Take Me There Read Online Free

gonna get caught,” he said.
    “That’s what we said about working for Jake.”
    Wade rolled his eyes. “Do what you want. I’m goin’ with Nathan.”
    “Suit yourself.” For someone who lived in constant fear of returning to jail, he sure wasn’t doing much to avoid it.
    I put Baby Face in the backseat of the Mustang and wasrelieved we were alone. On Saturdays I liked to relax by cranking up the stereo and cruising the coastline. When Wade came along, he always turned down the volume so he could talk.
    I thought about going to Hermosa Beach, but decided against it. Instead I headed north on the 405 and took Santa Monica Boulevard. Finally ended up on the Pacific Coast Highway, playing the music so loud the speakers started rattling. Baby Face sat in the backseat with her head on my shoulder while I sang along to the music.
    Mom let it slip once that my father’s favorite song was “Dream On.” Sometimes I played just that one song, over and over, singing along until my throat went dry, trying to imagine I was in my father’s skin. Trying to figure out what kind of man he was.
    But not on that night. I took out Aerosmith and exchanged it for
West Side Story
and “There’s a Place for Us.” I remembered Jess, standing up on stage singing that song, and how the whole auditorium went crazy with applause. And now she was back in my life. Okay, maybe I was just the guy who fixed her car, but that was enough.
    By the time I turned around and headed home, the sun was setting over the ocean, a huge ball of fire sinking into the sea, leaving streaks of red and gold like a melting candle. I thought of Jess, how being near her made me feel like liquid wax, and from somewhere inside of me came words:
I know a girl with sea green eyes… . She melts the sun, swallows the sky… . Then breathes out stars to kiss the night.
    I didn’t know where lines like that came from, but sometimes when I was alone, they just popped into my brain. Luckily, I wasn’t alone much. It could be embarrassing, not tomention dangerous, if guys found out I had stuff like that in my head.
    I turned up the music, trying to turn off whatever channel those words were coming from, and looked back out the window at the sun. I know they say you shouldn’t do that. It will make you blind. But I’ve never been good at following rules. Besides, I was wondering if that was what the eye of God looked like and if he slept when the sun went down, ’cause it sure didn’t seem like he was on the job a lot of the time.
    When I finally got home, it was dark. I parked out front and went inside to find my mother in the living room, singing along to the CD player and dancing with a bottle in her hand.
    She must have gotten the check from Uncle Mitch. It came once a month, and once a month she would splurge on a bottle of Crown Royal, play “Fly Me to the Moon,” and wallow in self-pity.
    He sent us a thousand bucks a month and then charged Mom six hundred to rent the house. I knew that was a steal in Southern California, even if the place was a cracker box, but I never understood why he didn’t just send four hundred and call it a day. He said it was the principle of the thing. He’d bought the house hoping my mother would stay put for a while.
    I walked into the kitchen with Baby Face and poured three cans of chili into a pot. Filled a dog bowl with Purina. Baby Face sat at my feet whimpering and wouldn’t touch her bowl until I poured chili on her food.
    “You’re gonna spoil that dog.”
    Mom was standing in the doorway, holding the half-empty bottle of bourbon, wearing a summer dress, hair falling softly on her shoulders.
    “Did you eat?” I set two bowls on the table. I knew she hadn’t.
    Mom put the bottle on the table, sat down, and covered her face with her hands. Started to cry. I grated cheese to go on top of her chili. “You’ll feel better if you eat something.”
    “I was going to be an opera singer. Did I ever tell you that? I studied