It's Not Like I Knew Her by Pat Spears Read Free Book Online

bragged that you’re his spitting image. All that fuzzy hair, and those big hands and feet. She claimed nobody with eyes to see would think otherwise.”
    â€œDoes that include his wife, you think?” Jodie leaped to her feet, the chair slamming hard onto the floor, and Aunt Pearl screamed for her to sit back down.
    Jodie stood on the opposite side of the bedroom door, inches from the sound of Aunt Pearl’s pleading, “I swear it’s only a visit. I don’t mean for you to be hurt.”
    Jodie kept still. How was putting her off on a man who refused to admit to being her father not supposed to hurt?
    T he day Red was to show, Jodie climbed the oak and sat silently while Aunt Pearl called up to her, insisting she come inside and get ready for his visit.
    Jodie Taylor had no intention of prettying herself for the likes of Red Dozier. Hadn’t it taken him three months to show up? It was clear he had no burning desire to take her off Aunt Pearl’s hands.
    It was afternoon before the big Dodge pulled into the yard. Red stood next to the car, raked a slow hand through his curly red hair, and settled his hat back onto his head. Jodie compared the curl of his hair to her own and stuffed her shaggy bangs beneath her baseball cap, pulling the bill lower.
    Red stepped onto the path and approached like a man marching to the hangman’s scaffold. He knocked, removed his hat, and squared his wide shoulders.
    Aunt Pearl opened the door, and he leaned toward her, an ass-kissing smile warming his way.
    â€œAfternoon, ma’am. You must be Miss Pearl. I’m Red Dozier. It’s a pleasure.”
    Then—damned if he didn’t have the smoothness of a Bible salesman—he even made a show of scraping his big shoes clean before entering the house. Jodie slid down the tree rope and hurried to the kitchen door. Inside, she crouched near the cupboard, out of sight and where she had a clear view of the parlor.
    Red sat upright and attentive. Aunt Pearl perched on the edge of the sofa across from him, her back ramrod straight. She poured tea from her best pitcher and he nodded politely, taking the sweating glass into his big hand. She poured a second glass for herself, and when she’d touched it to her lips, he drank deeply, declaring the tea to be the best he’d ever drunk.
    Jodie placed a hand over her mouth, smothering a snicker as her aunt tried to excuse her absence. He nodded, but anyone who knew her knew she wasn’t attending Saturday afternoon Bible drills. Aunt Pearl tearfully recounted the details of the deputy sheriff’s visit, omitting the fact that Jewel had died in the company of drunken men she’d earlier condemned as wild and horny. Surely she didn’t think Red was fooled. He only needed to look in the mirror.
    â€œI pray God’s forgiveness that my poor sister was buried at county expense.” She shed a few more tears.
    Red’s shoulders rounded. “I’m truly sorry. If I’d known .…” His last words trailed off, and Jodie wanted to know if he was lying about sparing Jewel the indignity.
    â€œShe left nothing behind, except for that poor child. She’s twelve now. Advanced for her age, and I might add quite cunning. Even a bit peculiar, I fear.”
    Red’s head tilted slightly, and Jodie wondered if he’d heard something in peculiar. Was it the warning Jewel had meant? Had Aunt Pearl known all along what she did when she was alone? Did that mean Red now knew? She drew her legs in tighter, folding her body into itself, an attempt at making herself smaller.
    Aunt Pearl laughed nervously. “How silly of me. Of course you’d know the child’s age.” She glanced down at her hands folded in her lap. Red shifted and his Adam’s apple danced in his throat.
    â€œPlease tell your fine Christian wife I tried putting her in Sunday school. But she kicked up such a fuss. I’m sorry to say, I gave