Remember the Time Read Online Free PDF

pull her to him. “I don’t think you need to be alone.”
    “I think I know what I need.”
    “Christ, but you are pigheaded.” He took a deep breath. “Do you really want me to go?” he asked, not wanting to hear her answer.
    She nodded. “Yeah—go.”
    He stared at the back of her head before turning away. He left the way he came. It took her a few moments to realize she’d forgotten to thank him for bringing Homer back. Picking up one of the two clean mugs, she flung it across the room. It hit the stovetop, shattering. Homer slunk out of the room, leaving her alone. It was what she wanted, after all. Wasn’t it?

C HAPTER
SIX
    H e had loved her—no, make that obsessed over her—for as long as he could remember. It was their junior year. She had walked into their English class that first week of October—her family had just moved to the area—and she captured the heart of every male in the room.
    The teacher introduces her as Kathleen Moran and asks her to tell the class a little about herself. With a tremendous amount of poise, she walks to the teacher’s desk, puts down her purse and books, and speaks
.
    “Hi. I just moved here from Oklahoma but I was born in Pennsylvania. My father just retired from the army and we’re in Staunton because he’s going to be teaching at the military academy. This is the eighth school I’ve gone to, but so far it seems like the friendliest.” She looks at the faces watching her and notices a familiar one. It is a girl named Chris who lives across the street from her. They have already spoken and so she focuses on her when she says, “I’ve lived in five states and one foreign country but I’ve never seen any place as pretty as Staunton. And, by the way, everyone calls me Kate.”
    Her smile encompasses the entire room. It is impossible not to smile back at her. The boys have seen all they need to knowabout Kate Moran. Their minds are filled with ideas on how to make this auburn-haired beauty feel welcome. The girls’ minds, however, are filled with other, less-than-charitable, ideas. And yet they find themselves smiling at her, too. Chris, Kate’s first acquaintance, has already spread the word about this newcomer but nothing has prepared them for what she looks like. Chris’s assessment of the situation had been, “You won’t like her when you see her, but once you talk to her she’s pretty cool.”
    The teacher waits for the whispers to subside, then says, “Maybe you can tell us some of your interests.”
    Kate has already picked up her belongings from the teacher’s desk and is walking toward an empty desk, when she tosses off, “Oh, I like rock music, reading, antiques. But I love baseball.” She carefully slides her miniskirted body into the seat. All male eyes move their field of vision down a foot. “Especially the San Francisco Giants.” Kate takes a pencil out of her purse, opens her spiral notebook and looks up at the teacher expectantly.
    “Yes. Well. Thank you, Kate.” He has to physically pull himself away from her dark blue eyes. “We’re glad to have you here.”
    Paul Armstrong leans forward and taps Mike on the shoulder. The two have been best friends since the third grade, and Mike knows what Paul is going to say before the words are out of his mouth
.
    “I think I’m in love,” Paul whispers. It is his standard remark, made in his usual offhand way. This time he means it
.
    “You and me both, bud. Think she can handle the Dynamic Duo?” comes Mike’s conditioned response. He keeps his voice light, but his heart feels heavy. He really wants this one, but Kate Moran seems to be made for Paul. And they agreed a long time ago not to let a girl get in the way of their friendship
.
    What did they know at the age of sixteen? They were young and stupid. And in the end it didn’t really matter anyway. Kate had come into the lives of Paul and Mike not knowing the rules, and when Paul Armstrong saw herthat crisp October day, the rule