Still the One by Robin Wells Read Free Book Online Page B

had been weird—beyond weird. Gracie had been unprepared for how much they looked alike. Looking at Katie had kinda
     been like looking at an older version of herself. They had the same widow’s peak and small chin, the same tipped-up nose,
     the same wide mouth.
    The thought made her lips press together hard. Yeah, well, she couldn’t help it if she looked like her B.M., but she damn
     sure wasn’t going to be anything like her otherwise. Gracie would never make the choices Katie had made. She’d never willingly
     live in a podunk town, she’d never have a lame-ass career like running a beauty salon, and, most important, she’d never give
     away a baby like old clothes to the Salvation Army. Gracie was more like her real mother—the mother who had chosen her and
     wanted her and loved her and cared for her.
    Tears stung the insides of her eyelids as the image of her mother’s face, round and smiling, filled her mind. Her father’s
     face floated into the picture beside her, his dark eyes twinkling like they used to when he teased her. Why hadn’t she told
     Mom and Dad how much they meant to her when she’d had the chance? That was the thing about death—there were no more second
     chances. It was final, permanent, forever. Whatever she’d said or hadn’t said, done or hadn’t done, that was the way things
     were from now on.
    Come to think of it, that was how life pretty much worked, too. No taking things back once they were done. Like having this
     baby.
    Gracie blinked back her tears and realized the man behind the bookstore counter was watching her. She drew her purse protectively
     over her stomach and ducked down another aisle. Ever since she’d started showing, people stared at her. Some of them got all
     prune-faced, as if they had a right to judge her. Some acted as if her big belly were public property and reached out to touch
     it. Just about everyone seemed to think it entitled them to ask personal questions like,
When is the baby due?
and
How old are you?
    Her purse did a pretty good job of hiding things. She didn’t have much stuff in it—just some orange Tic Tacs, a black eyeliner
     pencil, a tube of ChapStick, and a grand total of about ten dollars, tops, counting the change. The value of the bag was purely
     sentimental.
    Her mother—her
real
mother—had macraméd the bag for her.
    Gracie felt the old familiar lump rise in her throat, the lump that had lurked there in varying sizes ever since she’d been
     called to the principal’s office, where a police officer, her mom’s best friend, and the school counselor had dropped the
     bomb.
    The lump was getting big now, big enough to clog her throat, big and hot and coated with guilt.
    “Are you looking for anything in particular?” the man called out.
    She swallowed down the lump so she could speak. “Do you have any comic books?”
    “No, but we have some of those graphic novels. They’re all the way in the back on the right, at the end of the aisle.”
    Gracie headed that direction and found a selection of books with manga covers. She picked up one showing a big-eyed girl in
     a short skirt kicking serious ass with high-heeled, thigh-high boots. She’d just started reading it when the front door creaked
     open. Gracie peered around the corner and saw Katie and Zack walk in. Her stomach tightened, and she ducked back where she
     could watch them without being seen herself.
    The older man beamed at Katie, gave her a warm hug, and kissed her cheek. “Hi there, sweetie! Great to see you.”
    Katie hugged him back. “You, too, Dave.”
    A moment of silence beat between them as the man looked at Zack, apparently expecting an introduction. “Dave, this is Zack
     Ferguson. Zack, this is my father-in-law, Dave Charmaine.”
    Father-in-law? Oh, this must be the dad of that dude she’d married—the Marine who’d died in Iraq. She’d read about it on Google.
     Gracie watched Zack and the older man shake hands, while Katie stood