Read Online Coming Home (Norris Lake Series) by Amy Koresdoski - Free Book Online Page A

be sorry,” she said as she gained courage.  "Did you know that I had a crush on you when I started school this year?" Cat said softly.  "I used to come up and talk to Michael just to try to get you to notice me,” she laughed.  "You didn’t." 
    Curtis looked at her in astonishment. "I admit I didn’t think of you as a girl then.  You were just Michael’s kid sister.  Anyway, a year ago, it would have taken a miracle to get me interested in anything except fishing and hunting.  But you know what?  I would have made an exception for you if I’d known."  He smiled at her and sat back down.  "I’m not too good at this kind of stuff, you know.  I usually run out of stuff to say to most girls.  You’re different though”. 
    Cat smiled to herself and placed her hand over his.  Just then they heard Michael’s shouting loudly.  Curtis and Cat turned toward the sound and could hear several splashes and the sound of someone swimming. 
    "Beth, come back,” Michael screamed. 
    Curtis grabbed Cat’s hand pulling her to her feet and they both ran to the back of the houseboat. 
    "What happened?" Curtis asked. 
    "She got mad at me and swam off towards the shore,” Michael alleged.
    "Why did she get angry?" Cat asked. 
    "What’s going on down there?" Rodney said leaning on the ladder rails on the top of the houseboat.  Sarah appeared at his side adjusting her bathing suit. 
    "Nothing. Beth just got mad at me,”  Michael said and then yelled into the dark. "Beth come on, baby.  Where are you?"
    "It is just a few yards to the shore and Beth’s a good swimmer,” Cat stressed.  "You need to go get her though and make her come back to the boat.  I don’t like the idea of her out there in the dark by herself.  Why don’t you two go help find her?" she said pointing to Michael and Rodney. 
    "No. I’ll just go.  I need to talk to her anyway.  We’ve got some things to work out,”  Michael answered. "Y’ all stay here." 
    "Ok. Yell if you need anything,”  Rodney agreed, glad that he wasn’t going to have to interrupt his night with Sarah. 
    Beth swam towards the shore the cold water making her gasp.  It seemed much colder out there than when she was pressed up next to Michael and the houseboat.  All the beer had made it difficult to coordinate her movements and she forced herself to concentrate on the row of trees on the shoreline. 
    She and Michael had been arguing about her condition.  They had both known that she could be pregnant when she missed her period, but had been praying that it was just late, as it had been in the past.  Yesterday, she bought a home pregnancy test yesterday and held her breath as she watched the water turn blue.  It was positive and now there was no hoping or praying their way out of the fix they had gotten themselves into. 
    As she got to shore, she realized that the tears still coursed down her cheeks.  She stood thigh deep in the water, holding her arms tightly against both the cold and the knowledge that Michael had not meant it when he’d said they’d get married if she found out that she was pregnant.  Of course, he’d said it when they weren’t sure.  Now that they knew, Michael wanted her to get rid of the baby, an abortion was his solution. 
    Turning to face the houseboat she could hear Michael and the others yelling her name.  How in the world was she going to tell her parents?  Her mother would be understanding, but her father wouldn’t be.  He hadn’t liked Michael from the first and had often told her that he would kill Michael if he ever did anything to hurt her. 
    Even though Michael had hurt her, she still loved him so much that it made her heart sink into her chest.  She could almost feel herself dying thinking that she and Michael may not be together forever.  It was the short sightedness of youth in which now loomed large; next month was far in the future.   Six months seemed a long time and a year was a life time, Two