Acting Up Read Online Free PDF

in a clear attempt to defend their actions. A swooshing motion up into the sky accompanied the fervent account.
    Carson finished the story. “Then Daddy said we needed a keeper, and since Mommy wasn’t here to do it anymore, it’d have to be Gamma.”
    â€œWhere’s your mommy?”
    â€œIn heaven,” Jason said.
    Carson hung his head. “She went to sleep and forgot to wake up.”
    Addison’s heart stopped. She had another memory of a letter from her aunt a couple years ago, telling her about two tragic deaths within weeks of each other. One was the minister’s wife from cancer. The other was the wife of one of the Thomas brothers.
    Addison couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea of these sweet, funny boys growing up without their mother. Like she’d had to without her father.
    â€œMy dad died,” Addison said.
    Their heads came up. Icy fingers skated down her spine as they stared into her eyes. A connection from a shared tragedy.
    â€œDid your daddy forget to wake up, too?” Jason asked.
    â€œNo, he died in an accident. I was a bit older than you guys. Then I came here to live with my aunt.”
    â€œYou lived here?”
    â€œYeah, and I’m visiting for awhile.”
    Carson popped up on his knees. “Mimi Ruth fell down and hurt her leg.”
    â€œMimi Ruth?”
    She wasn’t surprised when Jason also popped up on his knees. “She lets us come over and play the piano. We’re learning scales.”
    â€œSounds fun—”
    â€œJason? Carson?”
    The two boys shared identical uh-oh glances, and Addison turned to see Catalogue Man from the gas station round the corner.
    ****
    Ethan tromped through the grass toward Ruth Carlson’s back yard. He’d had yet another confrontation with Mrs. Turney today. Except it was no longer only Mrs. Turney. Now there was a Greek chorus in his face, demanding he solve the problem of the spring musical. Unfortunately, he was no closer to securing a replacement director. If he knew one thing about singing or acting, he would have taken over directing himself, just to get Mrs. Turney and her posse off his back.
    The added stress meant his temper was already on a hair trigger, and arriving at his mother’s house to find the boys nowhere in sight did nothing to help. The boys knew they were supposed to stay within eyesight of his mother.
    â€œBoys, didn’t I tell you about sneaking over here with Mrs. Carlson gone—” He came to a halt as he spotted the blond woman sitting in the grass next to his sons. His pulse kicked into high gear.
    The boys jumped up and ran to him before he could shout a warning. “Daddy, there’s a lady stayin’ here. She’s on Gamma’s TV show.”
    â€œTV show?”
    He turned to look at her more closely, and the breath left his body, like a defensive end had hit him.
    It was her. The woman from the gas station. The woman who had, in one blinding instant, made him glad he hadn’t followed his impulse to drive off the road. Made him happy he was still alive. He’d tried hard not think about her since the strange encounter across the service island, but a man didn’t forget having his engines revved for the first time in years so easily.
    In one graceful movement, she stood and ambled toward him. Unlike the other day when she’d been in jeans and a sweater, this time she wore some kind of white filmy dress, which seemed to dance around her calves. Her hair was loose, flowing around her shoulders to frame blue eyes.
    It was as if Aphrodite on the clamshell from that painting had suddenly come to life. She was beautiful… stunning… entrancing and any other word one could imagine to describe an attractive woman. He blinked, wondering if stress and nearly two years’ worth of sleepless nights had driven him over the edge. How else to explain a living goddess showing up in this back yard? Her face was