Greenmantle Read Online Free

said. “Maybe you better go hiking somewhere else instead—okay?”
    Ali nodded quickly. “Sure. I’m sorry. I just…that is, my mom and I just moved in down the road. I was just checking out the neighborhood…”
    Something changed in his eyes as she spoke and he didn’t look quite so menacing anymore. “What? The place they were working on this spring?”
    Ali nodded again. He studied her for a long moment, then smiled. “I was just gonna have some lemonade, kid. You want some?”
    Ali didn’t like the idea of going off into some strange guy’s house, but he was going to be their neighbor and she didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with him right away. With that bad leg, she thought, she could always outrun him.
    “Sure,” she said at last.
    “C’mon.” He led off, limping, and she fell in beside him. “So what’s your name, kid?”
    Ali glanced at him. “How come you keep calling me ‘kid’?”
    “I don’t know.” They’d reached his front steps. “Take a seat. I’ll bring the lemonade out. You want it on the rocks?”
    “What?”
    “With ice.”
    “Sure. Thanks.”
    “Hey, wait’ll you taste the lemonade first. Betty Crocker I’m not.”
    He disappeared into the house and Ali sat down on the steps. What a weird thing to say, she thought. But it was a good line. She’d have to try it out on Mom the next time she made dinner. She was still trying to remember the little swagger he’d put into his shoulders as he’d said it when the screen door banged open and he was back.
    He’d put on a white shirt while he was inside. It made his tan seem darker. The ice clinked in the glasses as he handed her one. She was about to thank him when she remembered what he’d said and decided to taste the drink first. He grinned as though reading her mind, and then she had to giggle. She covered it up by taking a sip.
    “Thanks,” she said. “It’s good.”
    He took a sip himself and set his glass down on the steps between them. “Yeah, it’s not so bad. So what’s your name?”
    “Alice Treasure—but everyone calls me Ali.”
    “You don’t like Alice?”
    “They might as well’ve called me Airhead, don’t you think?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. I kinda like Alice. My name’s Tony Garonne.”
    “Have you lived here for a long time, Mr. Garonne?”
    “Tony. Call me Tony, okay? And I’ll call you Ali. Yeah, I’ve lived here for a while. Not steady, you understand, but I’ve owned the place maybe fifteen years.”
    “My mom grew up in the place we just moved into.”
    “No kidding? What happened? Did she inherit the place from her old man or something?”
    “No. She didn’t get along too well with her parents. She took off when she was pretty young, but her mom had already left her dad by then and…well, we just got some money so she bought the old place and had it fixed up.” Why am I babbling like this? she asked herself.
    “Yeah, well, they did a good job.” There was a moment’s silence and they both worked at their lemonades. “So it’s just you and your momma living there?”
    Ali nodded. “Yeah. My dad…we don’t talk much about him.”
    “Hey. I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay. I don’t really remember him. He took off when I was just a kid. But he was…pretty rough on my mom.”
    “Guy like that…” Tony began, a frown creasing his face, then he paused and found a smile. “So where’d you move from?”
    “Ottawa.”
    “It’s gonna be different for you up here. I mean, it’s not that far from the city, but it’s quiet—you know? Evenings, it’s just really quiet. And dark. Takes some getting used to for some people.”
    “I think I’m going to like it.” She finished her drink and set the glass down. “I’ve got to be going, Mr.…ah…Tony.”
    “Mr. a-Tony. I like that. It’s got a ring to it, don’t you think?”
    Ali laughed.
    “Listen,” he added. “You’re welcome to come round here any time you want. The reason I wasn’t