How I Came to Sparkle Again Read Online Free PDF Page A

if Jill moved to Sparkle, she would get interested in skiing and be motivated to eat. The truth was, he understood she needed to be away from her parents in order to feel good enough. Now, here she was again.
    After she went off to college, Uncle Howard had moved back into his studio apartment under the lodge at the top of Sparkle Mountain. He was like a hermit or a sage up there, but one who measured the new snow, read the thermometer and wind gauge, made judgments about avalanche danger, and called it all in to be part of the day’s snow report. A short walk away from his apartment was a door that led to the generator room under the lift shack at the top of the Summit Chair, and inside were several shelves of carefully selected books, a table, and two chairs. Uncle Howard was both famous and notorious for this library. She wondered what he would pluck off his shelf and expect her to read this time. He prescribed books for people the way doctors prescribed medicine, and his equivalent of all-purpose aspirin was Siddhartha .
    Jill needed sleep. There was no place for her to sleep in his studio and no place to sleep in his library, so she continued on to Lisa’s house. At least Lisa had a couch to offer.
    She turned up the next block and stopped in front of the yellow Victorian where Lisa had grown up. Her father had been the head chef and manager of the fancy Italian restaurant at the Sparkle Lodge, but after he died a couple years ago, Lisa’s mother moved to Florida and sold the house to her. It hadn’t changed much, though the aspens in the yard had grown significantly. Next door, the old trailer Lisa always found to be such an eyesore looked to be in even greater disrepair, with even more additions built onto it, and an even greater number of vehicles parked in the front yard.
    Before she got out of the car, Jill took her phone out of her purse and opened it. A long list of missed calls from David popped up. Jill’s twenty-four hours of not being a missing person were surely almost up, but she still didn’t want to talk to him. He had sent texts as well. She read the last one:
     
I’m calling the police now. The bank called to report some unusual credit card activity, so I canceled them. Someone used your card to buy a car! I’m so worried that you were mugged and abducted or killed. Please, Jill, if you get this message, please let me know you’re alive.
    She wasn’t sure what to do. She figured if the police were going to be involved, she’d better set the record straight. She hit reply and texted, “The Lexus died. It’s in the shop. They should have called you yesterday. I bought the car with our credit card. I wasn’t mugged. I’m alive. I just needed to leave.”
    She looked through her purse and found $48.43 in cash. She took her now worthless cards out of her wallet. There was no way to get replacements. Replacements could be sent only to her billing address. She wasn’t sure how she was going to work this problem. She would figure something out. For now, she called her supervisor at work and asked that her last paycheck be sent to Lisa’s in Colorado. It would have only three-quarters of a day’s worth of wages on it, but every penny counted now.
    She took a big breath, stepped out of her car, and walked up the little sidewalk to Lisa’s porch. The sun had melted the sidewalk, thank goodness, because she had no boots—just her nurse’s shoes. A little clothesline stretched between two porch posts, and on it hung an unlikely combination of ugly gray wool socks and lacy thongs, all black except for one, which was magenta. She hesitated for a moment and peeked through the window in Lisa’s door. Walls were missing. Clothes were strewn all over furniture. It was dark. She wasn’t sure if Lisa was still sleeping or if she had already left for the day. She knocked quietly.
    *   *   *
     
    Lisa woke up and for a moment wondered if Cody had returned, if he realized he wanted something more,