Pink Balloons and Other Deadly Things (Mystery Series - Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page B

with Meg.
    I let the phone ring several times before I hung up deciding to catch him at the office in the morning.
    The strain of the day was finally sending a painful message to my body. Bone tired, I staggered up the stairs to my room.
    Allie's door opened as I got to the top of the landing. “Mom?”
    I paused in the doorway. “What, honey?”
    “Do you think...don’t get mad, but d’you think now that—-now that Erica is—-that maybe—-Daddy might come back home?”
    The hopeful look on her face turned my insides to mush. I wasn’t past longing for a miracle myself.
    “I don’t think so, sweetheart.”
    “But he was just-—like, you know, infatuated with her. He still loves you. I know he does.”
    “Allie, a lot has--”
    She wouldn’t let me finish. “You weren't having fights or anything like Lori’s parents. You were happy. Don’t you remember?”
    I did. My children had not been raised in a loveless home, at least not in their formative years, but it made it doubly hard to explain what had gone wrong.
    I said what the books tell you to say. “Daddy still loves you and Matt, sweetheart. Very much. That’ll never change.”
    “But if he could change about you...”
    “It’s different between a man and a woman.”
    “Well, if that's the way men are, I never want to get married.”
    I put my arms around my daughter. “Lots of marriages are really good, Allie. And when it works it’s wonderful because loving somebody, really loving somebody and having them love you back, well, it’s just the greatest. And you’re going to have that in your life. I know you will, because you deserve it.”
    “So do you.”
    “I had it for a while, sweetheart, and maybe I will again.” I came up with more psychobabble. “Dad just...some men go through a kind of change of life. Like women, only it isn't so much physical. And they get afraid because they’re not young anymore. So they do silly things to try and hang on to their youth.”
    “But you and Daddy aren’t old.”
    “Right now I feel ninety.”
    She grinned. “You only look seventy.”
    “Thank you very much.”
    “When I finish my homework, can I come sleep with you?”
    “Sure.” I kissed her shiny black hair, the only part of her like her father. “Make it fast, though. I’ll probably be out cold by the time you're done. I'm dead on my feet.”
    Instantly I regretted the choice of words, but Allie didn’t seem to notice. I wondered, as I shed my clothes, if I believed any of that psychobabble I’d just spouted. But Allie was only twelve. Let her have her dreams.
    Horty had settled himself on my side of the bed and was alternately twitching and growling, probably pursuing Norwood’s entire squirrel population in his dreams. I shoved him over in an effort to make room for Allie. He shifted slightly and quieted down, his snout and one brown and white paw hanging precariously over the edge. Not having the heart to push him the rest of the way, I crawled into my quarter of the bed and spooned myself around his ample rump. The last thought that passed through my conscious mind as I dozed off was, Could Allie be right? Now that Erica was out of the picture, could this mutilated marriage possibly be saved?

CHAPTER FOUR
Monday, May 24
    THE KIDS WERE SUBDUED at breakfast, wondering, I supposed, how they were going to field the questions about Erica at school. Matt would probably relish the limelight. At least at first. Allie would have a hard time of it.
    “Who has car pool today?” I inquired brightly.
    “Mrs. Rubin,” Allie mumbled.
    “Better hurry, then. She’s always early.” Matt gulped the last of his juice, planted a wet kiss on my cheek, and took off out the door.
    Unenthusiastically Allie retrieved her knapsack and followed. “Bye, Mom.”
    I caught her hand. “Allie, it’s going to be okay.”
    She avoided my eyes. I followed her to the door and stood waving until Ellen Rubin’s car pulled away. Then I showered and dressed,