Someone Like You Read Online Free PDF Page B

to feel his arms around her, holding her close. She wanted him to tell her that she was his best girl always.
    Her throat got all tight and her stomach felt squishy instead of empty. And when he looked up and smiled at her, it was as if her feet had somehow glued themselves to the floor.
    â€œHey, kiddo, how’d you sleep?”
    â€œOkay,” she whispered.
    She waited for the hug, or a wink or something to tell her that he still thought she was his best girl. She leaned forward to hear him tell her that he loved her and he was glad they were together. That he’d missed her and looked for her every day but he hadn’t been able to find her.
    But he didn’t. Instead he pulled out a chair at the table in the center of the room.
    â€œHave a seat. I made pancakes. You always liked them, right? Oh, and bacon.”
    Emily felt very cold on the inside, as if that dark, scary place inside of her had just frozen over. She didn’t want pancakes, she wanted her dad.
    He waited until she was seated, then pushed in the chair. Emily put Elvis on the table next to her place set ting and waited while he slid three pancakes onto her plate. Bacon was next. She looked from the food to the glass of orange juice just to her right.
    Funny how she didn’t feel hungry at all. She didn’t feel anything.
    â€œHere’s some strawberries,” he said, putting a bowl of the cut-up fruit on her left.
    Emily squared her shoulders and carefully pushed the plate away. “No, thank you,” she said in a voice that was so small she wondered if she were starting to disappear.
    â€œWhat? Aren’t you hungry?”
    She wanted to grab Elvis and hold him close, but then her dad might guess she was scared and sad. Instead, she squeezed her hands together so tight that her nails dug into her skin.
    â€œThe color’s wrong,” she said, trying to speak a little louder. “I’m wearing purple.”
    He looked at her T-shirt and shorts. “So?”
    â€œIf I’m wearing purple I can only eat purple.”
    His mouth got straight and his eyes narrowed. He didn’t look happy anymore and she was afraid. But she didn’t give in. She couldn’t.
    â€œSince when?” he asked. “How long have you been color-coordinating your food with your wardrobe?”
    â€œA while now.”
    â€œI see.”
    It was barely after eight in the morning and Mac al ready felt tired. Damn it all to hell—he didn’t want to let Emily win this battle. It would set a precedent, forcing him into a corner.
    â€œWait there,” he told his daughter as he walked out of the kitchen and headed for the small den at the front of the house.
    He’d set up an office in the narrow space, sliding a desk between built-in bookcases. Now he grabbed the phone and punched in Carly’s number. Couldn’t she have warned him what was going on with Emily?They’d had the whole evening. Was it too damn hard to say “Gee, Mac, the kid only eats the color she’s wearing.”?
    Still caught up in his temper, he barely noticed when a man answered the phone.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œWhat?” Mac started to say he’d dialed the wrong number when he realized that maybe he hadn’t. “Is Carly there?”
    â€œSure. I’ll get her.”
    â€œIt’s Mac,” he added, not sure why.
    â€œJust a second.”
    There was the sound of the phone being set down, then a low rumble of voices too quiet for him to hear the words. Obviously Carly was seeing someone and the man in question had spent the night. Mac turned the idea over in his brain, then shook his head. He didn’t care if she slept with the entire NFL as long as she didn’t do it in front of his daughter.
    â€œMac? What’s wrong?”
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell me she won’t eat a color she’s not wearing?”
    From a couple hundred miles away, he heard his ex-wife sigh.