Arizona Dreams Read Online Free PDF

brought back a lot. But time really can help things.”
    â€œYou don’t have to tell me.”
    â€œDave, you know I have to tell you everything.” She sipped her drink and ran one of her long, elegant fingers around the rim of her glass. “She’s my half-sister, you know? She had a different dad. She’s two years younger, but by the time she came along, Linda was already living with some new guy. I know you think it’s weird to call my mother by her first name…”
    â€œNo,” I said. “From the way you describe it, you kind of had to raise her.”
    â€œThe dutiful daughter Lindsey,” she said, an ambiguous shade in her voice. “Robin was a sweet girl, so creative. That all changed. She got into drugs by the time she was about thirteen. It didn’t help that we moved to a new school every year, and Linda always had some new man she was self-destructing over. You’ve heard this a million times.”
    â€œI didn’t know you had a sister,” I said gently.
    She sighed. “I know. I’m sorry.” I stroked her feet with my free hand. In a moment, she continued. “For so many years, I felt like an orphan. When I found you, I just didn’t want to dredge all that up. I never thought I’d see her again.” She took an uncharacteristic gulp of her drink. “When I was twenty-five, I was leaving the Air Force. And Robin showed up. It was bad. She was still doing drugs, lying. Oh, Dave. My family sounds like a white trash reality show. I’m not like them. But I knew Robin was going to turn out just like Linda. God, I knew that when I was fifteen years old.” By this time her eyes were full of tears.
    â€œWe don’t choose our families, darling,” I said. “I was lucky. But even so, I lost my parents when I was a baby. Then I lost my grandparents. Sometimes I almost wish some long lost brother or sister would arrive.”
    â€œI chose you,” she said. “And I had a good visit with Robin. Maybe she has changed. Everybody gets older, and some people even grow up. She went back to college. My gosh, she’s lived in New York and Paris. She sounds very accomplished.”
    â€œI’d call that a change for the better.”
    â€œMe, too,” she said. “So when Robin showed up at the door today, I either had to treat her like the enemy, or like my sister.” Lindsey says “eye-ther” and I say “eeth-er”; somehow we worked the whole thing out. She said, “So I invited her in, and we talked. I always wanted to save Robin. But I couldn’t make her save herself. Now I think that’s happened. Do you think I’m a fool?”
    â€œDefinitely not,” I said. “You have a kind heart that I love.”
    â€œOh, Dave…” And she was in my arms before I knew it. I let out something between a gasp and a yelp, and the remains of the martini flew onto the floor.
    â€œDave, what’s wrong? Stop that—leave the martini glass alone. I’ll get that later. What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
    â€œNo…yes…” And so I told her.
    â€œOh, my God…we’re going to the ER…” This as she was taking an inventory of the dark red crescent spreading across my side and my swollen hand and arm. Then we fussed back and forth—I wasn’t going to wait for eight hours in an overrun Phoenix emergency room. I promised I’d call the doctor in the morning if things got worse. Lindsey said I’d call the doctor no matter what.
    â€œI feel like such a dolt,” I said.
    â€œThey assaulted a deputy sheriff!”
    â€œOh, yeah, Mr. Tough Cop.”
    â€œWere you armed, Dave?”
    I shook my head.
    â€œOh, God, they might have killed you. What if they had been armed?”
    Then I tried to distract her by making a fresh martini for me, while telling her about the visit from Dana Underwood and her