Faithful by Kim Cash Tate Read Free Book Online Page A

Miss Gretta, as they liked to call her, strolled into their midst.
    Phyllis and Natalie jumped up to hug her, but before anyone could say anything, Gretta had her hands to her hips, exclaiming, “Oh no, you didn’t.”
    Phyllis looked back with a puzzled expression—and a grin, because Gretta still had a commanding aura about her. At five foot ten with a curvaceous figure and hair that flowed full with carefree spirals from the twists she usually wore, she drew a double take from many a passerby.
    â€œWhat?” Phyllis said.
    â€œWe were in this thing together.” Gretta pointed between the two of them. “Now you gonna leave me and join the skinny girls?”
    Phyllis was suddenly transported back to the playground at recess when the boys would run past her on the blacktop, chanting, “Phyl, Phyl, the big fat wheel.” The girls would call out choice words after them, demanding that they leave her alone. They thought they were helping. But by the time the girls yelled for the boys to stop, and the boys, further inspired, insisted they couldn’t help it because Phyllis did look like a wheel, she’d feel infinitely worse. She’d thought often of what it would be like to be one of the skinny girls, and now here was Gretta saying she was one of them. She was exaggerating, of course. Phyllis was nowhere near skinny. But she was nowhere near where she used to be either. Gretta had dredged up a memory that, surprisingly, no longer pained her.
    â€œGretta, give me a hug, girl.” Phyllis wiped a surprise tear from her eye. “No need to worry about me leaving you. You were already in a class by yourself, Miss Diva.”
    â€œYou know I was kidding.” Gretta hugged her tight. “I just couldn’t believe that was you. You look fantastic!”
    â€œAnd you look marvelous yourself, dahling.” Natalie reached for a hug. “It’s so good to see you!”
    â€œIt’s good to see you too!” Gretta fixed Natalie in full view. “If you’re not still the cutest little thing . . . The guys sure used to fawn over Natalie.”
    â€œAnd Stacy,” Phyllis added. “And you too, Gretta. They just couldn’t say anything because of Vance.”
    Gretta rolled her eyes. “Vance was a trip, wasn’t he, acting like he owned me?”
    Natalie put a hand to her hip. “He might’ve been protective, but at least he backed it up with a ring.”
    Gretta flashed her hand and laughed. “Can’t argue with you there.”
    The women gabbed nonstop during the fairly short ride along the Dulles Greenway, and as they piled out at the top of Stacy’s drive, they marveled aloud at the natural beauty of living among rolling hills, adjacent to the Potomac River and Goose Creek.
    Phyllis took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s so peaceful and beautiful. And this house is gorgeous.”
    â€œWhere are we exactly?” Natalie pulled on her sweater. “Y’all are out here.”
    Stacy nodded as a cool breeze whipped her hair off her shoulders. Slim like Natalie, she had light skin, light eyes, and a lighthearted personality. “Yeah, you’d be surprised at how far people are willing to commute in the Metro Area these days, trying to get more for their money. But this isn’t too far out. We’re in Leesburg, about thirty-five miles from D.C.”
    Gretta gave her a dubious look as she lifted her luggage out of the trunk. “And that thirty-five miles will take you two hours in rush hour.”
    â€œYep.” Stacy pulled another bag out. “And that’s why Wesley works out of the Reston office.”
    A swirl of red, orange, and russet-colored leaves tumbled past the women as they moved to the door with their luggage. Their eyes widened as they walked through the double doors, at once taking in a winding double staircase and beyond that, a wooded preserve that seemed to stretch