Relativity Read Online Free PDF Page B

writher around on the bed, trying to convince myself that it was just a bad dream. Of all people I could come on to, why did it have to be Knox?
    I try to replay our time together from the minute he stopped me on the country road. Everything is clear until we get to his loft then the vodka starts to make things fuzzy. I remember starting to feel these weird things about him. Seeing him in a light I’d never seen him before. I wanted him so bad.
    We kissed. And it wasn’t just me, it was mutual. It was hot. It was the hottest kiss I’ve ever had before. But maybe that was just the vodka too. I remember how sweetly he redressed me even though at the time I just wanted him to have his way with me all night. I know I should be grateful that he didn’t take advantage of my obviously drunk/delirious state but my cheeks are still feel hot from the humiliation of knowing he didn’t want me back.
    I just have to pray that he doesn’t mention this to Natalie. She would never forgive me, drunk or not.

 
     
     
Chapter Three
     
     
    Dad and I exchange a look across the table as the ear-shattering conversations of four hearing- challenged senior citizens rage around us. The doorbell rings for the fourth time this morning and I rush to answer it, happy to escape the mind-numbing conversations about high blood pressure, cholesterol, and nursing home insurance. I love my grandparents and I know they are only trying to help, but I swear if they don’t leave soon, I might run away.
    I fling the door open to find our neighbor, Karen, holding yet another casserole dish. I never realized that when somebody dies people bring you an endless buffet.
    “Karen, you’ve got to stop. We’re going to weigh a thousand pounds,” I tease, taking the dish from her.
    “It’s the least I can do. Your mom was so sweet to me when I was going through my divorce.” Her eyes go misty at the thought of Mom.
    “Well, thank you again,” I say, feeling awkward. I’m never quite sure if I’m supposed to invite people in when they bring something or not. But I’m doing Karen a favor by not inviting her into the senior citizen vortex we’ve got going on right now. She leans in and hugs me, even though I can’t hug back with my hands full of casserole, then scurries off to her own life.
    “Karen?” Dad asks, as I shove the casserole into our already overflowing refrigerator.
    “Yep, she’s got her own shelf in the fridge now,” I say, smiling.
    “You two have such wonderful friends and neighbors. You’ll never get lonely with all these people stopping by all the time,” Grandma Noni says cheerfully. For the first time in two hours, a hush falls over the table.
    “Grandma, I’m pretty sure I’ll miss Mom no matter who comes to the door,” I say softly.
    “For Christ sake, Mom,” Dad groans, “she didn’t lose a pet.”
    Grandma Diane gets very interested in her pancakes as Grandpa Earl drapes his wrinkly arm across her shoulders and squeezes her. Sometimes I forget that Mom was her baby, just like I was Mom’s baby. Parents aren’t supposed to outlive their children. Tears drip down her face into her plate of pancakes.
    “I didn’t mean anything by it,” Grandma Noni says, getting defensive. She has a tendency to react like a feral cat if she feels herself getting challenged in any way. Normally, Papa comes to the rescue and diffuses the situation but he seems to be just as blindsided by her comment as the rest of us.
    “My wife is dead,” Dad yells, pounding his fist on the kitchen table causing plates and silverware to momentarily lift off. “My daughter lost her mother and these wonderful people lost their precious daughter.” He glances painfully to my mother’s parents who are now openly sobbing.
    I’m standing here, stunned. I thought yesterday would be the worst day of my life but this one is giving it a run for its money and it isn’t even ten in the morning yet.
    “I lost her, too,” Grandma Noni stammers but