Twice in a Lifetime Read Online Free Page A

cared deeply for Christine, that they had always been close, and that he, too, wanted to spare her more headaches, for which Clara was thankful. Still, right now, all she wanted was to talk to her mother about Tommy, to speak of her fears about what he was becoming, of how helpless she felt, unable to do anything to stop it. But she couldn’t say a word.
    When it came to Tommy, she was on her own.
    Once Clara finished making breakfast, she sat down and ate, talking with her mother about the weather and other innocent topics, feeling both guiltier and more alone with every word. When she finished eating, Clara took her dishes to the sink and began to clean them.
    “I’m going to take a bath and get dressed,” she said. “I want to get out to the cemetery before the rain rolls in.”
    “The cemetery?” her mother asked, confused. “What for? Is today a holiday? We were just there to put flowers on your father’s grave…”
    Clara stopped scrubbing her plate. Her heart pounded and she felt tears rising, trying to overwhelm her already strained resolve. She took a deep breath in an attempt to compose herself. “No, Mom,” she said as calmly as she could. “Today is the anniversary of Joe’s death.”
    Christine’s face fell. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said, her voice choking. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve known. It’s just this muddled head of mine…”
    Wiping her hands on a towel, Clara sat down beside her mother. She smiled, taking Christine’s hands and giving them a gentle squeeze.
    “It’s all right. You shouldn’t be expected to remember everything.”
    Her mother wiped away a tear. “How long has it been?”
    “Nine years.”
    “I can’t believe it. It seems like only yesterday when those men came and…” Her voice trailed away.
    Clara forced another smile; she’d had years of practice acting the opposite of how she really felt. “It was a long time ago.”
    “It doesn’t matter how much time passes,” Christine said. “Your father’s been gone for decades and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him. Even if my memory isn’t what it once was, I could never forget all he meant to me. So don’t ever let go of Joe. Treasure your time together, even if it was short. Keep everything, especially Tommy, close to your heart.”
    Clara hugged her mother tightly. Over and over, she told herself to calm down, to keep her emotions under control; she fought back tears while quieting the thunderstorm raging in her heart. It had worked, at least for now.
    But when she went to visit Joe, all bets were off.
      
    Clara drove through the open gates of Sunset’s cemetery and the truck bumped down the long avenue that divided rows of tombstones. The afternoon sun glinted off stone and weathered iron markers. In the oldest part of the cemetery, rusted fences cordoned off family plots, while a towering obelisk leaned to one side, a memorial to the Walker family, the first to settle there more than a hundred years earlier.
    Turning off the main road, Clara meandered along the creek that bordered the cemetery. Sunlight gave way to shade as she passed beneath tall elms and maples. Gravel crunched beneath the truck’s tires. On occasion, she had seen deer grazing here, their heads rising to watch as she drove past. It was a peaceful place, meant to soothe mourners as they came to visit those they’d lost.
    But it had never comforted Clara.
    In the years just after Joe had died, she had come often; she had stood in the pouring rain, wiped sweat from her brow, pushed away fallen leaves, and brushed snow from his stone. But now she visited only on the anniversary of his passing. Whereas once she’d sought answers to ease her pain and sadness, Clara had come to understand that the only things waiting for her here were more tears.
    And she already had plenty of those.
    Clara drove on as the road wound along the creek before finally climbing a short hill; when the truck crested it, she