Secrecy by Belva Plain Read Free Book Online Page B

any boy.”
    “Daddy! That’s the silliest thing I ever heard. You sound like Queen Victoria. Do you think that all a boy wants is sex? That you can’t be friends with a boy, for heaven’s sake?”
    “People can be too old for you,” Dad grumbled.
    “Ted’s not too old. And he’s really nice. You don’t even know him.”
    “Well, all the same, I don’t want …” He raised the newspaper so that his face was hidden.
    He doesn’t know what else to say, Charlotte thought. What he’s already said is stupid, and he knows it is.
    Around the paper’s edge Bill peered at Charlotte, thinking, Aging comes on so slowly that you don’t notice it. Two years ago she had her first bra and braces on her teeth. She and her friends went charging through the house like wild ponies. Now, with a book on her lap, her pink skirt smooth, and charm bracelet dangling, she has a woman’s posture.
    Yet she still had the face of a child, a face thatmade his heart ache. They were pulling her apart, he and Elena! At the most critical period of adolescence, when she most needed them, they were doing this to her. He worried so.… Elena didn’t see their child as he saw her. Elena, to begin with, didn’t feel with the intensity that was almost palpable in Charlotte. Elena, in that fragile-seeming body, had the toughness of one of those thin weeds that take all a man’s strength to uproot. Hardly a flattering comparison!
    Charlotte, not reading now, dreamed with eyes unfocused and a tiny smile. Most probably she was dreaming of the ultimate romance, the wine-and-roses thing. She was in a hurry to grow up. And he wanted to warn her:
Men don’t think like that, my dear. In spite of all the unisex talk these days, the boys are different, my dear, they really are. Believe me. Take care of yourself
.
    The flowery spring had finally come north of Boston to stay. Cliff’s house was on the fringe of town, almost in sight of farms and open country. With the two dogs at heel Charlotte and Ted walked out in the direction of the lake.
    Ted strode along with his hands in his pockets. Every now and then he picked up a small stone and hurled it ahead. When he leaned back to throw with his right arm, his left foot came up. She must be careful not to be caught watching him. It would be terribly embarrassing. He would think she was falling in love with him or something.
    Still, maybe she was. The thought was astonishing. Was it possible that such a thing could happenso fast? You read about it in junky novels—but they were just junky novels. Yet what about the classics?
Romeo and Juliet?
And surely there were dozens of others, although she couldn’t remember offhand which ones they were.
    A car approached and, passing, slowed enough for a girl to wave from the rear window. Addie! It was exactly what Charlotte had dreamed about and never expected to see. Addie would spread it all over the school:
Charlotte Dawes was out walking with Ted Marple on Sunday
.
    For a long time she had not been exhilarated or energetic, but now she broke into a run, so fast that the breeze lifted her hair from her shoulders.
    “Hey! Where you all going?” cried Ted, catching up.
    “I often run with the dogs. I almost feel as if Rob and Roy belong to me. I’ve grown up with them.”
    “Why don’t you have a dog of your own?”
    “I always wanted one.”
    “So why didn’t you have one? Don’t your folks always give you everything you want?”
    “Well, mostly yes, but my mother doesn’t like dogs in the house. They shed and throw up and make a mess, she thinks.”
    “She sounds like a crank. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Ted’s rueful smile asked her to forgive him. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
    She reassured him, saying quickly, “That’s all right. It’s partly true. Sometimes she is a nag.”
    “Are they really getting a divorce?”
    “I guess. Although it does seem as if they can’t even agree on that