Seeking Sara Summers Read Online Free PDF

“You know, I’ve never liked squash,” she said, to break the silence.
    Grady looked up. He chewed thoughtfully and then swallowed. “Then why do you fix it so often?” he asked.
    “I’m not sure,” she said. “I guess because you like it.”
    “I don’t like it either,” he said.
    They grinned at each other, as if they had caught themselves in the lie they had been living.
     
    After dinner, Sara retreated to her office to grade term papers. With felt-tip pen in hand, she began with the paper on top; Molly Decker’s dark critique on the book Little Women , where she insisted that hidden within the pages of the classic was Jo March’s Goth agenda .
    Was I ever this intense? Sara wondered. Perhaps her life would have gone better if she had been.
    Two hours later, she had only finished eight of the twenty-four she had to grade. She rubbed her eyes and turned on the computer. She checked her email. A new message from a J. David appeared in her Inbox.
    Sara gasped. “Julia?” she asked, as if the email might answer her.
     
    Dear Sara,
     
    What a wonderful surprise! Of course I remember you!! How could I forget? We were practically joined at the hip when we were growing up.
    HOW ARE YOU??
    Sorry I haven’t answered sooner. I have an art show coming up and I’ve just been swamped with getting pieces ready. But it is so great hearing from you after all these years.
    What have you been up to?
    Did you do all that traveling you wanted to do when you were a girl?
    TELL ME EVERYTHING!
    On a different note, I sent you something in the mail last week. You should get it soon if you haven’t received it already.
     
    Your friend,
    Julia
     
    P.S. So can I assume from the Stanton on the email that you married our old friend, Grady?
     
    Sara smiled and searched her memory for details about Julia: the way she laughed, the way she wore her hair. She wondered if they would still be friends if she had never moved away.  As it was, their friendship had ended quietly, like two boats drifting away from a dock, each carried by a different current. After she left, Sara had ignored Julia’s efforts to contact her. She had secretly hated her for moving away the summer before their senior year, even though it was through no fault of her own. Her father had accepted a prestigious teaching position in England. At the time Sara hadn’t been the least bit happy for her. She had been too devastated at being left behind.
    Sara hit reply.
     
    Dear Julia,
     
    It’s so nice to hear from you! I’d convinced myself my email had never arrived. Or that you’d long ago trashed it because you didn’t remember me. . . .
     
    Grady cleared his throat as he stood at the door watching her.
    Sara jumped for the second time that day. “I didn’t hear you there,” she said. “Did you finish?”
    “Everything I wanted to get done tonight,” he said.
    Grady had been in his workshop building new kitchen cabinets. He pulled off his T-shirt and wiped the sweat from under his arms. The dark hair in the middle of his chest was slightly graying. There were flecks of sawdust on his arms, earthy glitter held in place by the sweat. Sara’s memory flashed on a younger Grady. Skinny, with a chest devoid of hair, and prominent ribs—even though he had eaten as much as her and Julia combined—and an even more prominent Adam’s apple.
    “Did you make an appointment to get the car fixed?” Grady asked.
    “Not yet,” she said. It had been weeks since her little run-in with the tree. Grady had been very calm about it when she had finally told him, his only comment being about how good their insurance was.
    “Is there some reason you don’t want to get it fixed?” he asked.
    “Of course not,” Sara said. But was there? Perhaps it was proof that she had almost gotten away. “I’ll get it done next week. Dented cars just aren’t high on my priority list right now.” Her number one priority was simply getting through the day. 
    “Are you