The Right Time by Susan X Meagher Read Free Book Online Page A

sat in on the first session of a drawing class, but realized I couldn’t keep up with the fourteen-year-olds. I thought I’d better quit while I was ahead.”
    “What do you do all day, anyway? Besides harass me.”
    Townsend’s comment was a little harsh but this time she was teasing. The sly grin underscored that. “I can sit in on classes or work on my own stuff. It’s a pretty cush job, if I’m gonna be honest.”
    “I was kidding when I said your main job was harassing me.” Their eyes met and Hennessy saw sparks of life in her gaze, as if she wanted someone to talk to, someone to look her in the eye and listen. When Townsend took a swig off her liter water bottle, Hennessy got a hint of a scent. The one she’d come to find. Did Townsend honestly need to drink to feel like a normal kid? To be someone who could have a casual chat?
    Reaching out, Hennessy grasped the bottle when it hit the nightstand. “I just went on a long walk and I’m parched. Can I have a sip?”
    “No!” Her hand flew out, but Hennessy already had it in her grasp. “Don’t do that. Really. I…think I’m coming down with a cold. I’ll get you a fresh bottle from the refrigerator.”
    “I have a very good immune system. I’ll risk it.” She lifted the bottle to her lips and let a few drops trickle in. Making a face, she handed the bottle back. “Really, Townsend? Not even a mixer?”
    The open expression slammed shut. How did someone’s eyes go dead in a heartbeat? “Pack now or can I wait until morning?”
    “That depends. Since you’d have to walk to wherever it is you think you’re going, you might want to travel light.”
    The girl had a fuse about as long as a gnat’s whisker. Her cheeks flushed immediately, eyes sparking in outrage. She sat all the way up, almost touching Hennessy’s face with her own. “Come on! You have to kick me out. I broke into the camp director’s office.” She all but begged to leave. But some tiny bit of her didn’t want to go. Hennessy had gotten good at reading people, and for all her bluster, this kid was ambivalent about taking off. Maybe she knew she’d be returning to an actual babysitter.
    “Uh-huh, you sure did. You should have seen her face when she mixed herself a nice big water and tomato juice.” Hennessy tried hard to make the smile on her face appear gentle and warm.
    But Townsend wasn’t having any of it. Hennessy couldn’t read her well yet, but her expression seemed to waver between her usual defiance and suspicion. Like she was used to being toyed with. “Is my birth mother paying extra to keep me here? What in the fuck is going on?”
    “We agreed to teach you a few things this summer, and we fully intend to do that. You’ll be going home—in August, with everyone else.”
    Now Townsend started to heat up. There was every chance she was going to lash out. Maybe even physically. That little bit of ambivalence was long gone. “Why are you torturing me? I don’t want to be here!”
    Just to reduce the chance of Townsend giving her a good lick, Hennessy stood, then looked down at her. It wasn’t possible to stay calm, but Hennessy tried hard to let the compassion she felt for the kid come through in her voice. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem like the kind of girl who doesn’t want to be anywhere. That’s why you remind me a little bit of my mom.”
    Townsend collapsed back onto her bed. It was amazing how quickly she could go from rage to an almost inert state. Like her anger was very wide, but not deep. “Lucky you.”
    “I wish I meant that as a compliment.”
    A sharp gaze almost burned Hennessy. The girl could skin a cat with that look. “I truly hate to see someone your age who’s so unhappy. At least my mom’s thirty-two.”
    A frown flitted by when she forgot she wasn’t supposed to engage. “You mean forty-two.”
    “Nope. My mother’s thirty-two. Just past her fifteenth birthday when she gave birth to me.”
    “Fuck,” Townsend