Read Online Don't Look Twice by Andrew Gross - Free Book Online Page A

It’s already imploded—she just doesn’t know it yet.”
    â€œI do know what that feels like, Ty. Having someone walk out the door and never come back.”
    â€œYeah.” He caught himself. “I know you do, Karen.”
    For a moment, they didn’t say anything. Then Karen asked, “Ty, are you alright?”
    â€œAm I alright?” He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “I don’t know if I’m alright. I tried to go after the truck, to get a read on the plates, and when I looked back around I—” He chugged a swallow of beer, cooling the dryness in his throat. “I saw Jess. Curled on the floor, this little mound, not moving, blood…”
    â€œ Blood? Whose blood, Ty?”
    â€œ His blood. The guy who was killed. He stood right behind her in line. For a second, I just looked at her and I thought…”
    â€œI know what you thought…”
    â€œI was just so relieved and happy when she came to. That the blood wasn’t hers. That it belonged to someone else. That she was okay. You know what I mean?”
    â€œOf course I know what you mean. It’s alright to feel that way.”
    â€œYeah.” He let his head drop back. “I know it’s alright.”
    Tobey jumped up on the couch. Hauck drew the dog to him, bringing his face up to the phone. “I’ve got your little pooch here. He wants to say hello.”
    â€œHey there, baby…,” Karen called, her voice both cheery and forlorn. “Mommy misses you.”
    â€œHe’s wondering when you’re coming back. I think he needsto shit on his own lawn. He says he’s looking forward to Thanksgiving…”
    There was a pause, which Hauck expected would be followed by Yeah, honey, I am too… But instead he heard only a long, stretched-out silence.
    Finally, Karen said, “Listen, we’re gonna have to talk about that, Ty…”
    â€œTalk about what ?”
    â€œNot now. It can wait. You’ve got other things…”
    â€œWe’re gonna have to talk about what, Karen?” He sat up and brought in his legs off the table.
    â€œAbout Thanksgiving. I was going to tell you, Ty, just not today…” She cleared her throat. “Listen, I’m not going to be coming back up there. At least not for a while.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
    I t hit him like a fist to the solar plexus. Air rushing out of him. The feeling, from out of left field, that his heart had just been kicked.
    â€œI just can’t now,” Karen said. “Do you understand? Mel’s not well. He’s not getting better. I asked the kids to come down here on their school breaks. I was gonna have Samantha bring Tobey down for a while…”
    â€œJesus, Karen…” Hauck took the phone out of the crook in his neck.
    He had felt her pulling away, just a bit. Her dad was in the latter stages of Parkinson’s. And deteriorating. That’s why she had gone back home. To be with him and help her mother through. That and maybe to find out who she was after picking up with Hauck so quickly. But the couple of weeks had turned into a month. Now a month had become… At least not for a while.
    â€œYou could come down here,” she said. “I just need to be here right now, Ty. You can understand that. They need me. I was with my husband for twenty years, then when everything happened last year with Charlie, and you…I love you, Ty—you know that. I owe my life to you…” She cleared her throat. “But this is where I need to be, honey, until whatever happens does. Not just for them, but for me, too. Don’t be angry with me. I didn’t know it was going to be this way. I told you from the start there were things I couldn’t promise…”
    â€œI’m not angry, Karen. I’m hoping the best for Mel.”
    There was a lull, both of them stumbling over what they could say. Karen ultimately