The One You Want Read Online Free PDF Page A

attractions. Not that Edna Mills paid her appropriately.
    After the little girl had oohed and aahed over the sparkling strawberry pendant that glistened with all the colors of a rainbow, she said, “Guess what? I promised my momma I wouldn’t talk to strangers, because they might want to touch my private places, and that would be bad. Oh, good! There’s Sara!” Norrie rushed to the swing set.
    Kenna and Brook Lynn shared a smile. They’d both gotten used to Norrie’s inability to keep
anything
secret.
    “Come on.” Kenna led Brook Lynn to a nearby bench. Along the way, her cell phone rang. She groaned when she spotted the familiar number. “It’s my mother. Probably calling to tell me everything I did wrong at the party.”
    A look of yearning flashed over Brook Lynn’s face. The girl had lost both of her parents years ago, and would have welcomed a little parental nitpicking.
    She kissed her friend’s cheek before she stepped away and answered. “Hello, Mother Dearest.”
    “You know I hate when you call me that,” Roanne said on a sigh.
    “I could encourage Norrie to call you Granny. Like that better?”
    Roanne hmphed. “Listen, I want you to come to dinner tonight.”
    “I can’t. I have to work.”
    “But...won’t you cancel? For me?”
    “I’m sorry, but no. I kinda like being paid.”
    Roanne murmured under breath, her exasperation clear. “What about tomorrow night?”
    Kenna’s one night off. She usually spent it with Norrie, cooking one of her daughter’s favorite meals. Always a toss-up between macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches and cheese pizza. But deep down, Kenna was still a needy little girl, craving time with her own mother.
    “All right,” she said. “Norrie and I will be there.”
    “Wonderful. Bring a date. Dane will be there with his. Kisses,” her mom added in a rush, before Kenna could protest.
    Click.
    For several long moments, Kenna sat in a daze. Dinner...with Dane. And his date.
    Date. Crap! Whom was she supposed to take? She had no prospects, because she had no social life. Despite what everyone thought, her last relationship—her
only
real relationship—had happened two years ago with a guy who’d used to spend the summers here. Paul Bramland. Her age, cute. But she’d refused to spend an entire night with him or introduce him to Norrie, and while he’d dealt with those quirks without much protest, he hadn’t been able to deal with her refusal to be seen with him in public. She’d explained her reasons—gossip—but he hadn’t cared. He’d left town and never come back.
    Guess I have that effect on men.
    Though other guys asked her out, she always said no. She had so little to give, and besides, she knew she’d have to endure looks and whispers if ever she gave in. Why even bother?
    “Everything okay?” Brook Lynn asked.
    No. No, it wasn’t. But rather than dump all of her problems on her friend, she said, “Do you ever just...I don’t know...cut loose? Seize the day? Have fun?”
    “Um, did you forget who you were talking to? No. I
never
do those things.”
    “Well, we’ve got to do something about that. We’re too young to be so...”
    “Curmudgeonly?”
    “Exactly!” She chewed on her bottom lip as she pondered ways to rectify the problem. Whatever they did, it would have to be discreet. Kenna’s reputation was bad enough. And totally undeserved! She waited on men for a living. They came to the restaurant where she worked, and she served them. If one of them happened to announce he was getting a divorce soon after, well then, some people just assumed Kenna was at fault.
Like mother, like daughter.
    Not that she’d ever explain the truth to Dane. The guy she wasn’t going to think about anymore.
    “Maybe we could, I don’t know...try every flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream,” she said. “Text
I hid the body
to a random number. Dress up like Cinderella and actually go out in public. Eat a real Krabby Patty. Get a