Operation: Normal by Linda V. Palmer Read Free Book Online

the way. That explains it."
    "It explains how they met," I agreed. "It doesn't explain why she had sex with him. I
know that you don't know my mom, so have probably assumed the worst about her, but she's
really not the type of woman who'd sleep with a married man."
    "What if he forgot to mention that?"
    I blinked.
    "Or what if he told her he was separated or divorced?"
    "Would he lie to her?"
    "Oh, yeah."
    And I thought I had dad issues. I'd never felt so bad for a guy--and I don't mean Seth,
here--in my whole life. I couldn't even imagine what it cost Zach in pride to come here and tell
me this stuff.
    "I'm really sorry," I blurted again. "For everything. I don't know what I was thinking
barging into your life like that. The last thing I wanted to do was make anyone unhappy. May I
have overs? I mean, can we just forget this ever happened? I promise I'll never try to contact
your dad, which means your mother and mine will never have to know."
    Zach's jaw dropped. "But what about us?"
    Us ? I swear my heart skipped a beat, then jumped into overdrive. Could he tell
I'd flipped for him? Or had he, perhaps, sensed our special psychic link? I hadn't called him, so
didn't know if it was a two-way deal.
    "I have a sister, Ally. I...have...a...sister. How can I just forget about that?"
    Oh. He meant Kayly. Now my heart sank, but only for a second, before it sort of
swelled. At least, that's what it felt like. I didn't know when I'd been so touched. My eyes
instantly brimmed, embarrassing the heck out of me.
    But Zach, now looking at Kayly, didn't seem to notice.
    "Excuse me a sec," I murmured, and loped down the hall to my room. I ducked inside
and burst into tears. God, what a mess! And it was all my own stupid fault. I grabbed a pillow off
the bed to muffle my sobs and began crying so hard that I could barely catch my breath.
    "Ally?" Zach called from the living area.
    Gulp. I lowered the pillow, fanning my burning face with my hand and clearing
my throat so I could answer.
    "Where are the diapers? Kayly's wet."
    I cleared my throat again and called out, rather hoarsely, "Down the hall, first door on
your right, next to the crib." Then I scooted across that same hall to the main bathroom to wash
my face. One look in the mirror made me wince. No way was I going to be able to hide my
reaction from Zach.
    "Damn." I wet a washcloth and scrubbed hard. I reapplied my mascara--light eyelashes
are so not cool--and patted a little foundation on my skin, hoping that would smooth out the red
splotches. It didn't. Knowing I couldn't hide in the bathroom forever, I abruptly gave up and
walked to Mom's bedroom. I found Zach finishing up his task. "Nice job. Do this often?"
    He looked up, grinning. "Only occasionally. I have two baby cous--" His grin vanished.
"What's wrong?"
    Of course I choked up again, so all I could do was shake my head, turn on my heel and
walk back to the living area to plop down in the rocker. Zach followed, sitting on the couch and
balancing Kayly on his knee.
    "Talk to me, Ally. Would you rather I stayed out of your lives? Is that it?"
    I quickly shook my head.
    "Then what?"
    So I tried to answer, barely holding back tears while I explained that his wanting to have
a relationship with his little sister was just the sweetest thing ever. And once I got started talking,
I couldn't seem to stop. Luckily my eyes got dryer and, my voice, stronger as I confessed my
desire to give Kayly a normal life. I even asked if he wanted to hear my list of things that had to
happen to accomplish that.
    He actually did.
    I cleared my throat and began. "Item one: Mom has to find permanent work locally. No
more road trips."
    "Is that where she is now? Working?"
    I nodded.
    "And you have someone staying with you?" He looked around as if he expected an adult
to suddenly appear.
    "We had a nanny until a few hours ago, when I fired her." I told him everything that had
happened... Well, almost everything. "Do you think I did the right