Once in a Blue Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. “Do you know how freaking hard I had to work to get that? You ever tried pushing a wheelbarrow full of rocks up a mountain? That’s what it’s like. And do you know what gets me through each day? The only thing that makes it possible to keep putting one foot in front of the other? My little girl. Not an hour goes by, not a single minute, when I’m not thinking of her. When I’m not counting the days until I can be with her again.” A tear rolled down one cheek, and she angrily brushed at it with the heel of her hand. She’d sworn she wouldn’t break down in front of Mrs. Silvestre, and she’d be damned if she would.
    The caseworker’s expression softened. “I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic,” she said. “I just thought you should know what you’re up against. It’s a high bar, Kerrie Ann. Yes, I can see you’ve come a long way, but you still have a ways to go.” She paused as if in thought before adding tentatively, “Is there a family member who’d be willing to help out? Someone who could provide backup? The court might be more lenient in that case.”
    Which was why Kerrie Ann was on her way to her sister’s now.
    Lindsay Margaret McAllister Bishop. Kerrie Ann rolled the name around in her head the way she might an unfamiliar taste on her tongue. She wondered what this Lindsay was like. Was she married? Did she have kids? Had she made a success of her life, or was she struggling in some way? If she’s anything like me, she won’t be much help . And if she turned out to be a nice soccer mom living in the ’burbs? She probably wouldn’t want her nice, tidy life muddied up by the mess Kerrie Ann had made of hers.
    Either way, her long-lost sister dropping in out of the blue was certain to come as a shock. Kerrie Ann, figuring that a phone call wouldn’t have the same impact as showing up in person, had decided to surprise Lindsay with a visit. It would be harder for her to say no that way.
    Kerrie Ann had done a Google search, so she knew a little bit about her sister. The name “Lindsay Bishop” netted at least a dozen entries, most of them articles having to do with a piece of property Lindsay owned. “Local bookshop owner at center of land controversy,” one of the headlines read. It seemed a hotel group with plans to build a fancy golf resort was trying to buy out property owners in that area. Lindsay was the lone holdout. So now Kerrie Ann knew two more things about her sister: that she owned her own home and business and that she wasn’t a pushover. Which might or might not work in her favor.
    As she boarded the flight to San Francisco, Kerrie Ann found herself wondering if this was a fool’s mission. Why should her sister want to help out? Lindsay didn’t know her. Maybe she didn’t even want to know her. The fact was that in all these years she hadn’t bothered to make contact. At least Kerrie Ann had an excuse for not getting in touch. What was Lindsay’s? According to the records, she’d been eight years older than Kerrie Ann when they’d been shipped off to separate foster homes—old enough not to have forgotten that she had a sister.
    She took her seat next to a petite, white-haired, grandmotherly type. They were buckled in, the plane readying for takeoff, when the old lady pointed to the wallet photo Kerrie Ann held clutched in her hand like a lifeline. “Your little girl? She looks just like you.”
    Kerrie Ann smiled tentatively. “You think so?”
    Her seatmate leaned over to peer at the photo. “The spitting image.”
    Kerrie Ann knew the old lady was just being polite. Her daughter looked nothing like her, except maybe around the mouth. If she was the spitting image of anyone, it was Jeremiah, with his burnt-sienna skin, curly dark hair, and striking amber eyes. The irony was that Bella had never known her dad. He’d split for parts unknown when she was just two.
    In his absence Kerrie Ann had tried to harden her heart, but it was easier to hate herself