Tangled Up in You Read Online Free Page B

His grandmother Loraine Hennessy had been affectionate and loving in her own way. Shed made sure he and Meg had things like winter boots and gloves and were always filled with comfort food. But shed completely neglected what theyd really needed. The most normal life possible.
    Shed refused to sell the old farmhouse where he and Meg had lived with their parents. For years it sat abandoned on the outskirts of town, becoming a haven for mice and a constant reminder of the family that had once lived there. A person couldnt enter town without seeing it. Without seeing the overgrown weeds, the peeling white paint, and the sagging clothesline.
    And Monday through Friday, for nine months out of every year, Mick and Meg had been forced to pass it on their way to school. While the other children on the bus chatted about the latest episode of The Dukes Of Hazzard or checked out the contents of their lunch boxes, he and Meg turned their heads away from the window. Their stomachs got heavy and they held their breath, praying to God no one noticed their old house. God hadnt always answered and the bus would fill with the latest gossip the kids had overheard about Micks parents.
    The bus trip to school had been a daily hell. A routine tortureuntil a cold October night in 1986 when the farmhouse erupted in a huge orange fireball and burned completely to the ground. Arson had been determined as the cause of the fire, and thered been a big investigation. Almost everyone in town had been questioned, but the person responsible for dousing the place with kerosene had never been caught. Everyone in town thought they knew whod done it, but no one had known for sure.
    After Loraines death three years ago, Mick sold the property to the Allegrezza boys and hed thought about selling the family bar too, but in the end he decided to move back and run the place. Meg needed him. Travis needed him, and to his surprise, when hed returned to Truly, no one really talked about the scandal anymore. Whispers no longer followed him, or if they did, he no longer heard them.
    He slowed the truck and made another left, turning into his long driveway and heading up a hill seated at the base of Shaw Mountain. Hed bought the two-story house shortly after hed moved back to Truly. It had a great view of the town and the rugged mountains surrounding the lake. He parked in the garage next to his twenty-one-foot ski boat and entered the house through the laundry room. The light in his office was on and he turned it off as he passed. He moved through the dark living room and took the stairs two at a time.
    For the most part, Mick didnt really think of the past that had been such a focus in his childhood. Truly didnt talk about it anymore, which was ironic as hell, because he just didnt give a shit what people said and thought about him these days. He walked into his bedroom at the far end of the hall and moved through the moonlight pouring through the open slats of his wooden blinds. Shadow and muted strips of light touched his face and chest as he reached into his back pocket. He tossed his wallet on his dresser, then grabbed two fistfuls of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. But just because he didnt give a shit about the past didnt mean that Meg was over it. She had her good days and bad days. Since the death of their grandmother, her bad days were getting worse, and that was just no way for Travis to live.
    Moonlight and shadow spilled across the green quilt and solid oak posts of Micks bed. He dropped the shirt by his feet, then walked across the room. Sometimes he felt that moving back to Truly had been a mistake. It felt as if he were standing in one place, unable to move forward, and he didnt know why he felt that way. Hed bought a new bar and was thinking of starting a helicopter service with his friend Steve. He had money and success and he belonged in Truly with his family. The only family he had. The only family he was ever likely to have, but