The Gingerbread Boy by Lori Lapekes Read Free Book Online

was honestly worried about Catherine. “Yup,” Joanne added, folding her arms and walking around Catherine as if inspecting a used car, “He turned around and walked away real fast. So, I suppose I scared another man off. Must have been my wide world of sports that attracted him in the first place.”
    “That was probably it,” Catherine said, smiling to herself slightly while scraping back a chair to slide into. Joanne loved to refer to her derriere as her “wide world of sports” the apparent name of an old television show her mother used to watch. Although the saying was a joke about the size and “accessibility” of her rear, Joanne was one of the least “loose” women Catherine had ever known.
    Joanne leaned over her friend, scrunching heavy eyebrows together and whispered, “Aside from your first horse-dissection class, which I don’t even want to hear one word about, are you feeling all right?”
    Catherine put her hands in her face. “I’m okay. I just can’t stand feeling like I’m waiting on eggshells for some guy to find me. I’ll probably never see Daniel again, and that’s fine. I just want to know why he didn’t come back, that’s all.”
    “Baloney.” said Joanne, folding her arms. “Something happened to you up in that old ballroom. You aren’t the same. I don’t know what it was, but I wish it’d happen to me. Sounds like it was magical. Even if you are a miserable wreck now because of it.”
    Catherine said nothing, but the look in her eyes told Joanne what she’d said was true.
    “He would have shown up again if Beth was the one he bumped into that night,” Joanne added with a snort, “He wouldn’t have dared not to, or she’d send some of her rich daddy’s thugs after him. But girls like you still have a good chance.” She sighed, putting her hands on her hips, adding, “Then, there are fat girls like me. We have to grab whatever we can and reel them in.”
    “You’re not fat,” Catherine scolded, “Quit saying you are.”
    “Well, maybe it’s just my wide world of sports, then,” Joanne giggled, “But I think it’s fat.”
    “It’s not fat. Quit downgrading yourself. You are a wonderful person and will make a superb elementary teacher one day.”
    “That’s because I act like I’m eight,” Joanne shrugged. “But hey, go take your bath. You reek.”
    “Thanks.”
    “You take a bath twice a day when you’re upset, anyway. You may as well take one when you really need it.”
    “You’re right. I feel like filth.”
    “I bought some new lavender bath soap, want to try some?”
    “Could I use a gallon?”
    “No problem.”
    With that, Catherine managed a weak smile and rose slowly to her feet, then trudged out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
    Joanne watched after her friend in concern. She didn’t like the circles forming under Catherine’s eyes, or the unusually tight set to her face. Drat that guy, Daniel, or Mowgli, or whoever he was! If Catherine was too timid to put this to rest once and for all, Joanne would. She was anything but timid, not intimidated by anyone. She’d go to that stupid rooming house and have a brief chat with this smart-alecky “Joey” person Catherine had mentioned. She’d give him a few choice words to repeat to his friend, Daniel, for both her sake as well as Catherine’s.
    Besides, Catherine said Joey was kind of cute, albeit in a dopey sort of way, and she wanted to see him for herself.
    ****
    “Get up here, woman! I’m hungry,” the gravelly voice bellowed.
    Hazel VanHoofstryver lifted her chin, clutched the tray with a firmer grip, and slowly ascended the stairway. Her pointed shoes clicked on each step.
    “Hurry up! I can’t wait all day. Get that skinny little butt moving!”
    Hazel cringed, but she couldn’t let Eugene sense her fear. He’d use it against her.
    At the top of the stairs, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing for the confrontation. A confrontation that had taken place at