Family Ties Read Online Free PDF

least not so far. Just a few men she had gotten briefly involved with but never fallen in love with. And within a short time the relationships had fallen apart. She had too much else to do to devote herself to a man, and their existence in her life always interfered with her main commitment, to her sister’s children. There had been no room for them and a man too. “Are all three of them home?” Whitney asked her.
    “No, just Ted and Katie. Liz is staying with her boyfriend.”
    “Is this one serious?” She would have loved to have a daughter and envied Annie the two girls. All her boys wanted to do was play sports. She missed having a daughter to fuss over, but hadn’t dared try again for fear of having a fourth son, and always said that that much testosterone under one roof would have done her in. Three sons and a husband were enough for her.
    “He looks like all the others,” Annie said, referring to Jean-Louis. “He commutes between New York and Paris, and Liz works so hard she doesn’t see him much. She’s focused on her career.”
    “Guess who she takes after,” Whitney teased her. “You’ve set a lousy example to these kids. It’s about time you gave them a healthy role model and found a guy.”
    “I keep writing my name and phone number in public bathrooms, but no one calls.”
    “That’s pathetic. Fred has a friend I want you to meet. He’s a really nice guy. A surgeon. Why don’t you come on New Year’s Eve? He’ll be here.”
    “That’s not a night for blind dates. Besides, I don’t want to leave the kids.” It had been her battle cry for years.
    “Are you kidding? They’ll probably all be out with friends. They don’t want to spend New Year’s Eve with you. At least I hope not.”
    “I don’t know their plans,” Annie said vaguely. She didn’t want to meet a stranger on New Year’s Eve. It would be too depressing. Annie had had too many blind dates over the years, and none of them had panned out. Friends had been fixing her up with losers for years.
    “Well, keep it in mind, because they’re going to ditch you for their friends, I promise. I’d be surprised if they didn’t. You can spend the night with us.” Whitney and Fred gave a New Year’s Eve party every year, but it was never fun for Annie. Everyone was married, except for the creeps they set her up with. And as much as she loved Whitney, and had for years, being the wife of a doctor in New Jersey didn’t make for an interesting social life. Annie always wound up feeling like the odd man out at Whitney’s parties, or a freak for being single at forty-two. People just didn’t understand how busy she had been for all those years. And now that the kids were grown up, she was busy with her business. She had no time to go out looking for a man and no longer really cared.
    “You’ve done what you promised your sister. Now give yourself a break. Come to New Year’s Eve.”
    “I’ll let you know,” Annie said vaguely. She had the unpleasant feeling that Whitney was going to insist. She usually did. “So who’s coming to Thanksgiving?” she said, trying to change the subject and distract Whitney from her own nonexistent personal life.
    “The usual suspects. Fred’s sister and her husband and kids, and his parents. Her twins destroy my house. You’re lucky yours are civilized and grown up.”
    “Believe me, I miss the stage you’re at with yours,” Annie said nostalgically, with a wistful tone in her voice.
    “You just don’t remember what it was like. God save me from teenage boys.” Whitney sounded rueful, and they laughed. “I’ll come in for lunch next week. And I want you to think about New Year’s Eve. He’s a great guy.”
    “I’m sure he is. I just don’t have time.” Or the desire to meet another one of Fred’s dreary friends. They just weren’t fun, and there was no reason to think that this one would be any different. They never were. If she was going to fall for a man, Annie wanted it