Once and Again by Elisabeth Barrett Read Free Book Online Page B

privileged life she’d once had. Instead of a mansion in Darien, now Jane lived in a tiny, messy Eastbridge apartment, and honestly, she wasn’t doing that well. Dan paid alimony, sure, but always late and never enough. She’d tried to get the courts to sort it out, but everything moved so slowly, and in the meantime, she had trouble making ends meet. She worked all the time, yet she barely had enough money to cover the basics, and she didn’t get to spend as much time with Andy as she wanted.
    But there was no way in hell she would ever go back to Dan.
    Just then, Andy burst through the door frame. “Grandma!” he exclaimed, running up and throwing his arms around her. Jane couldn’t help but smile as her son and her mother embraced. Moments like these made all the pain worthwhile.
    “Good morning, sugar,” Mary said, putting down her paper. “Did you sleep well?”
    “Yes!” Andy pulled back and kissed her on the cheek, then flung himself into a seat at the narrow kitchen table. “Mom, can I have some cereal, please?”
    “Sure,” Jane said, and went to pour him a bowl of his favorite flakes.
    “Grandma, Mom says we can go to the bakery after school,” he said, his voice brimming with excitement.
    “Wonderful,” Mary said, sounding enthusiastic. She had to hand it to her mother. When Andy’s happiness was at stake, Mary always stepped up. “We can go to the library tomorrow, instead. By the way, do you have your wild animal project for school?”
    Andy nodded. “It’s already in my backpack. That tiger you helped me draw is so cool!”
    While Andy chattered away at her mom, Jane leaned on the counter and sipped her coffee. She was glad to be able to witness this, and it wouldn’t have been possible but for Evelyn, who’d allowed her to come in late while her mom was in town. She’d deliberately scheduled one of those days for today, given that the last few nights she’d been up long after Andy had gone to bed, finishing up a special-order cake for Susumo at Briarwood. Those special orders—wedding cakes, especially—could command thousands of dollars, and even though she had to burn the candles at both ends to make it work, the extra money was sure worth it. Today’s order was for a surprise fortieth birthday party. The birthday girl was an avid gardener, and Jane had really outdone herself preparing a dozen different types of sugar flowers for the top of the cake.
    “What are you going to get up to today, Mom?” she asked when there was a lull in the conversation.
    “Oh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
    That vagueness meant Mary was likely lining up yet another project around the apartment.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to head down to the Green?” Jane asked, hoping her mom would take her suggestion. “The spring lunchtime concert series just started. I think today they’re having a jazz band play.”
    “Lunchtime is
ages
away,” Mary said. “And there’ll be plenty of time to walk downtown when Andrew and I join you later.” She smiled at Andy, who swallowed a mouthful of cereal and grinned back.
    Jane chugged the rest of her coffee. “Come on, honey,” she said to Andy. “I have to get you to school.”
    “I can walk him,” her mom said.
    “Would you like that, Andy?” Jane asked.
    “That’d be awesome!”
    “All right, then,” Jane said, pushing back a little twinge of jealousy.
Where did that come from?
She got to see Andy every day. Her mom got to see him twice a year, if she was lucky. “You guys each have a spare set of keys, so I’m just going to dash.” She kissed Andy on top of the head. “Have a great day, and I’ll see you after school.”
    Jane skipped down the back stairs and ended up in the back parking lot, right next to Mountain Laurel’s back door. Best commute ever. It was how she was able to work at all. She’d slip down at four thirty, knowing that if there were any kind of emergency, she and Andy could get to each other in