Winter In August Read Online Free Page A

depressed and drinking more, and I believe I know why,” said Harper. She was so adorable when she worried about me. She would get a concerned expression on her face; it was like I was talking to someone much older than me. Knowing she was there for me if I needed her was reassuring. She kept me from going out of my mind, and I loved her for that. I didn’t know where I would be without her.
    “You won’t ever see me like that again. I’m a different person now. Trust me.” I tried to convince her I was perfectly fine. Maybe, I was trying to convince myself I was fine. On the outside, you could never tell what I had been through or what I had been going through. I was a tough-talking party girl, in control. On the inside, I was anything but in control. I was still a complete mess and I hid it well, at least I thought I did.

Chapter 4
    A fter Harper left, I went online to pay a few bills. I noticed one of the bills was due on a date I would never forget. Five years ago my life fell apart, and the nightmare seemed so clear in my head still. I was planning on living in Ohio the rest of my life. I was happy, in love, and hoping to get married.
    I had been totally enamored with Kris Graber since the first day of school. Kris went to school with me from first grade until high school graduation. He came from a working-class family in Ohio and lived down the road from me. Kris’s dad retired from the military, and his mom worked as a schoolteacher. We were in every class at St Frances Elementary and attended St Bernard’s High School together. He was gorgeous, and I even thought so when he lost two front teeth when we were both seven years old. I loved him from the first time I spotted him eating a peanut butter sandwich and drinking chocolate milk. I’ll always remember that day. He noticed I had forgotten my lunch and shared his sandwich with me. He was the one that helped me get over my mom and the one person I confided in when I thought I had no one.
    My mom, Daniella or Danni as everyone called her, was a stay at home mom. She was always waiting for me every single day after school without fail. She and I were so close. I remembered coming home from school on the bus like I did every day. I would run into the kitchen where my mom would be sitting there waiting for me with a snack. One snowy winter day in February promised hot soup, and I ran in to see my mom after a bad day of being bullied by a kid on the bus.
    “Mom, Mom,” I yelled, throwing my backpack on the table and expecting the familiar aroma of the soup simmering on the burner. Chicken with stars was always my favorite and before I left for school, she promised to have some waiting for me.
    This time, however, there wasn’t an answer, there wasn’t any soup, and there was no mom. I ran all over the house trying to find her but she was nowhere to be found. There was not a note from her, and her car was in the garage. The television had been left on, and a cup on the table still had coffee inside.
    I was terrified and didn’t know what to do. Where could she be? This had never happened before. She couldn’t be at the neighbors, she never visited them. Panic-stricken, I called my dad to tell him my mom was not home. He assured me he’d come home right away. When my dad found me, I had thrown up all over, and was hysterically screaming “Mommy, please come home, please come home,” over and over.
    That evening when she hadn’t shown up, and my dad had called everyone he knew, we found a note in the mailbox. She said she was leaving us and going to be happy for once in her life. She requested we not come and find her because she needed this time to herself. She said she might be back someday, but she had to go for a little while. She told me, she loved me and would see me soon. I held on to the hope she would be back. Each day I prayed she would be in the kitchen when I came home from school. I said my rosaries diligently every night and prayed to St.