Let Me In Read Online Free PDF

Losing his respect would devastate her.
Raising her hand, she knocked sharply on the bright red door. The paint was cracked and peeling in places, but the front step was clear and there was even a welcome mat. She waited. Knocked again.
Nothing.
Anxiety threaded up her spine. Something was wrong. Her mother rarely left the house anymore. Maybe she had moved without telling her.
“Excuse me!”
At the faint call she turned to find a middle-aged woman heading over from the house next door, a piece of paper in her hand.
“Are you here to see Kiyomi?”
The muscles in her belly drew tight. “That’s right.”
“You her daughter?” The woman’s gaze flitted over her face as she pulled the halves of her winter coat together. “There’s a resemblance.”
“Yes. I’m Talia.” She offered her hand, trying to ignore the way her heart knocked against her ribs.
“Bev Schmidt. Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” An awkward pause ensued. “Um, do you happen to know where…”
“Oh, yes. It’s her bingo night. She goes out every other Wednesday.”
Her pulse stuttered. “I didn’t…realize she still did that.” Probably because the psychiatrist had forbade her from going there and putting herself even further into debt, wasting money she couldn’t afford to spend.
Mrs. Schmidt gave her a tight smile, her eyes holding a note of pity. “The landlord came by today to see her, but she wasn’t home. He left this for her.”
Talia accepted the envelope with stiff fingers. Written in red, the words Eviction Notice jumped off the paper, tearing into her numbed brain. A cold, hard fist grabbed her stomach, squeezing with icy fingers.
Not again.
“It’s the second notice,” the woman said softly, the sympathy in her voice raking over Talia’s taut nerves. “He said he’s coming back tomorrow with a crew to, ah, clean the place out.”
Pressing her lips together, Talia nodded and fought to not close her eyes in despair. She knew better than to believe the eviction was because her mother was simply late paying the rent. “Thank you. I’ll take care of it.” Just like she always had.
Unable to look at the neighbor for another moment, she spun on her heel and headed back to Liam’s truck, stuffing the envelope into her pocket. She felt sick inside. She wanted to scream. Drop to the ground and rock back and forth in her pain, the crushing disappointment. But she wouldn’t give in to the weakness. She was a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. She was strong. Stronger than this. She’d survived the chaos and disappointment of her mother’s illness many times before; she’d live through it this time too.
Liam popped the door open for her when she got to the truck. “You all right?”
“Fine,” she murmured, climbing into her seat. Without meeting his gaze she knew he was watching her, assessing her.
“Wasn’t home?”
“No. I’ll try again tomorrow.” And Jesus, wasn’t that going to be fun?
“What did the neighbor want?”
“She just gave me some mail.” Despite her resolve to stay emotionally detached, she felt the burn of tears and quickly turned her head so Liam wouldn’t see. Suck it up. Crying isn’t going to help. She refused to snivel like a weakling. No one had ever died of disappointment or a broken heart. All she had to do was get through tomorrow. Just get through this ugliness one more time. Once she was back in Kandahar she wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout. Over there, as strange as it sounded, she was free.
After tomorrow, she had a tough call to make. Last time she’d promised herself she’d walk away if her mother screwed up again. The psychiatrist had told her to. Warned her to distance herself no matter how hard it was. Yet some part of her was still unwilling to sever the ties with the one blood relative she still had in the world. Or to stand back and watch the woman who’d raised her—to the best of her ability—become homeless. How would she ever live with