The Friend by Mary Jane Clark Read Free Book Online Page A

absentmindedly reached
for her own face and stroked the acne glaze that covered her cheeks. She learned
that Piper lived in the neighboring town of Hillwood, New Jersey, and her
birthday was May 22. She was an actress and designed wedding cakes at the Icing
on the Cupcake bakery. Splendor wanted to know more, but Piper’s privacy
settings prevented that. To get further information, Splendor would have to be
accepted as Piper’s friend.
    She was tempted to add a message along with her
request for friendship. Something about how much she admired Piper and wished
she was like her. But Splendor decided against that. She had learned it was
better to keep her thoughts to herself.

    P iper
didn’t recognize the name. Someone called Splendor Wilkins was friending her on
Facebook.
    People she didn’t know frequently requested Piper’s
friendship. Sometimes the individuals were suggested by mutual friends.
Sometimes they were fans who had watched Piper during her all-too-short daytime
drama stint on A Little Rain Must Fall. Lately, she
had gotten requests from people who had admired one of her wedding cakes.
    Which was Splendor Wilkins?
    Piper clicked on the profile picture, instantly
enlarging it as Splendor’s own Facebook page came up on the screen. But Splendor
hadn’t chosen to share an image of herself. Instead, she’d posted a picture of a
pink teddy bear.
    There was none of the standard information about
where she lived, where she had gone to school or what she did for a living.
She’d only disclosed her birthday and that she was a female.
    Shrugging, Piper pressed the accept icon. Someone
who’d choose an image of a stuffed animal seemed harmless. Besides, Piper knew
enough never to put information on Facebook that she wasn’t all right with the
whole world knowing. There was no problem with adding somebody else she didn’t
recognize to her list of friends. Piper had nothing to hide.

    A s
soon as she awoke, Splendor checked Facebook and was delighted to see that Piper
Donovan had accepted her as a friend. She spent the next half hour clicking
around, fascinated, as she learned more about Piper’s life. Piper had posted
several pictures of a little white dog with floppy ears and a big brown patch
around his left eye. The captions underneath revealed his name was Emmett.
    Splendor smiled as she viewed a short video clip of
the dog in which he did a flip when enticed by a treat at the Icing on the
Cupcake bakery. It was a short, sweet commercial for the shop. She watched it
several more times.
    Emmett reminded her of the canine in My Dog Skip , a movie she’d seen over and over as a
kid. She’d identified with the isolated little boy in the story whose life
improved immensely when he got a dog. Suddenly, he had a loyal companion and
best friend. He wasn’t lonely anymore.
    Again and again, Splendor had begged her mother to
let her get a puppy of her own. Her mother refused. She said that she had enough
to do taking care of Splendor.
    There were many more photos. Piper with two smiling
middle-aged people who Splendor assumed were her parents. Several showed Piper
next to a handsome man with a blindingly white smile, a man who was clearly her
boyfriend. There was one of Piper holding a piping bag poised over a tiered
cake. Splendor’s favorite showed Piper wearing a gorgeous white evening dress
and a diamond bracelet, her hair coiffed to perfection. The caption under that
one read “Fairy tale moment on the set of A Little Rain
Must Fall .”
    Splendor ached to have Piper Donovan’s life.
    Shifting her gaze to the LIKES section, Splendor
recognized many of the local places and businesses that Piper acknowledged. The
Icing on the Cupcake bakery, Sunrise Salutation Yoga Studio, Pompilio’s
restaurant, Shaw’s Books, Hillwood Dog Park and The Best Little Hair House.
    Knowing that she was going to get her paycheck
later that day, Splendor picked up her phone and made an appointment to have her
hair done.

    “A