Chance of a Lifetime Read Online Free PDF Page B

gypsies. There was a radio playing music like we’d never heard and little kids with sparklers dancing around in the dark. An old lady read our palms for free.”
    When the nurse came in, Paulette didn’t fight the medicine. She introduced Emily as her best friend, Shelley. “I begged her to go away to college with me,” Paulette told the nurse, “but she was determined to marry and now I’m back after a year of higher learning and I can’t believe how she’s changed.”
    For a moment, Emily saw the woman Paulette had once been. Her words might not make any sense, but her manner still had polish. She was living somewhere in her late teens when plans could climb to any height and needed no roots.
    The medicine began to take effect. When Paulette lay back in her bed, Emily brushed her white hair away from her cheek and kissed her gently. “Good night, dear. Sleep tight and we’ll talk again.”
    “Tomorrow,” Paulette whispered and closed her eyes. “We might go swimming. I’ve got a new two-piece.”
    Emily watched her for a while remembering how her mother had always said Paulette Parker was fragile, like fine china. Sometime in the years since she’d seen her mother’s best friend, the woman had broken and Emily had a feeling all the medicine in the world wouldn’t fix her.
    As soon as they were in the hallway, she asked Tannon, “How long has your mom been like this?”
    He shrugged. “I have a hard time remembering when she wasn’t like this. Dad used to just say she needed her rest. Even when I was little, there were days she didn’t get out of bed. She used to say that she was given to depression, but she hid it from everyone outside the house. When your folks died and my dad was hurt so badly he was in a wheelchair for almost a year, she couldn’t handle it. I came home from college and took over the business for Dad and he tried to get well while he took care of her.” Tannon ran his hand through his midnight hair. “My dad’s insides were slowly shutting down, and it was still all about Mom.”
    “I didn’t know.” She’d really never thought about what had happened to the Parkers after the car wreck. She knew they’d survived it, and her parents had not. She’d come home for the funeral and stayed a week to close up the house and then gone back to college. At college she could pretend that nothing had changed until holidays and breaks with nowhere to go.
    Then she’d been offered the library job and had returned to Harmony for the first time since her parents’ death. As she’d driven into town, she’d stopped at the cemetery and went to stand at her parents’ grave. “I’m home,” she’d said with a smile.
    It had been almost a dozen years since then and she’d never known about Paulette’s condition. Tannon had always kept his answers simple: “She’s fine” or “She’s better.” He had never shared his troubles. Not until tonight.
    “Did your dad ever go back to work?”
    “No. Once he could walk, he took care of Mom until he died. Then, because I had to run the business, I hired a live-in nurse and a housekeeper for Mom.”
    Tannon opened the door for her and offered his hand as she climbed into his pickup. He didn’t look like he wanted to talk about his mother anymore, so they drove silently back to Emily’s apartment.
    “Thanks for coming,” he said when he’d stopped. “I haven’t seen her that happy in a long time. Maybe next time you could ask her what the fortune-teller said.”
    Emily didn’t know what to say. She didn’t think there would be a next time. Part of her wanted to remind Tannon that they were no longer friends. They hadn’t been for years. He’d hate knowing that she felt sorry for him, but she couldn’t help but see the weight he carried. His shoulders were broad, but even strong men sometimes break and she didn’t want to think of that happening. She knew how it felt to be broken.
    “You want to come in for supper? I left ribs