Hand-Me-Down Love by Jennifer Ransom Read Free Book Online Page A

that the paint had missed, close to the floor of the tree
house. It was real.
    “ Where have
you been?” Marla asked Merrie. “Where have you been all this
time?”
    “ I’ve been
right here,” Meredith answered. “Right here.”
    “ Sean moved,”
Marla said. “He didn’t have a TV.”
    Meredith
laughed. “I know,” she said. “Are you going to look after him?
You promised you would look after him.”
    “ Yes,”
Marla told her dream sister. “Yes. I’m planning to do that. It’s
good he got a TV.”
    Meredith
laughed again and was gone. Marla sat alone in the tree house.
    She woke up
suddenly, still in the dream, still sitting in the tree house. She
looked around the room for Meredith. Gradually, she realized she had
been dreaming. It took a while to go back to sleep.
    Marla called
Sean every night for the next several days. Finally, on the fourth
night, he said, “You don’t have to check on me every night,
Marla. I’m okay.”
    “ I’m sorry.
I just want to make sure you’re doing okay,” she said.
    “ Well, I’m
doing as okay as a person can be in this situation,” he said. “I’m
going to work every day. I’m eating. I’m keeping myself clean. I
guess that’s about all I can hope for right now.”
    Marla agreed.
“I know you’ll call me if you need me,” she said before ending
the call. She resolved that she would only check in with Sean every
now and then. It was obvious that he wanted his privacy.

Chapter
Nine

    Business at the shop
was brisk. It seemed that everyone wanted vintage, and they knew Bay
Point Antiques and Vintage was the place to get it. Jada started
making chocolate chip scones every week to have in the shop for
customers. They munched on the scones as they went through the
vintage side, picking up vases and planters, rubbing their hands
along tables and chairs, picking up linens to admire the embroidery
or old printed fabric. Sales were so good that Marla considered going
totally vintage. But her business self told her better. It was the
fine antiques that brought in the big money, even if they sat there
awhile before the right buyer came along. Bay Point Antiques, after
all, had a reputation to maintain.
    It had been
several weeks since Marla had seen Sean. She stopped calling him, but
she texted occasionally, usually saying simply, “Hi.” He always
texted back “Hi.” As long as he did that, Marla felt he was doing
all right. As long as he kept in contact. Marla had not dreamed of
Meredith again. She kept herself busy with the shop and only at the
end of the day, in her apartment with Lucy, did she allow herself to
feel the grief. She cried often up there, alone. She missed her big
sister.
    The summer
moved into late fall. Meredith had died in June. It had been five
months since then. Life was going on, though that was still hard for
Marla to imagine. That life went on after such a huge loss. The shop
hosted a Fall Days sale, which Jada promoted on the blog, the
website, Facebook, and Twitter. Customers were at times crammed into
the shop. Marla had a new shipment of dough bowls, too, and they were
gone within a couple of hours. It was a busy day and at the end of
it, Marla went upstairs and fell on her bed, exhausted. She dozed
with Lucy curled up against her side.
    Her cell phone
jangled her out of sleep. She had left it on the side table in the
living room. She didn’t make it in time to answer it, but checked
the missed call. It was Sean. She immediately called him back. “Hey,”
he said when he answered.
    “ Hey,”
Marla said. It sounded noisy on Sean’s end. “Where are you?”
she asked.
    “ I’m at
Jackson’s,” he said. He sounded slurry.
    “ What’s
that?” Marla asked. “What is Jackson’s?”
    “ It’s just
a bar,” Sean slurred.
    “ How are
you?” Marla said. She didn’t know why Sean was calling.
    “ Can you come
get me?” Sean asked.
    This didn’t
sound like any Sean Marla had ever known.
    “ Of course.
What’s the