Her Sister (Search For Love series) by Karen Rose Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

leave?"
    "I'm
flying out at five.  I just wish I had something to take back with
me...something more than the knowledge that Lynnie was one of Luther Brown's
victims and there are probably too many more to count."
    "You've
got to hang onto the hope that she's still alive."
    Max was hanging onto that hope.  But even if Lynnie was still alive, that didn't mean
he'd get his daughter back.
    That
was the worst fear of all—that his daughter could be so changed he'd see
nothing but distance in her eyes.
    ****
    Shara
lifted her bedroom window Friday afternoon and heard the SUV next door start up
in the driveway.  Damn.  That meant their neighbor had been home.  Had he seen
her sneak into the house?  His carport faced their carport.
    What
were the chances?  One in a million.  Her mother would never know she cut
classes again.  She was getting really good at lying, making up stories that
were close to the truth so she didn't screw up.
    The
October breeze still carried the hint of summer as it puffed the blue-and-white
striped curtains away from the window.  Shara looked around her room that her
mother had decorated for her.  They'd bought along the curtains from the small
apartment where they used to live.  Why was it her mother still treated her like
she was ten.  So did her grandparents, for that matter.
    All the
adults in her life were preoccupied with her missing aunt.  Her mom never
talked about her.  There were pictures of Aunt Lynnie as a little girl at Gram's
place.  If they found her now—
    That
would be just too weird!
    Shara
thought about going to the refrigerator for something to eat.  But she just
wasn't hungry, hadn't been for about a week, which was fine with her.  It
wouldn't hurt her to lose a few pounds.
    Picking
up the phone on her nightstand, she sank down onto her bed.  She'd been trying
to call or see Brad ever since her mom had ordered him out Monday.  But he
wasn't returning her calls and she kept missing him at school.  She'd gone over
to his house before she'd come home.  She'd had to take a bus and that had
taken forever.  But he hadn't been there.
    So now
all she could do was try to call again.  Her mouth went dry so she took a few
swigs of a bottle of water that she always carried with her.  She'd walked from
his house home and that had been about a half a mile.  The bottom of her feet
burned in her sneakers.  She didn't want him to believe she was chasing him,
yet she loved him, didn't she?  Didn't he love her?  He'd had sex with her.  He'd
liked it.  He couldn't do that without feeling a lot for her, could he?
    This
time when she dialed, he answered!
    "Hey,
Shara."  He'd obviously seen her number on his Caller ID.
    She
wished her mom would buy her a cell phone, but these days her mom wouldn't be
doing her any favors.  "Hey, Brad.  I haven't seen you around or heard
from you for a while."
    "I
took a few mental health days.  You at school?"
    "Are
you kidding?  No, I'm home.  Do you want to go somewhere?"
    "Can't."
    When he
didn't explain, Shara waited.  The silence lengthened.  "Maybe we could do
something tonight," she suggested.
    "Sorry,
I've got stuff to do.  And, hey, somebody's beeping me.  I've gotta go.  Talk
to you later."
    The
dial tone sounded in her ear.
    Had her
mother spooked him?  Did he really think her mother would press charges against
him?  Shara swore, tossed the cordless phone down onto the bed and went to her
computer desk.
    She
leaned down to the cubbyhole on the lower right to turn on the tower.  But as
she started to straighten, a wave of dizziness rushed over her and she steadied
her world by clutching the desk.
    Damn. 
What was going on?  She was never sick.  No appetite...tired...dizzy.  The flu?
    Or...
    Her
period was a week late.  Suddenly it all came together.  Panicked, she grabbed
for her purse.  She had to get to a drug store.
    And if
the pregnancy test was positive?
    She ran
down the hall and out of the house, too scared