Ex’s and Oh’s by Sandra Steffen Read Free Book Online Page A

101.”
    Gently lifting the doll, Nell inserted a master key and removed some sort of computer board. “I’ll know in a minute how you did.”
    After Nell plugged it into the terminal in her laptop, Caroline’s score flashed across the screen, a line-by-line assessment following. Nell turned it off before Caroline had a chance to read it.
    “I killed her, didn’t I?”
    “It’s a doll,” Nell said. “It wasn’t alive in the first place.”
    “But I flunked.”
    “Nonsense.”
    Tori could tell by Caroline’s expression that she knew Nell was lying. The poor woman looked ready to cry.
    “Do you know what I think, Caroline?” Tori asked. “I think it doesn’t matter what the computer chip says. Computers aren’t people and that doll, Dolly, isn’t a real baby, but it she were, she would be just fine.”
    Caroline was an educated woman. And she wasn’t taking Tori’s word for any of this.
    “Before you say anything,” Tori said, “You should know that we saw you sleeping just now. Your arm was resting over the doll protectively. You named her Dolly, which suggests an emotional involvement.”
    “Imagine how you’ll be with a real baby!” Nell insisted. “Tori’s right. You passed. In fact, you’re going to be a wonderful mother.”
    Caroline dropped heavily onto the bed, the motion disrupting the doll’s sensor. The crying started.
    “Oh dear,” Nell said, holding the computer chip. “It isn’t supposed to cry without this.”
    “The doll must be defective,” Tori said, raising her voice in order to be heard over the noise. “No wonder it cried all night.”
    Nell gathered the doll and everything that went with it. “Welcome to motherhood, Caroline.”
    “We’ll call you later.”
    “You really think I passed?” Caroline asked.
    Nell and Tori both nodded.
    “With flying colors,” Tori insisted. In the car, she said, “Let’s get this doll back to the high school. I have to give Caroline credit, if I’d been her and this doll did this all night, I’d have wanted to throw it in the channel.”
    She blanched, and Nell, bless her heart, placed a hand over hers. “You’re too hard on yourself.”
    Nell Downing was a kind soul, a defender of anyone and anything hurting. Despite the fact that she’d spent most of her life on a diet, she ate out of loneliness, which proved that life wasn’t fair. Not that Tori needed proof. She sighed. Although she appreciated Nell’s support, it didn’t alleviate Tori’s guilt. Computerized dolls weren’t the only ones with defects. And sometimes it was a parent’s fault. Caroline Moore had worried that she’d flunked Life Skills 101, but deep inside Tori feared she was the one failing at motherhood.

CHAPTER 5
    Shane rolled over in his narrow bunk. Somewhere, a phone was ringing. Maybe it was Andy’s. He burrowed under his pillow. It muffled the sound, but it didn’t make the ringing stop. Giving up on sleeping in, he went up on one elbow. In the far bunk, his son rolled over without waking.
    It wasn’t Andy’s phone. Of course it wasn’t. His friends had quit calling a long time ago.
    The ringing stopped. When it started up again immediately, Shane got up. There was only one person that insistent. Pulling on a pair of tattered sweats, he grabbed his cell phone and went above deck.
    “What’s up, Vic?”
    “You’re the only person who still insists upon calling me that.” Even exasperated, his ex-wife’s voice was a purr in his ear.
    “You’re the only person who insists upon calling me before eight on Sundays.”
    The cabin cruiser rocked beneath his feet. As his legs automatically adjusted to the motion, he could practically hear Karl’s voice. We’ve got our sea legs, aye, Shane? Lucky for us, there isn’t anything so bad that a day of fishing can’t help. Too bad Shane couldn’t go fishing today.
    “You’re scratching your chest, aren’t you?”
    He almost stopped. “What do you want, Vickie?”
    Her sigh came as no