Glimmer Read Online Free PDF

Dark-Eyed Boy and I look at each other. For a terrible moment I’m worried that Sheriff Hank is driving to the insane asylum, but instead he turns onto a long, winding concrete driveway.
    A still blue lake looms into view, and the house in front of it looks more like a mini castle.
    “Here we are, gang!” Hank announces in his superhero-smug baritone. “Preston House, on the lake.”
    I blink up at the three stone stories with a tower at each end, then at the eight-foot-high wooden door. “I live here?” All the houses in the neighborhood we walked through would have low self-esteem if they could see this place. “Just . . . me and my family?”
    “And all the tourists,” Hank says cheerily.
    “Oh,” we both say, getting it at the same time. It’s an inn, a bed-and-breakfast. It isn’t just our house.
    I’m relieved. I don’t think I would want to be that rich.
    Hank parks between two new white, midsize cars—rentals, I’m guessing—and we step out onto smooth white concrete. As we cross a picturesque bridge over a man-made stream just to get onto the lush front lawn, I see a woman working on her knees in one of the circular purple flower beds. An elegant woman in oversize sunglasses, light brown hair tied up in a fancy twist. She sets down her weeding tool, yanks off her gloves, and rushes over to us. “What’s the trouble now, Hank? Must be bad if you had to pull her out of school.”
    “Liz.” The sheriff takes off his hat. “Sorry to interrupt your busy day.”
    “It’s no interruption.” Her voice is silky, reasonable, one of those voices companies use to record phone announcements. “Being a mom is my most important job.”
    Then why didn’t you know I stayed out all night and wasn’t even in school?
    “Elyse showed up in the clinic again.” Hank lowers his voice. “Seems to be having another moment—”
    “You mean all this fuss is over a moment?” Liz rips off her sunglasses, revealing tired blue eyes and crow’s-feet. “Hank, what are you talking about?”
    “Are you actually my mother?” I blurt out. “Because you sound like an idiot right now. Let’s be clear, I’m not having a moment. I have no memories. Of anything before this morning. As in, you’re a stranger, and if I’m on some experimental reality TV show, I just want to say to the fans out there: I did not sign up for this bullshit. ”
    She pats her forehead with her fingers, like she’s checking herself for fever but never takes her eyes off me. “Honey. Are you trying to scare me?”
    “Of course she is, Mrs. Alton,” Hank says, though his sureness sounds forced. “Acting out for attention. I know you’ll straighten her out. She’s so young, still.”
    She’s only a kid. I feel a chill remembering the receptionist’s hushed tones when she said it would be better for the doctor not to know. “It’s not, like, a crime to have amnesia, is it?”
    “Elyse.” Dark-Eyed Boy’s eyes scream at me, Back off on the amnesia. “Stop pretending, okay?”
    Weirdly, Liz takes that moment to notice Dark-Eyed Boy at last. “Oh, hello there,” she says, tilting her head and squinting as if she can’t figure out how he got to be where he is, so close to us, listening in on our conversation. Finally she snaps her fingers. “Ah, you’re Jim. I didn’t make the connection before.” Jim? “You stayed with us a couple years back, right?” She flashes a friendly, professional smile at Dark-Eyed Boy—as if all this ugliness with her troublemaking daughter is now behind us all. “Welcome back to Preston House. How was the flight from New York?”
    New York? Baffled, we both stare at the slim-wristed, diamond-ring-fingered hand she’s extending.
    Then, with barely a moment’s hesitation, Dark-Eyed Boy shakes it. “Not too bad,” he says, studiously not making eye contact with me. “But then I got lost downtown. Thank goodness the sheriff offered me a ride.”
    What the hell? I don’t know who he is, but I