Last Dance Read Online Free PDF Page A

practically had to be chased out with a broom by Kip’s mother? And then the instant he got home had to telephone to tell her all the things he had thought about during the drive back?
    “Come on,” Mike said irritably. “You said you wanted to go outside, so let’s go.”
    Kip walked after him, and he held the glass door for her, and they walked into the hot night. Mountain breezes made it pleasant, and there was no view to compare with this one. Mike appeared to be enjoying the scenery. Kip could remember a time when she was the only scenery Mike wanted to gaze upon.
    Where had he gone—that Mike who loved her?
    Did he miss the love himself?
    Did he even remember it?
    Kip remembered every minute, as if she had a tactile diary that recorded each kiss and touch and caress.
    She made one final try. Stepping up close to him, touching his shoulder, using her flirty voice, she said, “Actually, Michael, the dancer who did one of those things on the questionnaire is none other than that sexy exciting woman—tah-dah!—Kip Elliott!”
    And Mike, her Mike, who once thought she was the most fascinating human being on the face of his earth, said, “Aw come on, Kip, you’ve never done anything interesting.”
    Matt’s family specialty was not spicy food, nor downhill skiing, nor Trivial Pursuit. It was advice.
    “All right,” his mother said instantly. “All right, you must drive straight down there. Go directly to Emily’s house, and tell her we want her to live with us.”
    “Absolutely not!” Matt’s father shouted. He was six feet tall, and Mrs. O’Connor was five eleven, but she rose higher than her husband because she was wearing heels and had puffy hair. “Don’t listen to your mother, Matthew. We will not interfere with the Edmundson situation. That was her mother you spoke to, and we can’t run around making things worse. Emily has to stay with her own family, that’s what families are for.”
    Matt, as usual in his family, now had two absolutely opposite views of what to do. To interfere, or not to interfere, that is the question, Matt thought. He knew Emily would want him to interfere, but—
    “Impossible!” Matt’s grandfather shouted. He was the tallest of them, at six four, and his voice got louder with every passing year. “Her own family just broke up. The girl needs you, Matthew, what are you hanging around for?”
    Matthew, at five ten, was the family shrimp. He had to look up to all of them, which annoyed him. With all those great tall genes, how come he wasn’t six six?
    “Change your clothes, Matthew,” his mother said. “That tuxedo is too dressy. Obviously you’re not going to the dance. First drive to their house, and get the address of Mrs. Edmundson’s new apartment from Emily’s father, and then drive to Lynnwood and collect Emily.”
    Matthew was not wearing a tuxedo, just a summer jacket, but it didn’t seem like the right moment to give his mother a lesson in men’s fashions.
    “Absolutely not the way to do it!” Matt’s father shouted. “Matt will stay right here and wait for Emily to telephone him.”
    Matt stuck an arm between them all and fished around on the kitchen counter for the first available set of car keys.
    “I don’t believe in waiting,” Matt’s grandfather said, leaning down to yell in Matt’s ear. “Nothing comes to him who waits except more time to wait in. Patience is not a virtue. Hit the road, Matthew.”
    Matt thought this would be an excellent time to get extra gas money from his grandfather, but he was wrong. One word about wanting cash and the entire focus of the O’Connor shouting changed. “Why haven’t you saved more?” his grandfather demanded sternly. “What’s the matter with you anyway, don’t you have any backbone?”
    “Yes,” Matt said, “I just don’t have any money.”
    “I think it’s a disgrace that when your girlfriend needs you, all you can think about is money,” his mother said, looking shocked.
    “Mom,