Read Online Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October by Barbara Levenson - Free Book Online

Center where there are all sorts of plays and concerts and an art gallery.”
    “Sherry, let me ask a favor of you. Please don’t tell your mother that I’m up here. I guess you could say that I’ve run away from home. I broke up with Carlos and I just felt burnt out. One of my friends owns a house in High Pines and she insisted that I come up here and give myself some peace and quiet. But I don’t want anyone to tell Carlos where I am. I don’t want him following me and breaking down my decision to end things. You understand, don’t you?”
    “Why did you and Carlos break up? I thought he was so nice and so good-looking. You seemed like the perfect couple when we all had dinner after you won my mother’s case.”
    “It’s hard for me to talk about it. Please try to understand.”
    “Sure I understand. You can trust me because I’m going to ask you not to tell my mother something. Let’s turn back to town. I’ll tell you when we sit down to lunch.”
    We circled the campus. Sherry pointed out her dorm, Baker Library, the football stadium which looked like a miniature compared to the Orange Bowl, and the hockey arena. I filed away the information about the men’s and women’s hockey games. Maybe I would still be here when they began playing.
    Back in town, we stopped at a cute bakery and sandwich shop. Sherry went in to order for us while Sam and I held onto a table on the patio. In a few minutes, she returned with grilled cheese sandwiches and mugs of hot chocolate and a cup of water for Sam. We were both quiet while we devoured the gooey Vermont cheddar sandwiches.
    “Okay, Sherry, don’t keep me in suspense any longer. What’s up? What can’t I tell Lillian?” I asked.
    Sherry’s cheeks were crimson. I wasn’t sure whether that was from the cold or from her excitement as she leaned forward across the table.
    “I think I’m in love or at least in heavy lust. I just need to talk to someone about it,” Sherry said.
    “That’s great, I guess, but why can’t you talk to your roommate or your friends?”
    “He and I agreed to keep this to ourselves for a while. See he’s not from Dartmouth.”
    “Where is he from? Is he older or, Sherry, tell me he’s not married.” I was getting a bad picture.
    “Carson, that’s his name, isn’t married. Don’t worry. After what happened to my family I’m smarter than that. He is a little older. He lives in this area. He’s a dairy farmer and he makes cheese. I think he doesn’t have much money.”
    “How did you meet him?”
    “Some of my friends and I drove over to Hartland to Skunk Hollow one weekend.”
    “Where’s that, and what in the world is Skunk Hollow?”
    “It’s a bar with local beer and a band. It’s fun. That’s where I met Carson. We had some drinks and I ended up giving him my cell phone number and we started texting and talking. He’s so cute.” Sherry looked like she was going to burst with excitement.
    “I still don’t get it. Why can’t you tell anyone about him?”
    “We just thought that, you know, because we’re from different backgrounds that maybe it’d be best to just see where this was going before we upset anyone.”
    “Why would anyone be upset?”
    “Well, Mother married Dad who was pretty poor and brought him into the family business and things turned out so bad for her. You know what I mean. We all found out that he cheated on her for years. She was devoted to him. If I told her about Carson, I know she’d try to protect me or even forbid me from seeing Carson. I just knew she’d be upset. And Carson feels like he’d be uncomfortable hanging out with my college friends. He never got to go to college, just technical school for a few months.”
    “Maybe we should run a background check on him. What’s his last name You know, Sherry, you’ll be coming into a lot of money in a few years. Maybe your mother isn’t wrong to try to protect you.”
    “Sherry glared at me and started to get up from the