Spoiled Read Online Free PDF Page B

Charmaine, for example, couldn’t keep
     to herself what she spent on shirts at Forever 21, much less anything legitimately juicy.
    “Molly, you have to understand that I truly thought this was for the best,” Laurel had said, her wan face showing the strain.
     “I saw what Hollywood did to people. I didn’t want to raise you in that world. And Brick
is
Hollywood.”
    “What does that even mean? Is he
evil
, or something?”
    Laurel sighed. “Brick is not a bad person. I promise. Please don’t blame him for this,” she said. “He always wanted to be
     a part of your life. And he’s always said you’d be welcome there when we were both ready.”
    “You’ve been talking to him?” Molly squawked.
    Laurel covered her face with a thin hand.
    “He calls to check up sometimes,” she admitted. “I know I should have told you. I know I handled this about as wrong as a
     person can handle anything. But I was so tired of the showbiz rat race. I didn’t think that would be much of a life for you,
     especially with his other family and something like three big film franchises to distract him. So I talked him into thinking
     you’d be better off with me in Indiana until… well, I don’t know. Until the time was right. He didn’t love the idea, but he
     agreed. For me.” Her eyes misted. “And then somehow I guess the time never
was
right.”
    “You guys could’ve let me make that decision,” Molly had pointed out.
    “Yes. I could have. I
should
have. But I kept telling myself I was saving us both from something. I was young and I was an idiot. I know that’s impossible
     to imagine.” Laurel laughed without humor. “But he’s your father. I wish I hadn’t been so cavalier about ignoring that. I
     wish… well, I wish a lot of things. But mostly I wish I’d come clean sooner so this transition might’ve been easier for you.”
    Molly hated the word
transition
. Laurel used it countless times to describe what would happen after her death, like Molly was just switching lanes on the
     freeway.
    In the end, Danny had been the one to remind Molly that she had a limited amount of time left with her mother, and that Laurel
     hadn’t kept that secret out of malice. So Molly had laid down all her resentment and accepted the situation as well as she
     could, so their last months together wouldn’t be any more terrible. But all that suppression left Molly feeling as if she’d
     grown a very nosy five-year-old inside her brain who refused to stop shouting:
How much does he know about me? Does he really want me? Or is he just doing this because he thinks he has to? Is that why
     I’m doing it, too?
    Deep down, she knew the last one wasn’t true. Molly hadn’t truly appreciated the intangible aspects of having a parent until
     she’d lost hers, so knowing there was one more of them out there felt an awful lot like a life raft. And Molly did think she
     detected sincere warmth in Brick’s eyes. Having plowed through his essential filmography, Molly suspected Brick wasn’t a good
     enough actor to fakefriendliness that well during his off-hours—especially for the paparazzi. But it also seemed like ninety percent of celebrities
     came across as relaxed and stable, and then inevitably the
Enquirer
would unearth photos of them playing naked mini golf at the Playboy mansion with three call girls, a chocolate fountain,
     and a chimp.
    What if he turns out to be crazy like that?
Molly thought.
Wait, maybe I don’t care, as long as he likes me. Oh, God, what if he doesn’t like me? What if he thinks I’m this ridiculous,
     unsophisticated obligation and everyone at my new school thinks I’m totally lame, and I end up a miserable outcast in really
     old sneakers?
    Sometime in the last five minutes, Molly’s thumbnail had found its way between her teeth, and she’d gnawed at it unconsciously
     until her hangnail began to bleed. She wiped it on the hot towel sitting next to her glass. She had to calm down or else