Charming Read Online Free PDF Page B

from beneath, and a gray long-sleeved Henley. The thing stretched tight over his thick, muscular arms and well-defined abs. What would running a hand over those feel like? What would his arms feel like wrapped around—
    Haley turned and marched back to her room, passing a gaping Jocelyn. “Tell him to get lost.”

    Five minutes later, the hinges to Haley’s door croaked out a horrid sound. Jocelyn poked her head around, hand squeezing the side, a passive-aggressive attempt to make a stand, to prevent Haley from kicking the door closed.
    “May I come in?”
    Haley waved from her spot on the hardwood floor where she’d pulled out her secret stash of pictures of Mom and Dad, back when life was happy, when Dad smiled and tossed a wiffle ball at his daughters waiting eagerly with tiny, pink gloves. Back when they’d spend all evening outside, chasing away the sun, chasing each other, hugging, laughing. Back before the fall, before, before, before. “You’re already here. Might as well come in the rest of the way.”
    “Are those pictures of Mom?” Joce took a seat next to Haley, then yanked the plain white comforter off the bed and wrapped the downy softness around her shoulders. “And Dad. Wow. Where’d you find these?”
    Joce picked one up, dragging a finger across the photograph. She and Haley wore Mom’s clothes and had their hair pulled back in a bun. Mom sat between them, wearing a gob of bright pink and blue makeup her daughters had slathered all over her face. They were all smiling and happy, best friends.
    “When I was six, Dad bought me a point and shoot camera. They took me to Wal-Mart once a week to have the film developed. These were in a box underneath blankets and pillows, shoved in the back of my closet. Guess Dad forgot they existed when he trashed everything else.” Haley laughed silently. “ I’d forgotten they existed until I went on a rampage and decided everything I owned needed to be thrown away. That is until I came across these.”
    Joce opened her mouth to say something, snapped it closed, then muttered, “You should be nicer to guests.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you only have one friend, the worst kind of friend. And when I find you doing things like this, it makes me wonder if there’s more to you than you want me to know.”
    Haley didn’t defend Christine. The words would be lost on deaf ears. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
    Joce rolled her eyes and dropped the blanket. “Oh, and Chris offered to take you skydiving with him. If you change your mind, they’re leaving in twenty minutes. You can text him.” She passed a small white card to Haley, then made her way to the door. “I think you’re nuts if you don’t call. Return to the land of the living, Hales.”
    Wow. Joce must have spent time around Amanda last night as well as Thursday. They’d known each other since second grade and probably shared everything the way Haley and Christine did. But for reasons unknown, Amanda never seemed to run out of support for Haley.
    She crumpled Chris’s number and tossed it into the trashcan by her dresser. She wouldn’t return to the land of the living today. Not with him, especially not with him.
    Besides, Haley had to clean the house before Dad woke up. Anything to avoid a yelling fit.
    She donned yellow latex gloves that stretched up to her elbows, grabbed her chemical caddy, then got to work on the small bathroom she shared with Jocelyn: soaking the toilet with bleach, scrubbing the hard water ring, disinfecting the seat with a wipe. She stuck in ear buds and listened to music to help pass the time. Haley moved on from the bathroom, swept, mopped all the floors, and vacuumed the shag rug in the den.
    Yeah. Wish Amanda could talk Jocelyn into helping out around the house. Four hours cleaning other people’s shit. Four hours coming to terms with the realization that Dad would never allow Jocelyn to help. She had soccer, student council meetings, band. And what did