The Staying Kind Read Online Free PDF Page A

bigger chance the Bartlett kids might attract her attention, and appeal to any craving to walk on the wild side.
    He turned the truck into the drive and pulled up in front of the sprawling ranch style home. Before he got out, he studied the building. Mustard yellow with black trim and bare cement stairs. No lawn to speak of. That wouldn’t have mattered, because the yard resembled more of a junkyard, filled with several dirt bikes and four wheelers. Bicycles where discarded across the yard and two cars parked next to the house, all their tires flat, like they’d been sitting there for several years.
    If the five kids were racing around the yard and through the woods, raising hell, the chaotic scene would be complete.
    The yard was empty of all the Bartletts, which meant he’d have to go knock on the door. For a long moment he sat in his truck and stared, wondering if Jessa could really be hanging out there. The old Jessa wouldn’t be. The new Jessa might. He didn’t know if he should be angry or just plain sad.
    Afraid of what he might find, yet determined to get it over with, Travis climbed out of his truck and strode to the house. From the front steps he could hear the chaos inside. Three boys and two girls, ranging in age from nineteen down to seven lived within these walls, each one wilder than the next. As far as he knew both parents were home at night. They did precious little to rein their children in. He knocked on the door, then again before anyone answered. The boy who yanked the door open appeared anywhere between Jessa’s age and late teens, tall and lanky, hair too long, one brow cocked arrogantly.
    “Yeah?”
    “I was wondering if my daughter, Jessa Lithgow, was here.”
    “Yeah, she’s with my sister. Hold on.”
    Instead of going up to find her, the boy yelled at the top of his lungs. “Brandy!”
    He had to yell two more times before he received a response, a door opening somewhere and someone shouting a reply.
    “What?”
    “Jessa’s dad is here for her.” Without another word, the boy shot past him, jumping off the porch and onto the bare ground below. He headed for one of the dirt bikes, leaving Travis to stand by himself in the doorway. In another few minutes a girl walked from the hallway and leaned over the wrought iron railing from the landing above the foyer. She could’ve been Jessa’s age, but because of her heavy makeup and teased hair, Travis couldn’t be sure. Her low-cut sweater showed off more than it hid.
    “Hi Mr. Lithgow,” she said pleasantly, a wide smile on her face. “Jessa will be out in a sec.”
    Travis nodded. His stomach began to clench. He had a very bad feeling about this. A “sec” dragged out for more than several minutes. Eventually Jessa appeared from the gloom down the hall. She kept her gaze pinned to the ground, only mumbled a goodbye to the girl who still rested lazily against the railing.
    “See you tomorrow,” Brandy said.
    Jessa didn’t speak until they were outside and even then, she rushed to the truck. Travis paused to examine his daughter. She’d be tall like him, and already had developed into a young woman. Which, as it would any father, disturbed him. At least she covered her figure underneath faded jeans and a navy blue hoodie sweatshirt. She wore a baseball hat low over her forehead, her hair tucked up underneath.
    Travis froze. Jessa didn’t normally wear a baseball cap. He studied her as she climbed into the cab of the truck, silent and morose. As usual. Travis shrugged irritably and pulled the door open.
    They’d deal with this as soon as they arrived home and had some privacy. At the moment another Bartlett boy joined the first, and they stared at Jessa with great interest. They didn’t even stop when Travis shot them the look of death. So this was the way it would be.
    In silence Travis drove to their house; let her walk inside. Before he could close the front door, Jessa had already made it to her room. He heard the door shut