Read Online Even Now by Karen Kingsbury - Free Book Online Page B

especially when her heart was full of unresolved emotions. She stared at the notebook in her hands and flipped back to the beginning of the story, reading the first page: Even Now — the Story of Us by Lauren Gibbs.
    A smile tugged at her lips. Lauren Gibbs was the name she always used when she wrote. A long time ago she’d read the name in a book and something about it — the way it fit the character or the strength of it — stayed with her.
    The day she’d found it she ran up to her dad, struggling to reign in her enthusiasm. “Dad . . . this is the perfect name.”
    He was reading the newspaper. The pages crackled in his hands as he bent it in half and lowered it so he could see her. “What’s that?”
    “The name in this book.” She held it up. “It’s perfect.”
    Slowly he began to open the paper again. His eyes darted from the article to her and back again. “Good, honey.”
    “Dad!” She huffed at him. “You’re not listening.”
    “What?” The paper fell a few inches, and he looked at her. “Of course I am. You like the book you’re reading.”
    “No!” Another huffy breath. “I like the character name in the book.”
    He blinked. “Character name?”
    “Yes. Lauren Gibbs .” She smiled big again. “Isn’t that the greatest name?”
    Her dad chuckled a few times. “I think Lauren Anderson is pretty enough.”
    Lauren stuffed the memory. Her father didn’t need to see anything special in the name. She made good on her word. Using it on her short stories was a way to leave herself behind. In her mind, Lauren Gibbs wasn’t a seventeen-year-old high school student. She was worldly and wise, with years of education and a fascination with international affairs. She traveled the world and met interesting people from a dozen different cultures.
    That was the perspective she wrote from, as if she, like her fictitious alter ego, actually lived such a life.
    Her eyes traveled down the page. The first line of the story read: “She watched him from her quiet place at the dinner table. She would remember this day for the rest of time — the day she fell in love with Shane Galanter.”
    She heard a car in the distance and shut the cover. Once in a while she shared her stories with Shane, but not this time. They had too much else to work through. She set the notebook down and looked out the window again. This was the big chance they’d been waiting for. His father had told him they could talk about the possibility of him living with one of the baseball players for the next year. That would work perfectly. It meant his parents would be out of the picture. The way his mother treated her lately, it would be nice to have some distance between them. Headlights rounded the corner and she squinted into the dark night. It was him. He pulled his Camry up in front of her house and cut the engine. She watched him get out of the car, watched the way his shoulders slumped forward a little, the way his steps were slow.
    She sat up a little straighter and a thought hit her, one she had resisted for the past month. What if his dad hadn’t given him permission? What if they were insisting Shane move with them? They wouldn’t do that, would they? Not when she was wearing his ring. Not when they were engaged to be married.
    He was almost to the door, but she reached it first, opening it and motioning for him to be quiet as he stepped inside. Once the door was closed she leaned against it and searched his eyes. “He’s going to let you, right?”
    “Lauren.” He looked down, and in that instant the answer was as clear as the Chicago skyline in August. When he lifted his eyes to hers, they were shiny wet. “He wants me to come to LA for my senior year. Just until I’m finished school. Then he’ll do everything he can to help us.”
    The room felt wobbly, and she wouldn’t have been surprised to see the ceiling fall down around their ankles. “You . . . you’re leaving? In a month?”
    “What else can I