The Anniversary Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    wondered if she’d imagined that, if it too might be a dream.
    22
    “Mommy, d’you think maybe we could get a puppy? The John-23
    sons just got the cutest little dog. She’s part terrier and part bea-24
    gle, that’s what they think. They got her at the pound, and you 25
    don’t have to pay any money except for the shots. That’s what 26
    Sophie said. They named her Florence, and she’s so nice with 27
    these really big ears. She’s sort of —”
    28
    “A dog needs lots of attention, Anna. We’re not home 29
    enough.” They’d been through this before. The response was au-30
    tomatic.
    31
    Callie took a mug from the cupboard and poured herself some 32
    coffee. Brown liquid dripped from the glass carafe and she grabbed 33
    a rag to wipe it up. The rag was damp and oily, the splashed cof-34
    fee hot. It didn’t seem like a dream. It all felt very real.
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    A M Y G U T M A N
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    “But why can’t we? I’ll take care of her. I don’t see —”
    2
    Anna’s voice cut into her thoughts; something in Callie 3
    snapped. “I said No. N.O. No. I don’t want to talk about it.”
    4
    A pink glow spread over Anna’s face, almost as if she’d been 5
    slapped. She looked at Callie in disbelief. She hadn’t done any-6
    thing wrong!
    7
    Callie took a step forward, but Anna was already up. She 8
    hopped from her chair, grabbed her backpack and shot past Cal-9
    lie toward the hallway.
    10
    The front door slammed behind her.
    11
    The sound echoed through the house.
    12
    For a time, Callie didn’t move, just stood there feeling terrible.
    13
    She shouldn’t have lost her temper, especially after last night.
    14
    Through the window she saw that the weather had turned. It 15
    looked like it might rain. Too late, she realized that she should 16
    have told Anna to take her slicker to school.
    17
    The coffee in her mug had cooled, but she drank it anyway.
    18
    Then, leaving the mug in the sink, she went upstairs to get 19
    dressed. But when she reached her room, she sank down on her 20
    bed and lowered her head to her hands.
    21
    When she’d finally finished crying, Callie wiped her eyes. She 22
    went to the bathroom and blew her nose, splashed her face with 23
    cold water. She glimpsed herself in the bathroom mirror, her skin 24
    splotchy red and white. Her expression scared her a little. It was 25
    how she’d looked before.
    26
    Back in her bedroom, she picked up the phone.
    27
    “Merritt Police Department.” It was Rick’s friend, Tod Carver.
    28
    He had a slow, reassuring voice, like the sheriff on an old TV
    29
    show.
    30
    “Tod? It’s Callie.” She heard the strain in her own voice but 31
    hoped he didn’t notice. When she spoke again, she made an ex-32
    tra effort to sound like nothing was wrong. “So how’re things 33
    going?”
    34
    “Good, actually. And you?”
    35 S
    “Okay. Fine. Getting ready for the Easter egg hunt?”
    36 R
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    “Yeah, I’ve got the kids next week for vacation. They can’t 1
    wait.” Tod had moved to Merritt from Virginia last year after a 2
    messy divorce. It was hard for him, Callie knew, to be away from 3
    his children.
    4
    “How’re they doing?”
    5
    “Great. Lilly’s started taking gymnastics. She does this amazing 6
    back flip. Scares me to death, but she loves it. Oliver lost his first 7
    tooth.”
    8
    “Wow.”
    9
    “Yeah.”
    10
    A pause. She figured she’d made enough small talk. “So is Rick 11
    around?”
    12
    “Sure. I’ll get him. Good talking to you, Callie.”
    13
    “You too. See you next weekend.”
    14
    A moment and then Rick was on the line.
    15
    “Hey. What’s up?” He sounded surprised but pleased. She 16
    rarely called him at work.
    17
    “Listen, there’s this UPS package I was expecting yesterday,”
    18
    she began. “I was wondering if you’d seen