The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer Read Free Book Online Page A

wouldn’t see that either.
    “Come on,” she said, and pulled my arm. I put my parka on and slipped my glasses into the pocket.
    Ashley must have seen me do that because she said, “Don’t wear them under any circumstances.”
    I followed her down the stairs. “Shouldn’t he fall in love with me with my glasses on, since I can’t live without them?”
    “Trust me,” she hissed back. “I know about these things.”

The others were ready to go in the kitchen in Chapter Five .
    “Where are your glasses?” asked my mother, my father, Bjorn, and even Richard simultaneously—everyone who had known me all my life with those glasses welded to my face.
    “In my pocket,” I said as casually as I could. “They were giving me a headache.” It was stupid, but I couldn’t think of anything else. I couldn’t see without them. Everybody knew. I felt like a total jerk. Ashley must have sensed these feelings, because she pinched my arm, which meant I was to go through with this.
    “You look different,” my dad said. I didn’t usually wear makeup.
    “Let’s go before all those trees are gone,” Bjorn said, to my relief. We headed out through the back porch and into the garage.
    “Doesn’t she look different, though?” my dad was asking my mother.
    The last thing I heard Mother say before the back door closed was “Shhh.”
    A surprise awaited me in the garage. Bjorn and Trish were in the bucket seats in the front; Fleur sat on the far side of the backseat, then Richard, and before I could get in and sit next to Richard, which seemed to me to be a good plan, Ashley climbed in next to him. “Lucky you,” she said to me. “You get the back all to yourself.”
    I couldn’t believe it. I walked around the Cherokee, tripping over a snow shovel that I couldn’t see, opened the hatchback, and got in with the sandbags my father keeps there in case we get stuck on ice.
    Bjorn revved the engine.
    “Wait a minute,” Fleur said, opening her door. “I’ll go back with Kate.”
    “You don’t have to,” I said.
    “I want to,” she said, climbing through the hatchback and closing it.
    To tell the truth, there wasn’t a whole lot of room, but I was grateful for Fleur. Even without glasses I could see that Ashley sat closer to Richard than she needed to. Old habits must be hard to break, I thought.
    Just barely out of the neighborhood, at the corner of Cleveland and Larpenteur, Richard said, “We used to get all our trees there.” I knew he meant the Boy Scout lot on the corner.
    “We did too,” said Bjorn.
    “Let’s stop in,” I said. “They always have a good variety to choose from.”
    I heard Ashley let out a snort.
    Bjorn yelled from the front, “Right. We’ll just do that,” but the car didn’t slow down any.
    Richard turned in his seat, his voice close to my ear. “Boo, for heaven’s sake put your glasses on. How can you stand not seeing anything?”
    “The Scout lot is completely empty. They’ve evidently sold out,” Fleur said, a smile in her voice.
    I shrugged it off. “I wasn’t looking.”
    “You weren’t
seeing
,” Bjorn shouted from the front.
    “That too,” I said.
    “Have you got your glasses with you?” Trish asked.
    Fleur was already digging into my pocket. She pulled the glasses out and set them on my face. “Let there be light,” she said.
    “Oh, don’t,” Ashley cried. “She looks so much better without them. Don’t you think so, Rich? Don’t you think Kate looks better without her glasses?”
    Oh, Ashley, shut up.
    “Is it relevant?” Richard asked. “She can’t see without them.”
    “I know, but if she could see, don’t you think she looks better without glasses, really now, don’t you?”
    Shut up, shut up, shut up.
    He turned, and I could see the tiny creases around his eyes. “Boo isn’t Boo without those glasses,” he said, and with his index finger he pushed the nosepiece playfully back up on my face and grinned at me.
    Thank you, Lord, I