More Than Friends by Barbara Delinsky Read Free Book Online Page A

kids fed was a snap in her house. Whereas Teke would have put out a spread of fresh-squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs, and homemade waffles, breakfast at Annie's was simpler. She brewed coffee and drank a cup while the kids poured themselves juice, helped themselves to cereal, made toast, or, in the case of the girls, spooned up low-fat yogurt.
    Sam's case had made the front page. That occupied them for a time. When the papers were put aside and the silence went on, Annie knew they were thinking about Michael. She didn't push them to talk. It was enough that they knew she was there.
    They were on their way out the door when Sam came downstairs. He was wearing a gray pinstriped suit, blue shirt, and rep tie. It was one of his more conservative outfits and clearly went with his mood. He helped himself to coffee and drank it while he skimmed the paper.
    "Don't want anything to eat?" Annie asked.
    "Nah. My stomach's in knots." He put the empty cup in the sink. "I'll stop at the hospital on the way in. Want me to call you from there?" She nodded and raised her face for his kiss.
    Five minutes later she was in the shower. Thirty minutes after that she was diffused dry, lightly made up, and dressed for work. She called the hospital again, only to receive a repeat of the earlier report. She wished she could talk with Teke, but for that, Teke would have to call her. Annie was surprised that she hadn't. She usually did when she was upset.
    Sam called to say that Michael was the same, that J.D. had gone to the office, that Teke was tired but holding up.
    "I should be there," Annie said. "I think I'll cancel my classes. Teke should have someone with her."
    "No. Go to school. J.D. said he'd be back in an hour. I'll stay until then."
    "J.D. isn't good with illness. Teke needs someone to lean on." But Sam was insistent. "I asked her. She said you should go to class. She'll feel worse if you're here."
    "Worse?"
    "Guilty taking you away from school. Wait, Annie. Come in after class. Maybe there'll be some improvement by then." Annie prayed it would be so. She didn't need a medical degree to know that the longer Michael remained unconscious, the more ominous it was. Heavy of heart, she packed her briefcase with the papers she had abandoned the afternoon before and was in the process of ferreting her car keys from the kitchen basket when there was a knock at the back door.
    It was Virginia Clinger. She was dressed in a lavender warm-up suit, had her blond hair arranged with artful negligence around a lavender sweatband, wore lavender shadow above perfectly applied liner over neatly mascaraed eyes, and reeked of Obsession.
    Annie Pope wasn't the catty sort. She believed that the beauty of life lay in diversity, which was why she welcomed exposure to, and appreciated the strengths of, a wide variety of people. There were very few whom she disliked.
    Virginia was one of those few. She was thrice divorced and had three difficult children--which would have evoked Annie's sympathy if Virginia had been at all devoted to those children, but she wasn't. Her major goal in life was self-beautification. She was sculpted in a way that Annie called "Styrofoam chic." Moreover she was a gossip and a busybody.
    Annie produced a polite smile. "Hi, Virginia. I was just getting ready to leave."
    "There's no answer at the Maxwells'," Virginia said without apology.
    "Are they all at the hospital?"
    "Teke and J.D. are. The girls will be there later."
    "How is Michael?"
    "The same."
    Virginia clicked her tongue. "Such a tragedy."
    "Not yet." Annie hurried to ward off a flurry of negative talk. "With a little luck, he'll wake up and be just fine." She returned to the table for her briefcase.
    Virginia stepped into the kitchen. She tipped her head in a pretty little pose of curiosity that Annie suspected was well practiced. "What happened, do you think?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "What made him run into the street that way?"
    "He was in a rush to get back to school. The