Montana Skies (You, Me and the Kids) (Harlequin Superromance, No 1395) Read Online Free PDF

much! All it took was one look at your old school pictures and grades from New York, and it was obvious to the Klines that you need help.”
    â€œHelp, huh?” Skylar shut the refrigerator door with a slam, the force causing a box of cereal on top to fall over. “Go ahead and say what you really think—I’m a freak!”
    â€œI think you’re hurting,” she snapped, her tone not as sympathetic as it could have been due to Skylar’s belligerence. “I think you’re confused and angry and lashing out, and I’m trying to understand why, but that’s hard to do when you act like this! You won’t talk to me!”
    â€œLike you talk to Grampa?”
    Oh, her daughter knew how to push her buttons. And then some. Her dad’s marriage to a much younger woman had rocked her, angered her to no end coming just four short months after her mother’s death.
    â€œOf the two of us, trust me, I’m the one you want to deal with. If your grandfather ever saw you looking the way you do—”
    â€œScrew this, I’m going to bed.”
    â€œWe’re not finished!” Rissa hurried to get to the stairs before Skylar, wondering how she’d stop her. Her daughter might be similar in weight, but Skylar topped her in height by a couple inches.
    Thankfully, Rissa made it there first, her arms outstretched to bar the way. “I know how different North Star is from New York City, but I know if you’d only try—”
    â€œYou don’t know anything!”
    â€œThen tell me.” Rissa focused on the psychiatrists’ advice to be supportive, open, willing to listen. Nonjudgmental. No matter what it took, she’d do it. Somehow. What choice did she have? “Tell me,” she ordered, her voice hoarse with pent-up emotion. “Tell me about the clothes, about the paint. Tell me why you should be held accountable for something you couldn’t have prevented.”
    Skylar’s mascara-layered lashes lowered, nearly brushing the tiny black teardrop drawn on her pale cheek, before flicking up again and piercing her with apained glare. “It’s not paint,” she said dully. “This is me , Mom. When are you going to get it?”
    â€œIt’s not you.” Rissa kept her tone just as soft. “Somewhere under that mask you’re wearing is the real you. Look at me,” she urged when Skylar turned away yet again. “Sky, why are you doing this to yourself? I miss your dad, too. We didn’t always get along, but—”
    â€œDad was such a jerk for cheating on you! If he hadn’t cheated and run around on us then—”
    Skylar broke off and Rissa opened her mouth to comment, but just as quickly closed it, her focus gone. What could she say? Her very handsome husband was a jerk, along with quite a few other foul descriptives she could think of, but dead or alive, she wouldn’t bad-mouth him to their daughter. Skylar had witnessed her father’s infidelity firsthand, she didn’t need to hear her mother spouting anger and pain on top of it. Not doing so was a promise she’d made to herself from the beginning, a way to maintain what dignity she’d had left after learning the truth.
    Skylar needed her to be strong. And now that she had finally emerged from her year-long, drama-induced daze, she focused on the task at hand, that of treating Skylar like the child she was instead of the adult she resembled.
    â€œBaby, we’ve talked about this. You aren’t to blame for your dad and I not getting along. We had problems, but they weren’t your doing, and telling me about the affair had nothing to do with the accident. Don’t feel guilty— it wasn’t your fault. ”
    â€œWhat if you’re wrong?” Skylar turned to face her, every muscle in her body, her stance, her expression, challenging. “What if he did try to commit suicide with me in the car because