What Brings Me to You Read Online Free PDF

does.
                  "Yello?"
                  "Teddy, this is Iris. Charley's mother.” My breath hitches. I always am surprised by how similar they sound on the phone, and even though she’s announced herself, it takes my brain a moment to catch up. It’s not her. I breathe a small sigh of relief at that. Even though I know if Iris is calling it’s only to talk about her.
                  "Hey Mrs. Feinman,” I say distractedly while dumping coffee grounds into the trash.
                  "Teddy, we've known each other long enough. Please address me as Iris." All I can do is laugh nervously in response. "So, how are you holding up?"
                  "Fine. Thank you, ma'am."
                  "That's wonderful. More than I can say for Charley, I'm afraid."
                  "Oh?" After all these years. All the time I’d seen Mrs. Feinman in passing we’d deliberately not talked about Charley. And now she’s calling me with information about her? All kinds of scenarios run through my mind, but I need to play it cool so she’ll give me something. Anything about how she is.
                  "Yes. Collette called me. You know, her friend, Collette?” I don’t know. Not officially, anyway. Just things I’ve heard through the grapevine over the years. “Anyway, she’s worried. We’re all worried.” High time , I think, but don’t say.
                  "Oh?" Is all I can manage to get out, though the ball of tension is tightening in the bottom of my stomach.
                  “She hasn't left the house Teddy. Not even to get groceries.” Which even I know, remembering her rapacious appetite, is unlike her. “To tell you the truth, I don't know what to do. I’m trying but she's not listening to me."
                  I don’t really understand why she is surprised by this, but I’m trying to be polite so I ask: "Is there a reason you're calling, Mrs. F.?"
                  "Iris."
                  "Iris? What are you asking?"
                  "Well, given your history, I was hoping you'd reach out to her. Perhaps you can assist her with this. You seem to be adjusting better."
                  "All due respect Mrs....Iris, I don't see how anything I say will help."
                  "Well, you've shared a very profound experience. Perhaps knowing she's not alone...I don’t know. Would you just try anyway?"
                  "I don't know if it's a good idea--"
                  "Teddy, please. I know you still have your reservations about me, as you should. But it's not a favor to me. It's for Charley. You were friendly once, and you go way back. Please. We-- she has no one else.”
                  It would be nice to forget. If I forgot, then I wouldn’t hurt so damn much for her, but now, in part because of you, we're linked by and invisible tether. I can’t ever get free of her.
     
    *****
     
                  When I saw her on the beach I had to know her. She wasn't what I would've considered my "type" by any stretch. She didn't look like she belonged in Maxim or Sports Illustrated . She was thin, but to an extreme. Way too skinny for my taste, just a fragile slip of a girl. Even through the bathing suit and long wrap I could see her hip bones jutting out. Hell, she wasn't really showing any skin except for her arms and shoulders and we were on the beach for Christ's sake. She wasn't hot. Not on first glance anyway, but she was beautiful. Her skin was a breathtaking brown. Like honey or toasted almonds, I wanted to know if she tasted as sweet. She had the thickest, curliest hair I'd ever seen and it cascaded all the way down to her hips. Despite her angular and even severe look in a lot of ways, she was vulnerable. Like a glass figurine that’d been broken and put together with the jagged