The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle Read Free Book Online Page A

. . .
    “Miss?”
    I jerk my head up. A large, sweaty, egg-shaped man is lumbering toward me with two dogs, and . . .
    “Frodo! You found him!”
    Frodo jumps on me and slobbers on my already wet face.
    “Yeah, he stopped to make friends with my dog, dragging his leash. I figured he belonged to somebody here so I started walking him back through, figuring I’d find his owner soon enough. Soon as he saw you he started pulling for all he’s worth.”
    I finally get Frodo to settle down enough so that I can take the leash.
    “My name is Ed,” he says. “This here is Lucky.”
    Some kind of small terrier with a loop-de-loop tail is panting at his side.
    “I know I’m lucky you found him,” I say, shuddering now with relief.
    “Are you all right?” Ed asks. “You don’t look so good.”
    I’m sure I don’t, at that. “I’m not feeling so well. I shouldn’t have tried to walk him right now.”
    “Want me to walk him for you? I’ll bring him back when I’m done. Just give me your apartment number.”
    “Well, that’s nice, but he’s already done his business. I’ll just head back now.”
    “How about I walk with you? You seem a little shaky on your feet, and if he sees another bird or something, he’ll knock you right flat.”
    I just want to get home and back in bed and pretend none of this happened, but the quickest way with least drama will be to let this Ed walk my dog home, so Frodo doesn’t yank me into traffic or something.
    “Okay, thanks. That’s nice of you.”
    I respond to Ed’s questions with the barest of answers. I’m Amy, I tell him, graduated from Haven High, class of ’90; yes, I was in National Honor Society and the band. Ed was in the band, too, though he was a freshman when I was a senior. I don’t remember him at all, and I can usually remember the other fat kids in school. Not that we were all friends in some kind of obese fraternity. I just recognized the familiar bubble of empty space surrounding them at lunch and in the halls.
    If he remembers what I used to be, he doesn’t mention it.
    “See you around,” he says when I finally get back to my apartment.
    Inside, I lean against the door and sink straight down, sipping breaths of cool air until I feel like I can move again.

Chapter 10
    Cami
    I tell the customer, “$19.88, please.”
    “Don’t you need to ring that up?” she asks, hitching her baby up higher on her hip as she tosses a twenty on the counter.
    “Can’t. The drawer is stuck.”
    “Huh.” She stares hard at her twelve cents in change before shoving the coins in her pocket and scooping up her shopping bag of baby formula and Kleenex.
    “Have a nice day, now,” I call after her, whacking the register again with my fist.
    Anna comes down the stairs, talking on her cell phone in her lawyer voice. “I can do it Monday,” she’s saying, “first thing . . . No, it’ll be fine. I’ll get in Sunday. It’s no problem . . . I’m staying with Shelby. Right. See you then.”
    She clicks off and nods in my direction. She’s wearing trousers and a blouse and her hair is blown out straight, and just peeking out through her hair I can see a pen she’s left behind her ear. You’d never know she was just getting ready to straighten the canned goods.
    “Back to work next week?” I ask her.
    “Yes,” she says, and crouches down in front of the cling peaches.
    “Are you feeling okay, then?”
    Anna cuts her eyes over to me. “What do you mean?”
    “Your mom mentioned you lost your friend. I was sorry to hear that.”
    “I’m fine. I was fine before, too. I wish people would give me the courtesy of accepting when I say I’m fine.”
    “Okay, I believe you. I’ve never known anyone finer. You are the Duchess of Fine.”
    She puffs a piece of hair out of her eyes and continues shoving cans around, facing them out, making all the labels even. “Is my mom upstairs?” she asks.
    “Yes, she said her head hurts, so I sent her up to