Because You Loved Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

Jeanne needed to find the two of them, she should call his cell phone. He thanked Jeanne “4 the ice cream” in the freezer and signed, “Love, Billy & Nicole. PS: Have Chris come over for a Pictionary rematch.”
    Like Billy and Nicole’s absence from the house, the note wasn’t out of the ordinary. Nicole was good about telling Jeanne where she and Billy (or one of her other friends) went off to. “Jeanne always knew where her children were,” noted Chris later, “and what time they were coming home.”
    Soon after checking his e-mail, Chris pushed himself away from his desk and decided to buzz Jeanne at home one more time. It was a few minutes after seven.
    But she still wasn’t answering.
    She’s probably busy cleaning up, thought Chris. No big deal.
    When Chris reached his car, he picked up his cell phone, which was sitting on the front seat, where he had left it. It was 7:15 P.M ., he knew, after looking at the LCD time display on the phone. He was hoping to see a message from Jeanne. But, instead, Billy’s number was staring back at him.
    Nicole?
    Indeed, it was Nicole; she had called five minutes before, at 7:10 P.M .
    Odd, thought Chris. Nicole calling him.
    “I had always told Nicole,” said Chris, “that it was important to leave brief, short and sweet voice mails. I don’t like long, drawn-out messages, and she knew it. Although, it wasn’t unusual for her to leave a detailed message; however, I always told her not to be so winded. That is the only reason why I saved that particular voice mail.”
    For whatever reason, Nicole’s message was tedious to the point of rambling. Instead of being pithy, as Chris had explained to her more times than he could recall, Nicole began, “Chris…I was unable to reach anyone at home. I just tried calling the house. My mom’s not home yet. It’s getting late. I figured she’d be with you. Just wanted to let you guys know me and Billy will be late for dinner.” As if Chris didn’t know, Nicole added, “It’s Billy’s last day here…. He’s going back to Connecticut tomorrow….” She was calm, recalled Chris. Not one imperfection or stumble in her sweet teenage voice. Chris could even hear Billy in the background telling Nicole to let Chris know where they’d be and how long they’d be out.
    “Give him my number,” Chris heard Billy shout.
    Then Nicole spoke again: “It’s getting kind of late”—according to Chris, Nicole sounded “cool as a cucumber” here as she spoke—“so we are just wondering if she (mom) was with you. We really don’t know when we’ll be back. Call us on Billy’s cell phone if you need me.”
    Sitting in his car listening to Nicole’s voice mail didn’t affect Chris one way or another. It was typical Nicole speak. She had always been good about telling Jeanne where she was and when she’d be home. Obviously, she couldn’t reach Jeanne and figured she’d call Chris and fill him in so he could relay the message to Jeanne when he saw her. Nicole was good like that. It wasn’t until Billy entered the picture that she’d started to fall back on communicating with Jeanne regularly, and even then it was spare. Still, Chris accepted that Billy and Nicole were kids, and tried to explain to Jeanne more than once that it was in their nature to break the rules.
    “He’ll be gone soon, Jeannie,” Chris told Jeanne earlier that week. “Let them have their fun. It’s almost over. She’ll find another boy soon enough.”
    Jeanne couldn’t keep watch over Nicole 24/7. She knew that. She had to trust her on some level. Nicole’s relationship with Billy, as far as Jeanne saw it, was going to fizzle soon enough. Nicole had her junior year of high school ahead of her. She needed to redeploy her mind back to schoolwork. If Billy loved her the way he said he did, he was going to wait until she graduated. No two ways about it.
    Before pulling out of his driveway, Chris saved the voice mail and decided to phone Jeanne once