Relative Strangers Read Online Free

compared with the one waiting for her at her father's investment banking firm. She was a failure in their eyes.
    Over the years, Meg had remained stubborn. She was civil to her parents, spent holidays with them, and exchanged mostly pleasant phone calls at least once a month with her mother. She loved them. They were her parents, her family. They were all she had. But she'd often wondered what life would have been like if her father had had no money or had never equated money with power.
    Of course, she'd never know. Her parents had died in the accident, and she had inherited their money. Every last penny, certificate of deposit, bond, mutual fund and stock. Except her father took one last stab at trying to force her to live the life he'd planned for her: no money until you're mar-ried and have a kid. Take that, you ungrateful brat.
    Dayle joined her at the balcony's railing. "Did it help to move more than a thousand miles away from the memories?" she asked.
    Meg nodded. "A little. I didn't like who I was there."
    "Are you different here?"
    Meg laughed softly. "Not yet. It's only been a month."
    "So there's still time."
    "Yeah." She tipped her glass to capture an ice cube and crushed it between her teeth.
    Dayle turned and braced her elbows on the railing so she could see Meg's face. "Where are you in the search for your biological parents?"
    Meg held up her empty glass. "I need a refill. How about you?"
    "No, thanks."
    Meg went inside to mix herself another drink. "Mother didn't leave me a hell of a lot to go on. Just the letter in the safe-deposit box that said I was adopted from a Fort Myers couple." The alcohol in her system made her feel clumsy, but the shaking had subsided.
    Dayle leaned a shoulder against the door. "Have you turned up anything yet?"
    "I have no idea where I was adopted, in what county or state, so I haven't gotten very far. My parents' lawyer is still trying to track down the paperwork." She swirled the alcohol in her glass. "How about that pizza? There's a place not far up the beach. Want the usual?"
    "Double everything. I might waste away."
    Meg laughed as she picked up the phone to place the order. When she was done, Dayle was holding up an ashtray that she'd found on the balcony. "What the hell is this?"
    Meg chastised herself for not getting rid of it. "What's it look like?"
    "Since when do you smoke?"
    "I tried it briefly," Meg said.
    "Why?"
    Meg shrugged. "It was something different. I was bored."
    Dayle gave her an incredulous look. "That's messed up, Meg."
    Taking the ashtray from her, Meg dumped it in the trash in the kitchen. "Don't worry about it, Dayle. I did it for a week and couldn't stand it. It's a filthy habit. Okay?"
    "What other filthy habits have you been trying on for size?"
    "Nothing. It was stupid. Where were we?"
    Dayle paused, her gaze searching Meg's face. Apparently satisfied by what she saw, she said, "We were talking about your mom's letter."
    Meg nodded, remembering that that subject wasn't necessarily attractive either. "Right."
    "What else did she say in it?" Dayle asked.
    "Standard stuff. 'We always thought of you as our own. We wanted to tell you, but we didn't want you to be hurt.' Blah blah blah."
    "They must have had reasons that seemed like good ones at the time, Meg."
    "Guess I'll never know, will I?" She choked up but forced the emotion back. She shouldn't have had so much alcohol so fast. Her feelings were much harder to control when her guard wasn't solid.
    "It's okay to be upset," Dayle said.
    Meg dumped the rest of her drink in the sink and rinsed the glass. "They denied me the right to know whether someone else out there belongs to me, Dayle. Now that they're gone, now that no one is left..." She trailed off, swallowed. "I'm alone now. Truly alone."
    "You're not alone," Dayle said.
    Meg looked up and smiled. Dayle was one of her few real friends. She loved Dayle's whole family, seeing in their closeness what she had longed for in her own. Those qualities had