The Girls of Tonsil Lake Read Online Free Page B

that long.
    And I’m Carrie’s backup babysitter, too. She’s even pickier about her kids than I used to be. I thought she and her husband were going to break up when she wanted to go back to work and neither his mother nor I could watch the children fulltime. Tim told Carrie they could put them in daycare or she could stay home; the choice was hers. She was angry with him for forcing her to make that choice, and even angrier with me because I wouldn’t take the children.
    It’s funny that I’ve always liked being needed, but at the same time I envy Vin and Andie and Suzanne because they’re not. That sounded ugly, didn’t it? I don’t mean it that way, I really don’t. I would just like the chance to be myself for a while.
    Whoever that is.
    Suzanne
    My regional director’s secretary called me last week and asked me to come to division headquarters in Chicago. I was surprised, even though I knew it was time for my annual evaluation. Amanda—my director—usually comes to Lewis Point for it. We have dinner and drinks, then she tells me what kind of year I’ve had and what kind of raise I’m getting. She also gives me my mid-year bonus check. I’ve always done very well, and there haven’t been many complaints from either side of the evaluation table.
    Even though Amanda’s secretary didn’t give anything away, I was certain I was in line for a promotion. Sales have increased in this area to the point that division has talked about adding a new regional director. Though I’m really not crazy about tooting my own horn, I know the sales increase is largely due to my efforts and my presence in the stores.
    I bought a new suit to wear to the meeting with Amanda and had my hair colored a week early because it wouldn’t do to go to headquarters with mouse-brown roots showing. I got a manicure and pedicure while I was at it, even though I usually do my own. I was packing when Vin called.
    “Hey,” she said, sounding friendlier than usual, “why don’t you come to Maine for a month? Andie and I will be there, and we want to talk Jean into it, too. Do you have any vacation time saved up?”
    I have plenty of vacation time, but I couldn’t think about a month in the back of the beyond right then, so I probably got a little pissy with Vin. She turned cool in the blink of an eye, which usually gets me flustered, but not this time.
    “Look,” I said, “I’m getting ready for a very important business trip. I’ll be back tomorrow night and I’ll give you a call then. Just have Attila the Housekeeper put me through to you, okay?”
    I heard a strangled sound from the other end of the phone that if it hadn’t been Vin I would have thought was a laugh. Then she said, “Fine. Take care,” and hung up.
    I caught a puddle-jumper flight out of Lewis Point’s little airport and spent the night in Chicago so I’d be fresh for the ten-o’clock meeting. I dialed Jake Logan’s number when I got to my hotel room that evening. I hate eating on my own.
    He wasn’t in, so I left a message on his machine, thinking if he didn’t call back in time, I’d just order room service. I had a paperback that Jean had recommended in my suitcase. I love to read, which always surprises everyone. It’s like, “Duh, you mean Suzanne can read?”
    Instead of calling back, Jake knocked on my door a half hour later. He swept me into a bear hug that lifted me right off my feet. “Suzy-Q, it’s been too long.”
    He put me down and held me away, looking me over with a sparkling blue gaze that was like a caress. As God is my witness, if he’d said the word or even swept those long eyelashes down in a suggestive manner, like Jean writes about in her books, I’d have gotten naked right then.
    Although I’d seen him to wave to, I hadn’t spent time with him since his and Andie’s son young Jake, Jean’s daughter Kelly, and my daughter Sarah had graduated from college four years ago. We’d had a big party to celebrate and