Stef Ann Holm by Lucy gets Her Life Back Read Free Book Online Page A

position and as secure as she could wedge it for now. She’d have to tell Bud about it, or maybe get out her tools and try and fix it herself, since he already knew about it, and the deal was she was getting this place “as is.”

    “What’d you do, you idiot?” Jason barked at his brother.

    “Nuttin’! I just leaned on it looking for my skateboard.”

    “It’s in our crap for a room.”

    “Jason, that’s no way to talk,” Lucy exclaimed, reprimanding him.

    Jason’s hair fell past his T-shirt collar. He glanced at her before stuffing his hands into his pockets, but didn’t apologize.

    “Excuse me?” she said, waiting.

    “Sorry,” he mumbled. Then, as if the hostility of the world were on his shoulders, he blurted in a snappish tone, “But Matt was being a butthead to lean on the porch. This stink-hole place sucks the big one. I hate it here.”

    Inhaling, Lucy counted to three. She knew if she spoke the first thoughts that came to mind, she’d regret it.

    A moment later, and calmer now, she said, “Jason, I’m sorry you don’t like that we moved, but it was for the best, and I’m sure once we get settled in and you meet some friends, you’ll enjoy the change of pace.”

    “No, I won’t. We don’t even have an Internet connection.”

    That was true. The house was wired with an old, three-prong telephone system. Corded phones were anchored in the kitchen, master bedroom and even the bathroom. They weren’t connected. Thank goodness for cell phones. Maybe she’d have to get one for Jason. She’d been meaning to do so in Boise, but then he’d crashed his pickup. The insurance settlement should be in the mail soon, but it wasn’t much, since the truck had been a beater. At least she’d be able to replace the truck with something else, and he could drive Matt to school in the fall when she was working. But she was reluctant to get him a cell phone because that only meant he could tell her he was one place when he was at another. She’d have to have a land-line rule. He’d have to call from the place he was at when he checked in with her.

    “Well, maybe I can see about having the house updated so we can hook up the computer.” She knew that was unlikely, but she wasn’t in the mood to get into it with her son.

    It had been a long day. She was exhausted. The last thing she needed was to end her night with a confrontation.

    But Jason knew just how to push her buttons sometimes, and he didn’t let up.

    “No, you won’t. You’re just saying that so I’ll get off your back.” He picked up a rock in the yard—if you could call the span of gravel and rickety carport a yard—and threw it into the bushes. “You never follow through except when it’s to your advantage.”

    Gritting her teeth, Lucy stood there. When he was little, she would have given him a spanking. Tears burned the backs of her eyelids. When he was little, he would never have talked to her this way. Her sweet baby boy had changed when he hit puberty, and he’d gotten worse, so much worse, after Gary left.

    Damn Gary. Damn him to hell and back for doing this to them, to their sons. The man was an insensitive jerk, a loser with a bimbo for a girlfriend. He never saw his kids, never took them for pizza, or a sleepover, or any of the things a father should do.

    Lucy knew if she stayed here, she’d lose it. She’d snap at her son and things would only get worse. Rather than say another word, she marched into the house, grabbed her purse and keys and went back outside.

    Jason’s attitude put her in a mood that made her fight to stay sane. He was just so angry at the world and he wore her thin at times.

    Matthew followed after her. “Where ya going, Mom?”

    “To the grocery. I’m all out of cleanser.”

    “I wanna come, too.”

    She opened the car door, realizing she’d forgotten her coat and it was cold outside. Not taking the time to go back in and get it, she slid onto the seat. “No, you have to