Read Online And Then Everything Unraveled by Jennifer Sturman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jennifer Sturman
Tags: Fiction
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heard back, and “Out of Area” didn’t call again. The only other messages I got were from Erin and Justin. And, of course, from Charley, who was determined to do the entire guardian thing right and make up for any early missteps.
This mostly meant including vegetables in whatever we ordered in, since she’d quickly abandoned any pretense of knowing how to cook, and a single attempt to help with my homework made it painfully obvious that she was just as clueless as I was when it came to science.
And that wasn’t the only thing we had in common. We liked the same magazines and music and TV shows. We even used the same brand of toothpaste and drank the same kind of soda. By Friday, it felt like I’d known Charley my whole life, and like there’d never been a time when we hadn’t eaten takeout together while watching teen movie classics, which was rapidly becoming our standard dinner routine. She did go out one night with a Swedish guy named Lars, but otherwise evenings were as tame as they’d been at home.
Either way, it was a relief when the weekend finally rolled around. Even if you didn’t plan on staying long, starting a new school wasn’t the least stressful thing. And even if two days with Patience, her husband, and the Flying Monkeys wasn’t what I’d choose if I had any choice, I was looking forward to sand and ocean.
According to Charley, that was just about all I could look forward to. As soon as I got home from school on Friday, we set out for my grandparents’ house in Southampton. My grandparents wouldn’t actually be there—they spent most of their time in Palm Beach—but from what Charley had told me, I wouldn’t be missing much.
“I still think I was adopted,” she said from behind the wheel of her Mini Cooper. She drove well but way too fast, and she took special joy in cutting off drivers of big SUVs, consideringit part of her personal effort to lower carbon emissions. She had that in common with T.K., if nothing else.
“Reggie—his full name is Reginald Phineas Baxter Truesdale, and he’s even the Fifth, if you can believe it, because who wouldn’t want to keep a name like that going—anyhow, he’s not the most spontaneous guy,” said Charley. “When the weather’s good, he plays golf at his club in the country. When the weather’s bad, he plays squash and backgammon at his club in the city. And no matter what the weather’s like, he drinks a lot of scotch.”
My grandmother didn’t sound any better. “You know the phrase ‘nature abhors a vacuum’?” Charley asked. “Well, Adele Kittredge Truesdale abhors a vacuum, too. Since Reggie hardly talks, Old Addie has to fill the void.” I didn’t think Charley would appreciate my pointing out that Old Addie seemed to have passed this trait along to her youngest daughter since it argued against her whole adoption theory.
Anyhow, it turned out that New Yorkers’ idea of the beach was actually most people’s idea of a suburb near the ocean. The town of Southampton had a lot of upscale boutiques and cafes, but once we passed through the commercial district we ended up in a neighborhood of tree-lined streets and shingled houses. Only the faint taste of salt in the air hinted at the Atlantic nearby.
As Charley drove on, the trees shading the streets began to get taller and the houses started getting bigger and fancier. Thenyou couldn’t tell anymore since high green hedges started hiding the houses from view. Finally, at the very end of a dead-end street, she swung the car through a gate that was almost hidden in the highest set of hedges yet. “Home sweet home,” she announced. “At least, one of them.”
A long gravel drive stretched before us, curving into a wide loop in front of the house. But calling it a house would be like calling Godzilla a sweet little gecko. The design was traditional—silvery-gray shingles with white-painted gables—but it was the size of a city block.
There’s a crazy amount of
This mostly meant including vegetables in whatever we ordered in, since she’d quickly abandoned any pretense of knowing how to cook, and a single attempt to help with my homework made it painfully obvious that she was just as clueless as I was when it came to science.
And that wasn’t the only thing we had in common. We liked the same magazines and music and TV shows. We even used the same brand of toothpaste and drank the same kind of soda. By Friday, it felt like I’d known Charley my whole life, and like there’d never been a time when we hadn’t eaten takeout together while watching teen movie classics, which was rapidly becoming our standard dinner routine. She did go out one night with a Swedish guy named Lars, but otherwise evenings were as tame as they’d been at home.
Either way, it was a relief when the weekend finally rolled around. Even if you didn’t plan on staying long, starting a new school wasn’t the least stressful thing. And even if two days with Patience, her husband, and the Flying Monkeys wasn’t what I’d choose if I had any choice, I was looking forward to sand and ocean.
According to Charley, that was just about all I could look forward to. As soon as I got home from school on Friday, we set out for my grandparents’ house in Southampton. My grandparents wouldn’t actually be there—they spent most of their time in Palm Beach—but from what Charley had told me, I wouldn’t be missing much.
“I still think I was adopted,” she said from behind the wheel of her Mini Cooper. She drove well but way too fast, and she took special joy in cutting off drivers of big SUVs, consideringit part of her personal effort to lower carbon emissions. She had that in common with T.K., if nothing else.
“Reggie—his full name is Reginald Phineas Baxter Truesdale, and he’s even the Fifth, if you can believe it, because who wouldn’t want to keep a name like that going—anyhow, he’s not the most spontaneous guy,” said Charley. “When the weather’s good, he plays golf at his club in the country. When the weather’s bad, he plays squash and backgammon at his club in the city. And no matter what the weather’s like, he drinks a lot of scotch.”
My grandmother didn’t sound any better. “You know the phrase ‘nature abhors a vacuum’?” Charley asked. “Well, Adele Kittredge Truesdale abhors a vacuum, too. Since Reggie hardly talks, Old Addie has to fill the void.” I didn’t think Charley would appreciate my pointing out that Old Addie seemed to have passed this trait along to her youngest daughter since it argued against her whole adoption theory.
Anyhow, it turned out that New Yorkers’ idea of the beach was actually most people’s idea of a suburb near the ocean. The town of Southampton had a lot of upscale boutiques and cafes, but once we passed through the commercial district we ended up in a neighborhood of tree-lined streets and shingled houses. Only the faint taste of salt in the air hinted at the Atlantic nearby.
As Charley drove on, the trees shading the streets began to get taller and the houses started getting bigger and fancier. Thenyou couldn’t tell anymore since high green hedges started hiding the houses from view. Finally, at the very end of a dead-end street, she swung the car through a gate that was almost hidden in the highest set of hedges yet. “Home sweet home,” she announced. “At least, one of them.”
A long gravel drive stretched before us, curving into a wide loop in front of the house. But calling it a house would be like calling Godzilla a sweet little gecko. The design was traditional—silvery-gray shingles with white-painted gables—but it was the size of a city block.
There’s a crazy amount of
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