Discovering Normal by Cynthia Henry Read Free Book Online Page A

last night, you’d probably worked up an appetite.”
    She set the plate in front of him and then just as quickly plopped onto his lap. She plastered a kiss against his lips that he didn’t open. His head pounded and he didn’t want the damn omelet. He just wanted her to go home to her apartment above Flaherty’s.
    “The bacon’s extra crisp,” she whispered against his lips as she trailed her fingers through his hair.
    Chris lifted her up and stood. “This looks great and I’m sure it is. But I don’t really eat breakfast. One of the guys will eat it though. Thanks.”
    Anita looked hurt. “I wanted to make something for you. I love to cook.”
    Damn he was cold. Sure she was cheap and dumb, but he remembered the drill. You screwed them, you damn well better be ready to eat their omelet come daybreak. Chris sliced a wedge with his fork and popped it into his mouth.
    Bland and rubbery. The green pepper screamed at him. “Very good,” he said instead.
    Anita clapped her hands near her chin. “I’m even better with dinner.” Anita stalked to his side and wrapped her arms around him once again. “I’m best with dessert,” she whispered.
    Mercifully the phone rang. “I really have to take a shower and get some work done. I never get started this late.” He sidestepped to the phone and snatched it. His mother was on the other end --c hecking up on his first official day as a separated man. “I’ll call you back,” he said and lowered the receiver.
    Anita hadn’t budged. She just untied her apron, taking extreme care to jut her tits out. “I’ve had a crush on you for so long. But you were married so I never acted on it. I couldn’t believe it when you flirted back last night.” She looked up and damn, she was going to cry. “Last night was a dream come true for me. You’re everything I imagined.”
    Chris sucked in a breath and set the plate in the sink. “Anita, my wife just left yesterday. I’ve got a lot of shit to figure out.”
    “Story of my life,” she said as she laid the apron down. “I’m always the rebound girl.”
    He watched her walk to the back stairs and then disappear up them. Was this going to be his life now--sleazy girls and excuses? He heard a crash, a bark and a tiny scream.
    Apparently Anita had discovered that Sundance, who missed Beth as much as Chris did, had decided to sleep outside of the bedroom door.
     
    ***
     
    George kept trying to take her hand.
    Beth combated the action each time. It wasn’t that she found him unappealing; it was just that this wasn’t the time, in front of her children while they surveyed Noah’s new school.
    His building in Garrity had been a state-of-the-art facility with shiny bright playground equipment and whimsical murals painted on hallway walls. The Langston Rhodes Elementary School in Old Saybrook was fortress-like with creaky floors and huge paintings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln with wandering eyes, staring down from corridor walls. They’d frightened Beth as a child and Noah seemed equally unimpressed.
    Audrey had scaled Beth’s leg at the sight of the smile-less Washington. Chris was the one who generally lugged her. At four-years-old, she was getting heavy. Beth set her down, but squeezed her hand tight. “Noah,” she said after she glanced at the paper she held. “This is your classroom. Miss Hilton, room 142. I went to third grade in this room. There was a piano!”
    “Yeah,” he said sarcastically and kicked the doorframe.
    George knelt to Noah’s level. “Noah, your mom is trying hard here. Try and help her, all right.”
    And in a flash of what was truly his father, Noah unleashed an icy glare. Beth had always stressed manners and respect, but this time maybe Noah was justified. Beth touched George’s arm and tugged him to the other side of the hall.
    “Please, George, don’t try and intervene. He only found out two days ago that we were moving here and his whole life has flipped around. Give him