react. She could have told Connie a few highlights, some lines to quote, and Parker would be none the wiser. But she was stuck now.
     
    “It’ll be okay, Connie. It’s just a book after all, and I’m sure with time, there’ll be other books and other things you’ll share. This isn’t the end of the relationship.”
     
    “You’re right. One book isn’t going to ruin our relationship.” Connie sounded more cheerful. She was confident in this, because she believed in what she had with Parker. “Thank you,” she said, hugging Annie. “I have to say, when I saw you two hugging, and found out it was because of a book, I was worried.”
     
    “Connie, I would never...” but Annie’s was a half-hearted protest. Connie didn’t notice.
     
    “I know, sweetie. I was just being silly. But you’re right, I’ll tell him the truth and it’ll be fine.” The bell rang. They gathered their things.
     
    “Annie?” Connie stopped in the hall.
     
    “What?”
     
    “Thank you.”
     
    “You’re welcome, sweetie.”
     
    Annie smiled, watching Connie walk away, but there was a sudden heaviness in her heart, one she didn’t understand.
     
    Or rather, a heaviness she didn’t want to understand.
     
    ***
     
    “Wow.” Annie sat down across from Parker in the lunchroom. They were the first ones at the table. “You look like somebody smothered your puppy. What’s going on?”
     
    Parker sat, shoulders hunched, fiddling with something in his hands. Suddenly Annie was actually worried.
     
    “Parker, is everything OK? Did something happen with Columbia?” He shook his head.