Promise Me Anthology by Tara Fox Hall Read Free Book Online

“I’ve
been waiting for you to call me for months now. I hoped every day
to get a letter, a postcard even to tell me that you still cared
about me. I was about to mail back the ring.”
    “Your parents wouldn’t let me talk to you,”
Theo retorted. “My letters all came back.”
    “I thought you might say that,” Casey said,
sounding tired suddenly. “My father acted guilty every time I asked
him if you’d called. My mother was the same way when I asked about
the mail. But I made sure to get the mail most every day. I
believed them. I can’t believe they lied to me.”
    “I understand my parents, but why yours?”
Theo asked. “I thought they liked me?”
    “My brother Carey is still recovering. His
back was badly hurt, and he’s having to learn to walk again. I’ve
spent most of the summer at his bedside, encouraging him to keep
trying, even when it hurt.” She paused. “Carey was covering for me
that night he was hurt, so I could be with you that last night we
had together. He was in that car crash because of me.”
    “I’m sorry,” Theo said, abashed. “Please tell
Carey I never wanted anything like this to happen to him.”
    “It’s not your fault. My brother doesn’t
blame you and neither do I,” Casey said vociferously. “Come see me
as soon as you can. I’m leaving for school next week.”
    “I’ll be there,” Theo said passionately. “Our
usual place?”
    “Yes,” Casey said eagerly. “I’ll be there
where you first saw me, wearing your ring.” She paused. “I love
you, Theo.”
    He would wait to tell her about the
engagement party. He wanted to see the look on her face. “I love
you,” Theo said tenderly. “I’ll see you in two weeks.”
    * * * *
    The trip to the Adirondacks was gorgeous.
That first week was heaven to Theo, not just for the scenery, but
for the extravagant lake house his father had rented.
    They fished, went canoeing and then midweek
went for an overnight camp out near Tupper Lake. That night, as
they sat around the campfire, Theo and his parents discussed not
only probable careers for him, but also the upcoming engagement
party, which his mother was already in the midst of arranging.
Dubious that Casey would want such an elaborate or formal party,
Theo almost spoke up a couple of times to tell his mother that she
should consult Casey before going farther with her plans. But she
was so happy he put it off, reminding himself with a secretive
smile that Casey had never had a problem speaking her mind.
    That night, as Theo lay listening to the
crickets, he again felt at peace. This was going to work out. Maybe
he wouldn’t be able to use his hands to create sculptures, but he
could still use them to make art. Maybe it wasn’t everything he had
hoped for, but his father was right; he couldn’t live in dreams. He
had to think of Casey.
    There was a noise in the tree line, a
rustling too big to be a rabbit or a raccoon.
    Theo sat up, then waited, listening and
watching.
    The rustling came again, closer this time,
then a long throaty snort.
    Was it a bear? They’d hung their food over
there in the tree.
    Theo shook his father to his left. “Wake up,”
he whispered urgently. “There’s a bear.”
    His father woke, registered the words in a
split second, then reached for his shotgun. His mother slept on
behind them in her sleeping bag, oblivious.
    Silence stretched, as Theo and his father
waited.
    A roaring erupted, a lanky shadow throwing
itself at the hanging food. With a snapping sound the branch broke,
the food cache falling to the ground.
    “That’s no bear,” Theo’s father said in
disbelief. “That’s a cougar.”
    “There can’t be,” Theo protested. “There
haven’t been cougars here in a hundred years.”
    “Tell that to him.”
    The cougar roared again. Theo’s mother awoke
with a scream. Immediately, Theo and his father turned to comfort
her. As they did, a long-limbed shadow burst from the treeline,
heading straight for them. It was a