Memories of You Read Online Free PDF

lost in his own thoughts. The twins exchanged an unhappy glance and continued to move bits of macaroni around on their plates while Margaret watched them.
    Only Vanessa, who seemed to have recovered from her sulks, was interested in what her father was saying. “I know what I’d do,” she told him. “I’d spend the whole day shopping. I’d buy every single thing I ever wanted, and spend all day trying clothes on.”
    Jon watched her pretty face, wondering whether her preoccupation with material things was just a teenage phase—something she would outgrow. “Well, Van, I know what I’m going to do, too,” he said calmly. “I’ve got it all planned. In fact, I started today.”
    “What’s that, Mr. C.?” Margaret got up and began to load the dishwasher.
    “I’m going back to school.” Jon helped himself to more casserole while the others watched in astonishment. “I had my first two classes today.”
    Vanessa’s jaw dropped. “Back to school?” she said at last. “Like, to college, you mean?”
    Jon smiled at his elder daughter. “Don’t look so amazed,” he said. “I took two years of college when I was young, then had to quit before I graduated. I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to finish my degree.”
    Vanessa gripped her fork and continued to stare at her father, aghast. “You’re going to university? “ sheasked. “On the same campus with Steven? The same place I’ll be going next year?”
    “The very same,” Jon told her solemnly.
    She dropped her fork, speechless with horror. Privately, Jon was a little amused by her reaction, but took care not to show it. In fact, he often tried deliberately to ruffle Vanessa’s feathers to keep her from getting as self-absorbed as her mother.
    But this time, judging from her look of whitelipped shock, it seemed Jon might have pushed his daughter too far.
    “It’s a big campus, Van,” he told her gently. “Thousands and thousands of students. Nobody’s going to notice me.”
    “But what if you’re in one of my classes next year?” she wailed. “God, I’d just die. ”
    Steven’s lip twisted. “Oh, shut up, Van,” he muttered. “Why do you always have to be such an idiot?”
    Jon frowned at him and turned back to Vanessa. “I won’t be in any of your classes, You’ll be a freshman. I’ll be taking fourth-year courses next term.”
    “But having my father on the same campus…” Her face twisted with distress. “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said tragically. “The totally, absolute worst.” She pushed her chair back, got up and ran from the room.
    There was a brief silence in the kitchen.
    “She’ll get over it, Mr. C.,” Margaret said comfortably. “She gets upset about a dozen times a day,and every time it’s the very worst thing that’s ever happened to her.”
    Jon looked at the doorway where his daughter had vanished. “I’ll talk to her later,” he said. “She won’t be so upset once she realizes that our paths are never likely to cross on that big campus.”
    Steven’s brief spurt of animation had vanished. He ate macaroni in gloomy silence.
    “How about you, son?” Jon asked. “Will it bother you, having me on campus?”
    Steven shrugged. “Why should I care?”
    “You don’t seem to care about much of anything these days,” Jon said, trying to keep his voice casual. “What’s the matter, son?”
    Steven looked at him with a brief flash of emotion, and Jon held his breath, hoping the boy was about to say something meaningful. But the moment passed and they all returned to their meal, eating in silence while Margaret continued to load the dishwasher.
    A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER, on a hill near the house, Ari lay on his stomach in the slanted rays of evening sunlight. He drummed his feet on the ground as he chewed a spear of grass.
    “Churks,” he muttered. “Fizzlespit.”
    Amy looked at her brother with tense sympathy. These words were part of their private