Secrets Read Online Free PDF

guy at Guido's?"
    "All she was trying to do was make sure he didn't put anchovies on her pizza."
    "It's crazy," Todd said, shaking his head. "If you love someone, you should trust him. Or her. Seems pretty dumb to get all worked up over nothing when you could be having a good time."
    "Like us, you mean?" Elizabeth leaned close and brushed the side of his neck with her lips.
    Todd kissed her softly in response.
    She felt a tightening in her chest as she imagined what it would be like to lose Todd. Her heart went out to Enid, who had a thousand times more reason to worry.
    "I hope Enid's all right," she said when she spotted Ronnie making his way down the aisle-- alone. "Maybe I should go up and check."
    She found Enid in the bathroom, dabbing at her eyes with a paper towel.
    "Enid, what's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.
    Enid shook her head. "I--I don't know. Ronnie's been acting like a different person all night. It's like he's a million miles away." Her eyes held a tortured expression. "Oh, Liz, do you think he knows?"
    "Maybe it's something else," Elizabeth suggested not too hopefully. "A family problem. You mentioned his parents were divorced...."
    "Because his mother was fooling around with another man," Enid supplied bitterly.
    "I'm sure it's not easy for him, living alone with just his father. Maybe they're not getting
    along. You really should talk to him, Enid. It might be something he's afraid to tell you."
    "Yeah, like he wants to break up, only he's afraid I won't give him back his frat pin."
    "Ronnie wouldn't do that. He loves you." But even as she said it, Elizabeth didn't feel very sure.
    "To Ronnie, loving someone means absolute faithfulness," Enid said. "If he suspected for one second that I'd been writing to George, it would be the end. He'd never forgive me."
    Anyone that inflexible didn't deserve someone as nice as Enid, Elizabeth thought.
    "Don't worry," she said. "I'm the only one who knows about the letters. And even if he found out about the other stuff, it all happened way before you met him. He can't hold that against you, can he? It wouldn't be fair."
    "Who ever said love was fair?" asked Enid, blowing loudly into a tissue.
    She quickly fixed her makeup, then gave her shiny brown hair such a vigorous brushing that it flew up around her head in a crackle of electricity. She squared her shoulders as she gave her reflection a final inspection.
    "Maybe I'm just imagining things," she said in a small voice. "Maybe Ronnie's just in a bad mood."
    Elizabeth hoped she was right.
    ***
    Riding home after they'd dropped off Elizabeth and Todd, Enid felt as if the gap between the bucket seats of Ronnie's Toyota had suddenly become the Continental Divide. She'd been hoping his silence was due to the fact that he felt uncomfortable about talking in front of Elizabeth and Todd, but he was acting just as distant now that they were gone.
    "Where are we going?" she asked him when they passed the turnoff for her street.
    "I thought we could park for a while," Ronnie replied in a neutral tone.
    Glancing at his profile, silhouetted against the amber glow of a streetlight, Enid felt a surge of hope. He wanted to be with her after all! She longed to reach over and thread her fingers through the curly, reddish-brown hair at the nape of his neck, but she resisted the impulse. Even though it was clear he wanted to be with her, she still sensed something was wrong.
    Ronnie found a place up on Miller's Point, a favorite Sweet Valley parking spot that overlooked the town. Already there were four or five other cars parked, and judging from the steaminess of their windows, they'd been there awhile.
    Ronnie didn't waste any time. He lunged at Enid immediately after he switched off the engine, kissing her so roughly she was left gasping for breath.
    "Hey, what's the big hurry?" She attempted
    to make light of it, even though she was trembling when she'd finally managed to untangle herself from his crushing embrace.
    Enid felt a growing sense