Read Online Diary of an Ugly Duckling by Karyn Langhorne - Free Book Online Page B

me, too?”
    She was nearly as tall as her father—at least five
    foot eleven if not a full 6 feet—and as wide-
    shouldered and muscular, without being fat, also
    like her father. She had the man’s deep, amber eyes
    and even, milk-chocolate skin, the kind of features
    that would mature into a striking kind of female
    handsomeness that would have its own admirers in
    time. Audra couldn’t stop herself from thinking
    how much she looked like her father, which pro-
    bably would have been fine if the girl had been a
    boy. Under the circumstances, however, Audra sus-
    pected looking so much like Daddy might be a
    problem.
    “Audra Marks, my daughter, Penny Bradshaw.”
    Audra hitched the yellow shawl over her shoul-
    der again and fumbled with her tiny new purse,
    DIARY OF AN UGLY DUCKLING
    67
    pulling out the small wrapped box and stretching it
    toward the girl. “Happy birthday.”
    Penny Bradshaw blinked her light brown eyes at
    Audra for a long second, then turned to her father,
    shaking her head in dismay. “Oh, Dad,” she whined
    in an utterly teenaged way. “Not again !”
    Bradshaw’s frown deepened. “What are you—”
    “I want to go home,” Penny announced, and
    without so much as a “how do you do” she stomped
    away from them, elbowing her way across the dance
    floor and out of sight.
    “And she calls other people rude,” Bradshaw
    muttered under his breath, before giving Audra his
    eyes for the brief second it took him to say, “Don’t
    mind her. She’s sixteen.” He frowned toward the
    ladies’ room, and kept his eyes in that direction as
    he continued, “A drink?”
    I want to go home, too , Audra thought. Right now. I
    want to rip off this stupid top and the silly pointed high-
    heeled shoes and—
    “No, I can’t stay,” she said quickly, before the last
    of her bravura evaporated and she melted into a
    puddle of snuffling tears. “Silly me, I forgot I had a
    prior engagement. A . . . friend of mine . . .” she con-
    tinued conjuring a quick lie. “Bachelorette party.
    Wild night ahead, you know?”
    Art Bradshaw wasn’t listening. His head swung
    from the hallway where the lovely Esmeralda Prince
    had disappeared to the dance floor, where his
    daughter had vanished from view. “Uh-huh,” he
    muttered.
    Audra’s heart sank like the Titanic , settling itself
    somewhere near the pit of her stomach. She felt tired
    68
    Karyn Langhorne
    and sick and sad and lonelier than she could ever re-
    member.
    “I’ll just . . . put this . . . here,” she said, lowering
    the birthday present to the table behind him.
    Bradshaw sighed and swung his face toward
    Audra.
    “Sorry, Marks. She’s been acting like this ever
    since Esmeralda showed up—”
    “No problem,” Audra said, not wanting hear any
    more about Esmeralda Prince than was strictly
    necessary—especially since the only thing that re-
    ally mattered about the woman was abundantly
    clear from the expression of concern on Bradshaw’s
    face—and the chick had only gone to the ladies’
    room. Audra made her shoulders a little more
    square and her upper lip a little stiffer than she felt.
    “Good night, Bradshaw.” She made a perfect silver-
    screen-star flounce door-ward, and even if he had
    called out “Audra, wait!” romantic hero-style, she
    would have been too far ahead to hear him.
    “Nice meeting you, Penny.”
    She was leaning against the wall, in the same spot
    where the smoking girl had been, her sleeveless
    brown arms crossed against the night’s chill. The
    girl’s eyes met hers, as calm and steely as any a
    grown rival’s.
    “I wish I could leave,” she said.
    “But it’s your party! Don’t you want to—?”
    “These kids don’t like me. They laugh at me in the
    halls. Call me Bigfoot. Sasquatch,” she said angrily,
    but Audra could see tears glistening unshed in her
    DIARY OF AN UGLY DUCKLING
    69
    eyes. “Not one of the guys has even asked me
    dance.” Her forehead crumpled. “I’m taller