No Ordinary Love by Elaine Allen Read Free Book Online Page B

a neighborhood talent show.
    The fact that she hadn’t chosen to confide in her mother about this pregnancy had caused a rift between the two. Catima had been there for her, but Catrina couldn’t mistake the look in her mother’s eyes for anything more or less than disappointment. And beneath the disappointment there had been the hurt that her mother had been unable to disguise.
    “She’s worried about you.”
    The tears began to well again. This had been the only thing she’d ever been mute about and to think that her actions not only hurt herself but her parents as well was added stress. Catrina shook her head. “And she’s hurt that I didn’t go to her. She asked if there was anything wrong for like a week, and I kept telling her no. Then when I found out that Dave was cheating, I didn’t tell her anything. She asked why I wasn’t talking to him and where he’d been, and I -I lied.” Catrina shrugged. “I guess that’s all done with now.”
    Casey sat beside her on the bed. “Awww, Trina, I’m so sorry that all this happened to you,” she mumbled wrapping her arms around her friend.
    “Thanks,” Catrina mumbled back, drawing from her friend’s strength. She closed her eyes and vowed only to allow herself this one weak moment. And that once it was over, she’d be done with David for good. “I loved him so much,” she cried, tightening her grip on Casey’s shoulders.
    “I know. He thought you had an asthma attack. Your mom and dad wouldn’t tell him where you were when you were at your grandma’s. He was going crazy and is mad as shit that none of us would tell him what was going on.”
    She’d made the decision to not tell him about the baby. “So, he still doesn’t know?” she asked. Just because she wanted it that way she really didn’t expect for it to go that way, but since it was…. No need to fix it if it’s not broken, she figured.
    Having been against keeping the entire baby thing a secret, Casey shook her head and said, “No, he doesn’t know, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still tell him.”
They’d been over this before, and Catrina was set on not telling him and cutting him out of her life. Casey saw that as her being stubborn. Telling him didn’t mean that they had to get back together. She wasn’t so naïve as to think that.
    “Why? This will never be real to him. The baby was never real to him. It’s not like I aborted it and decided not to tell him.”
    “I’on think that you’ll be able to keep this a secret for long, Trina.”
    Catrina frowned as she thought up something cold and calculating to say to make this official. “As far as I’m concerned, when I stop bleeding, this entire mess will be over.”
    Casey doubted that and didn’t hesitate to say so. “If that’s what you believe.”
    She ignored her. “I’m not talking to him anymore.”
    I believe that one. Casey laughed because she knew that Catrina was serious. “You don’t have to be that drastic.”
    Catrina shot her a look. “That is not drastic. I wanna be through with this and him.”
    Tonight she would go out, check the neighborhood to see who was having a dollar party, and enjoy herself like there was nothing on her mind. She couldn’t have everybody talking about her like she didn’t exist. There’d been entirely too much talk about David having broken up with her and in turn, made her hide out. There were things to prove. That’s what she set out to do. And if she just happened to see David, then she would just happen to ignore him.

PART TWO
    Letting Go of Yesterday
    Saw it all as if it were part of a dream
    Except then I remembered I lived through it
    So what does that mean
    I’m strong, I survived
    And yes, I’m still living
    But damn, I look back
    And all I can do is remember
    They say to forget it and just let it go
    But that gets me confused
    ‘Cause the past is all I know
    Catrina Price 2001

Chapter Four
    Big Girls Now
    May 2001
    Casey
    Lazy mornings were what