Read Online Dark Waters by Susan Rogers Cooper - Free Book Online

Jasmine, Dalton thought. Jasmine never had liked him, since her first day on the job. Dalton didn’t know why, but he knew it was true.
    But still and all, he was going to have to tell Emmett. Dalton sighed yet again and started the car.
Milt – Day Two
    That night was the dress-up event in the dining room. Dressing up is not my idea of a vacation, but Jean was very happy about it. She’d bought a new dress just for this occasion and had insisted that the boys and I bring suits. The boys were adamant about not going to the dining room.
    â€˜Mom! I don’t like the food there! And besides, I don’t want to dress up! And I forgot my jacket anyway!’ Johnny Mac whined.
    â€˜I packed your jacket for you. Along with your dress pants, your belt, black socks and your good shoes. And Early’s mother did the same. You have no excuse.’
    â€˜How about I don’t want to?’ he yelled.
    Well, now, you just don’t yell at Jean. That got him sent to the top bunk for the half hour before dinner. And, although Early had not participated in the yelling, he was punished nonetheless by having to stay out in the main part of the suite with me and Jean. He brought a book.
    We had the early feeding that night – they have two, one at six and one at eight – so we got the boys dressed, against their wills, got ourselves dressed, and headed out. I decided dressing up was worth it when I saw Jean all dolled up. She had on a red one-shoulder dress that hit above the knee at the front and went down a little more in the back. My wife has truly beautiful shoulders and I was gonna have to try like crazy to keep my lips off that exposed one. Even Johnny Mac managed to say, ‘Mama, you look really nice.’
    And Early, looking up at Jean, managed a ‘yeah,’ before the blood infused his face and he turned around and headed out the door. Poor guy; I hoped he’d outgrow that before high school.
    Everybody was dolled up when we got to the dining room. Women in full-length gowns and what they call cocktail dresses, men in suits, and one guy who wasn’t a waiter in a tux. And the boys saw their friends only a couple of tables over, having to endure the same torture as them. The little blonde waved at Johnny Mac and he waved back, and I was pretty damn sure the little guy had his first serious crush. He beat me: I was in the sixth grade and her name was Bobbie Jean Murdock. She was beautiful. Her family moved to Dallas after that year and I never saw her again. Truth be known, I do believe that that night, watching my son crush on the little blonde, was the first time I’d thought about Bobbie Jean Murdock since she moved away. I couldn’t help wondering what she was up to now. Being my age, probably a grandmother.
    Jean and I greeted Mike and Lucy Tulia and the bigger boy’s dad Vern Weaver. He was sitting next to a much younger and very sexy-looking redhead in a strapless gown showing a lot of cleavage, and across from her was the boy Ryan and next to him an older boy we hadn’t met. He looked like a youngish teenager.
    â€˜Milt!’ Vern Weaver called. ‘Come on over and meet my wife!’ He was all smiles, as well he might be, as ugly as he was sitting next to someone like her. Vern was a big ol’ guy, most of it running to fat, with a bad comb-over, wiry eyebrows and fat earlobes. Not a pretty guy.
    â€˜Hey, Vern,’ I said and ambled over, Jean keeping up with me on her crutches. The boys headed straight for the little girl, kneeling down and talking in whispers with her. I shook hands with Vern and Mike, nodded at Lucy and the kids, and was introduced to Crystal.
    â€˜We’re on our honeymoon, and Crystal wouldn’t have us leaving my boys behind! So they came along with us! Ain’t that the damnedest thing?’ Vern said in his booming voice. I could see by the almost-empty bottle of wine by his plate that he’d had a little bit