Bittersweet Read Online Free

though—a few blocks from the apartment and I’m already starting to sweat. I decide to head down to the riverside where it might be a little cooler, turning up my iPod and sipping water from my bottle as I squint against the morning sunshine. The grass glows emerald-green as I head toward the river, which sparkles invitingly. A memory of my mother taking me down here to swim as a little girl flashes into my mind, but I swat it away. That was a long time ago, and there aren’t too many happy memories following on behind it. I don’t want to ruin what’s starting out to be a pretty good day, so I pick up my pace and pound along the path in time to my music—until a van and people with director’s viewfinders block my path. That TV show, again ? I slow down a little and look at the crew guys a little more closely, but none of them are tall enough to be that Greg guy I met yesterday. Which is fine. I don’t want to run into him anyway, especially not when I’m even sweatier than I was last night.
    I swallow more water and jog around them quickly, but then almost collide with Mayor Castellano and his PA, who are striding over toward the TV van with fixed, grateful grins on their faces.
    “Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry, Mayor,” I say, jogging on the spot.
    “No, no, my fault, Cathy. In my own world there. Just going to glad-hand some of these TV execs. Tell your father I’ll be stopping by later for one of those bacon burgers,” he says, patting his ample stomach. I’m not sure his wife would be too happy with the idea, but I grin and wave anyway before I carry on with my run. I see a couple more guys with viewfinders and clipboards up toward the Nelson property as I run alongside the slow-moving river—it doesn’t surprise me that they might use it as a location. I remember thinking the house on the water, now owned by the Dogwood Historical Society, looked like a palace compared to our little home on Peyton Street, where my dad still lives with Carl. I know Joe doesn’t quite get why I moved out, but it’s hard enough living an adult life in the town you grew up in without your dad breathing down your neck at home as well as at work.
    But even so, I decide to head back up into town and grab a coffee at the restaurant before I go home. Joe Johnson’s does a lot of things better than anywhere else around here, and coffee is one of them.
    As I make a left and run back up past the pharmacy toward Main Street, I hear a familiar rumbling engine coming up behind me. I smile and pull my earbuds out, not breaking my stride as Hal’s beat-up truck pulls up alongside me. He leans out of the window, giving a low wolf-whistle and slowing down to a crawl.
    “Yeah, that’s not at all creepy,” I say with a grin, but then I hear footsteps pounding up the sidewalk behind me, and then past me.
    “Hi, Hal,” calls Sonya Thompson, former head-cheerleader, and a woman still clearly committed to being cuter than everyone in the surrounding area. She ignores me, of course.
    “Oh, hey, Sonya,” Hal replies.
    She jogs away in her crop top and minuscule shorts, her dark-blonde hair bouncing, her body barely perspiring. I swipe at my drenched brow and shake my head, but Hal just chuckles. I narrow my eyes at him, but I guess I can’t blame her for flirting—he’s rolled his overalls down to the waist because of the heat so he’s just in his wife-beater, and I swear his arms get bigger every time I see them. Sometimes I think if we weren’t buddies, he’d be a pretty good plan B… But that would be kind of like dating Carl. I grimace internally. Besides, Hal’s something of a man-skank. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Sonya have been hooking up lately and he’s too scared to tell Max and me.
    “Heading to the auto shop?” I ask, panting.
    “Yeah. Want a ride home first?”
    I gesture to my sneakers. “Would kind of defeat the purpose, don’t you think?”
    “I don’t know, C, you look good to me already,” he