Last Dance Read Online Free PDF Page B

horrible dress. The fabric was cheap and clingy, and the color was not Molly’s. Actually, it probably wasn’t anybody’s color, but definitely not Molly’s. And anyone wider than a pencil would look heavy in it.
    Oooh, goodie, thought Anne gleefully. I can still be catty and everything! And here I thought I was going to be a shriveled-up, depressed old hag for ever and ever.
    Con examined the motionless ski lift hanging over the grassy green cut on the mountainside.
    Molly said, “Oh, I’m fine, Anne. But how are you ?”
    If he actually loves Molly, Anne Stephens thought, he has no taste, and I despise him. Anne made an instant, and possibly very stupid, decision. “I’m excellent, thank you. That’s a very interesting dress you have on, Molly. Where did you manage to find it?” Anne began walking again, and Con fell in step with her.
    He was looking at her with a mixture of nervousness and breathlessness that could only mean one thing: he was ready to confess his sins to her.
    Happiness left as quickly as it had come. No, Con. No, no, no, no, no, don’t tell me anything! Let’s pretend Molly is just some dumb girl in a dumber dress. Don’t tell me you went out with her, and definitely don’t tell me you did anything more than that.
    Anne said, “Oooh, look, there’s Kip and Mike! And there’s Beth Rose just getting here with Gary! Oh, I just can’t wait to see everybody again. Con, you were absolutely right, absolutely, this was the right thing, we’re going to have a great evening.”
    Con blinked.
    Gary yelled, “Hey, Winters!”
    Con saluted him.
    Anne said, “Doesn’t Beth Rose look lovely?”
    Con rarely noticed Beth Rose, and he found her hard to notice now. He wanted to stand up on Mount Snow and try to figure this all out from a mile away. Where it was safe. Anne dragged him to the door where she hugged Beth Rose, who hugged her back. Con wanted to look over his shoulder and see if Molly was walking right behind them. But then if she was, it was really the last thing he wanted to know anyway, so he stared straight ahead and tried to think of something complimentary to say to Beth Rose.
    Gary, who hadn’t seen Anne since she left town to live with Beth Rose’s Aunt Madge, surprised them all by giving Anne a hug and a kiss and a grin. “Anne,” he said, “you look radiant enough to light candles.”
    “She what?” repeated Con. “What did you say?”
    “That was on the cover of some four-inch-thick paperback romance Beth Rose was reading. I memorized it for a suitable occasion. It was pretty good, wasn’t it? Did you like it, Anne? Want to hear it again?”
    They all laughed. Con laughed extra loud, to drown out Molly’s distinctive footsteps which he could now identify.
    “The point is,” said Beth Rose, “you’re supposed to say it to me .”
    “Oh, shucks!” said Gary. “Blew it again. Oh, well.” He offered his right arm to his date, and his left arm to Anne, and walked into the ballroom with two girls. Con leaped after them, in case Molly tried to take his empty arm herself. “You don’t have to walk that close, Con,” said Beth Rose over her shoulder. “You don’t need to protect my ankles from enemies.”
    “Sorry,” mumbled Con, and he fell back.
    Gary said something, and both Anne and Beth Rose giggled and gave him half a hug: a right-handed hug from Anne and a left-handed hug from Beth.
    Gary always made the girls laugh. Con didn’t know how Gary did it. He could make Molly laugh, but he had the feeling that Molly had planned to laugh anyhow; it wasn’t him doing it. As for Anne, he had made her laugh maybe twice in the last six months. He tried to forget that he had not visited her many more times than that either.
    We’ll stick to Gary and Beth Rose like SuperGlue, he decided. In case Molly decides to have a showdown. He could smell Molly’s perfume and hear her dress swishing faintly and the violent tap of her sharp high heels.
    Anne said, “Here’s