After the Rains Read Online Free Page B

had been when Nattie was a mischievouschild. Cole and Daria had always been able to locate her quickly in any crowd, thanks to those blond tresses.
    Daria watched Natalie and Sara and noticed that despite the noisy crowd and an imminent touchdown, the two of them remained deep in conversation. Daria recognized an all-too-familiar expression on Natalie’s face. She was upset about something. Again. Poor Sara. How she continually put up with Natalie’s moods, Daria wasn’t sure. Daria felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach as she thought of the changes they’d seen in Natalie recently. Though she knew that some sibling rivalry was to be expected, it seemed that lately Natalie and Nicole fought almost constantly, and when they weren’t fighting, they weren’t speaking to each other. It broke Daria’s heart to have her children at such enmity with each other. Daria sighed and turned back to the action on the football field. But it was a struggle to shake the melancholy that her fears had provoked.
    The game was well under way when Daria spotted Don and Maribeth Dever, Sara’s parents, stepping over boots and thermoses, making their way down the row behind her, where their own reserved seats were located. Daria waved and turned in her seat to move her stadium blanket out of the way while their friends got settled.
    “Hey, guys. How’s it going?” Daria asked.
    “Good. How ’bout yourself?” Don asked.
    Cole waved a brief greeting, then, when a time-out was called a minute later, he turned to shake hands with Don. “Hey, buddy, you just missed a whale of a play.”
    “Who? Jensen?”
    Cole nodded. “First play of the game—Jensen to Laughlin. Great pass! Picture perfect. I mean, you talk about putting the ball right smack—”
    “Cole, please …” Laughing, Daria took her husband by the shoulders and moved him in Don’s direction. “Here, why don’t you switch places with Mari and spare us the play-by-play.”
    “But I had that seat all warmed up,” Cole griped good-naturedly as he stepped over the back of the bleachers and traded seats with Maribeth.
    When the two women were settled side by side, they chatted while the men behind them cheered the game.
    “Do you think Nattie’s still upset?” Maribeth asked after a while.
    “About what?”
    “You didn’t know that Nattie wanted to go to the dance with Jon?” she asked, her words halting.
    “Natalie? With your Jon? Oh, my … Mari, no. I didn’t know. Well … that explains a lot.” She sighed in mock disgust. “Could you please tell me why mothers are always the last to know these things?”
    Maribeth put a consoling hand on her sleeve. “Hey, you probably know Sara better than I do. That just seems to be the way it is. I’ve probably said way too much already, Daria.”
    Daria held up a hand. “No … I’m glad you told me. I should have seen it.”
    “You couldn’t know, Dar. Kids are good at hiding this kind of stuff from their parents. And … I don’t want to put you in a tight spot, but please don’t tell Nattie I said anything. I don’t want Sara to know I tattled. Ugh, that sounds so deceitful.”
    “Hey,” Daria commiserated, “we are mothers of teenagers. It is our sworn duty to be conniving and devious.” That made them giggle like teenagers themselves.
    “Oh, that girl,” she said to Maribeth now. “I don’t know why she has to be so difficult. I’m sorry Sara always seems to get the brunt of it.”
    After the game, Cole and Daria were alone in the car since Noelle was spending the night with a friend and the older girls had gone to the dance. As they crept along in the long line of cars leaving the stadium parking lot, Daria snuggled beside him, trying to get warm.
    “So, what were you and Maribeth in such deep conversation about?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.
    “You were so involved in that game I’m surprised you even noticed,” she teased.
    “It was a great game. I can’t believe