Time After Time by Antoinette Stockenberg Read Free Book Online Page B

third time when her mother talked her into
joining the grief group. Within weeks, Victoria had quietly stepped
into the breach left by Keith.
    The gratitude that Liz
felt for her that night over cappuccino was profound. Victoria had
become an everyday part of her life. She'd supported Liz's decision
to start up Parties Plus; lent her money, advice, and time;
baby-sat Susy almost as much as Liz's parents had. She'd become the
sister Liz never had.
    "Yes. I remember," Liz
said to Victoria, more humbly than before.
    "Well, this is the road
I'm going down," said Victoria quietly. "And I'm a little
scared."
    "Okay," said Liz with a
reassuring smile and a nervous shrug. "I'll get my walking
shoes."

Chapter 4
     
    "Watchit watchit! You're
bending his ear!"
    "For pity's sake,"
Victoria said, frazzled, "he's got another one. There'd still be
plenty of cake for everybody. Why are you being like this,
Liz?"
    "Because everything
has got to be
perfect." Liz slid one hand toward the middle of the huge cardboard
tray that held the flour-and-sugar version of Mr. Mouse himself,
and with her other hand she slid back the side panel of her
minivan. "Easy, easy! Keep it level! Oh, this damned fog; it's
going to wreck the frosting."
    "I know this is your
Bellevue Avenue debut, but come on . You're
out of control, Liz."
    "Okay, in he goes.
Eee-zee-e ... good. Don't tell me about control," Liz snapped, once the cake was
secure on the floor of the van. She took the clipboard from the
front seat and ran one last check over her list of party
preparations. "I haven't been obsessing over some moldy letters for the last
week."
    "You said you wanted to do
the party prep yourself on this one!" Victoria said, taken aback.
"You said if I babysat Susy while I worked on the letters, it would
work out well for both of us!"
    Liz hardly heard her.
"Trays. . . flowers.. . puppets... favors.. . programs.. . shit. Where'd I put the
candles?" She looked up wildly.
    "They're in your carryall.
If you'd let me take the letters to my house in the first place,
I'd probably be through them all by now."
    "No! The letters stay
here."
    "Why?"
    "I don't know why. Right now I
don't care why.
We've got one hour before guests start arriving. I knew I should've taken
the cake over earlier. Why I thought I had to make a grand entrance
with it ...."
    In an obvious attempt to
end the bickering, Victoria suddenly laughed and said, "The
cake deserves a
grand entrance, that's why. Look at it: it's
spectacular!"
    Indeed it was. Mickey's
head — with its huge glossy ears, bug-eyed grin, and bright yellow
bow tie — was a thing of beauty, if not exactly a joy forever. It
had far exceeded Liz's expectations. Susy liked it so much that Liz
had to promise to make her one for her own birthday in
September.
    "You're right," Liz said,
taking a deep breath. "Everything's going to be fine."
    They got in the van and
began a reverse spiral of three quick left turns to get to East
Gate. The top part of the hill was very steep; Liz began fretting
that the cake would slide. "I don't know why I didn't just hand the
thing over the barbed wire to Netta," she said petulantly. "This
driving around every time is ridiculous. What I need is a gate in
the fence between my house and East Gate."
    "What you need is Prozac,"
said Victoria, staring at her friend. "Why are you being this
way?"
    Liz eased into her last
left turn as if she were ferrying a load of TNT. "You weren't there
when he called me stupid," she muttered.
    "He didn't call you
stupid. He said your question was stupid. And it was, especially
considering the circumstances. For gosh sakes, the cake is
of Mickey Mouse — so chocolate and white. Obviously . No, there's more to this than that." In her
serenely blunt way Victoria said, "Liz Coppersmith — do you have
the hots for this guy?"
    "Hots! I don't expect to
have hots until menopause. Are you crazy? Who has time to have
hots?"
    "Okay, okay. Just curious.
Personally, I was quite smitten when he