You Don't Know Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

seconds after Nathan introduced him. “About time we met a relative,” she said, but her smile suggested that she was delighted. He’d stolen a couple glances at her. Slender, even regal, with graying hair and beautiful green eyes.
    Colleen went up to block. The ball bounced off her arms and slammed onto the Cardinals’ court.
    “Attagirl, Colleen! Now play the net!”
    Colleen glanced at her mother, grinned.
    It was the grin from Annalise’s daughter—easy, whole, without fear—that convinced Frank.
    He was sticking around until he knew that he’d done his job and that Annalise could indeed live happily ever after.

    Annalise simply had to act normal, and they’d all live through this.
    “Take it slow, Henry. Each word—sound it out.”
    She sat on Henry’s bed, her arm around him, holding one side of his book, the lamp spotlighting the page. She cherished these quiet moments, helping him untangle the letters that still plagued him. Like B . And D .
    He ran his finger along the line like she’d taught him to and lurched out the sentence.
    He’d get this. She’d never been the best student either, but by eighth grade, she could read with the rest of her class. It just took someone never letting him give up.
    He went on to the next sentence. She tried not to glance around, to the shirt hanging over his chair, the puddle of jeans and socks in the corner, the debris—he called it his treasures—piled on his dresser. Clay ashtrays and Bionicles and a couple pinewood derby cars. Ribbons and soccer participation trophies. Even a picture of him and his brother wrestling.
    She probably wouldn’t change his room until he moved out.
    Henry finished the paragraph and turned the page with a sigh.
    “That’s enough for now, buddy. You’re doing great.” She kissed the top of his head as she stood, let him settle into the covers.
    “I hate reading,” he said.
    “Not forever. You’re getting better,” she said, returning to the edge of the bed. She prayed for him, then kissed his cheek, pausing for just a moment to inhale what remained of his little-boy scent. Their surprise child after two miscarriages. Named after her father.
    The cherry on top of her already-blessed life.
    “I like Uncle Frank,” Henry said as she got up. “He’s funny. And he knows magic. He can make things disappear.”
    Exactly. But the last thing she needed was for Frank to actually become an uncle . More lies for her to keep track of.
    “Yes, he’s real nice—”
    “How come he’s never visited us before?”
    At the door, she took a long breath, her hand hovering over the light switch. “He was out of the country a lot.”
    “Why did he come to see you?”
    “He was in the area and wanted to say hi. Good night, Henry.”
    “I hope he stays forever,” Henry said as she turned off the light.
    Oh, please, no.
    She stopped by Colleen’s room, knocking on the door before opening it.
    Colleen slid her cell phone beneath the covers.
    Wonderful. Texting, probably with that troublemaker, Tucker. His name nearly rose to her lips, and the confrontation hovered there for a second.
    She’d seen him tonight after the game, lingering by the drinking fountain. With black hair that hid his eyes, he carried the aura of a snowboarder, an irresponsible, bad-boy magnetism that clearly had her daughter mesmerized. He wore a snap-button black-checkered shirt over a black T-shirt, a pair of painter pants. And ear gauges.
    Just the kind of boy she hoped her sweet, beautiful, smart daughter might date.
    Stay away from him. He’ll destroy your life. The words filled her throat, but she couldn’t bear to dismantle their triumphant night.
    Another day.
    “You were amazing tonight, honey.”
    Colleen grinned.
    Sometimes, in moments like this, the past echoed back to her, and Annalise was again sixteen, bundled in her bed with the pink knit afghan pulled up to her chin, bidding her mother good night.
    It had all gone wrong so quickly after