OUT ON A LIMB by Joan Hess Read Free Book Online

why you’re calling, Ms. Malloy. It’s just that Randy’s not home yet. He should have been here half an hour ago. I don’t like to be here by myself at night.”
    “But”—I racked my mind for a moment—”Connor’s there with you, isn’t he?”
    “He’s been in bed since seven o’clock. Cars are still coming and going in the parking lot, and there’s been shouting. It sounds like a movie company is filming a mob scene. Connor was so agitated that I had to put his crib in the back room so he could get to sleep. I’m afraid to go into the living room. What if these people are armed? What if they decide to burn down our building in protest? I still have nightmares about the fire last year. The three of us could have died from smoke inhalation.”
    “Isn’t there someone in the complex who can stay with you until Randy gets home?”
    “Not really.”
    And on that note, she hung up.

C HAPTER T HREE
    I didn’t have much hope that Jillian would remind Randy to call me, since we hadn’t exactly hit it off like, well, peanut butter and rye. If I called again, she might very well report me to the police for harassment. Peter would not find it endearing.
    I was going to have to come up with an explanation for his abrupt ejection earlier. The truth did not seem prudent. Although I was convinced that I wasn’t violating any laws, I didn’t want to press my luck and end up having to hire a lawyer. Their meters never stop running.
    At ten o’clock, I turned on the local news to find out if Jessica had a late-breaking story. After the mundane car wrecks and liquor store holdups, we were once again treated to a view of her unflagging radiance.
    “This is Jessica Princeton, live”—it was hard to imagine her saying otherwise— “from the site of the confrontation between environmentalists and those who support property development as a sign of a healthy local economy,” she said. “As you can see, most people have left. One member of the Farberville Green Party is seated on a camp stool beneath the tree, but has said he will beleaving shortly to prepare to go to court in the morning in hopes of winning an emergency injunction. Retired schoolteacher Emily Parchester remains on the platform, where she has vowed to stay as long as bulldozers threaten the trees. Despite KFAR’s repeated requests, she has refused to make any further statements.”
    She almost frowned when she was handed a piece of paper, but only a single nerve twitched her eyelid as she read from the note.‘This just in: Tomorrow at noon, Anthony Arm-strong will hold a press conference on the steps of the courthouse. Please join us then so we can hear his side of the dispute. This is Jessica Princeton for KFAR.”
    An irate cry from my bedroom ended my quest for news. I stopped in the bathroom to fetch a washcloth, then brought Skyler back to the couch and changed his diaper. I did so with amazing adeptness, considering I hadn’t practiced in fourteen years. This did not quite seem to satisfy his demands. Cradling him in one arm, I heated a bottle of formula and returned to the living room, wishing I had a rocking chair—wishing, too, if for only a moment, that he was mine and we could spend the summer at the park marveling at the butterflies.
    Eventually, Skyler went to sleep, and shortly thereafter, so did I.
    Caron staggered into the kitchen the following morning. “I hardly got any sleep last night,” she said as she rooted through the refrigerator. “I do have a test today, you know.”
    “Small babies need nourishment every few hours,” I said, waiting for coffee to trickle into the pot.
    “That is so fascinating. Why is the bread blue?”
    “It was depressed when I bought it. However, you’ll be delighted to know that I’m going to drive you to school after we make a quick stop at the grocery store. Do we need milk?”
    Caron stuck a bagel in the toaster. “You never drive me to school unless it’s raining.”
    “I don’t