Read Online Every Happy Family by Dede Crane - Free Book Online

her to pick up the phone.
    â€œThanks sweet boy,” says his aunt. “A drunk and disorderly, eh?”
    â€œYeah. Bye Auntie Annie.”
    â€œBye Quinner.”
    â€œHello?” says Jill and Quinn hangs up.

    â€œJill, I’m so glad you’re there.” Annie hates interrupting Jill, knows how busy she is, but is busting to tell someone.
    â€œHi Annie. What’s up?”
    As if it was a command, Annie’s up out of her swivel chair and then walking clockwise around the large cutting table in her loft, too excited to remain seated. “I was trying to reach Les but Quinn said he’s at his new job. Always trying to move up in the pecking order, eh? It’s a tough business, that chef business.”
    â€œHe won’t be home until after midnight.”
    â€œI’ve never seen a restaurant where you can order takeout online. That should keep the place in business. And I might have ordered from there tonight if my Internet wasn’t still down with some virus. Smallpox, I think. Andy said he’d fix it but the shithead never did” – don’t curse, Jill doesn’t like it – “so I’m having to call all my clients, which is costing me, and my studio looks like a bomb’s hit it because I couldn’t find my fucking pins this morning then I couldn’t find red bobbin thread –”
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Annie?”
    â€œI have some great purple leather pockets for Pema, for her jeans? They’re heart-shaped, will look great with her jacket.”
    â€œSlow down,” Jill says in such a calm, measured voice that Annie stops pacing. “Tell me exactly what’s going on.”
    She sighs. “I’m an idiot, sorry.”
    â€œNo, you’re not. Is it Andy?”
    â€œAndy? I gather that was obvious to everyone but me. Me and my Raggedy Annie and Andy crap.”
    â€œYou can do so much better.”
    Criticism totally throws her and she’s unable to think, much less respond.
    â€œAnnie, what I meant is, is that you deserve better.”
    Now she feels badly for thinking Jill was being critical.
    â€œCome over,” Jill says, clearly worried. “Have you eaten? We have lots of leftover lasagna. Pema would love to see those pockets.”
    Jill’s sweetness and concern chokes her right up. How did she get so lucky to have such a family?
    â€œAnnie, don’t hang up.”
    â€œI’m fine, Jill,” she says, finding her voice again. “And it’s not about Andy.” She’d never told Jill or Les that the asshole turned out to be married with a kid on the way. “They found our mother, Jill,” she says, the tears rising. “I need to tell Les.”
    â€œAnnie, now wait. Are they absolutely sure?”
    â€œIn New York City. Her name’s Faye. Isn’t that the most beautiful name? And the coolest?”
    â€œIt’s very pretty but –”
    â€œI can hardly believe it myself and couldn’t wait to tell someone.” Her tears erupt in a gagging cough, and “They finally found her,” comes out in a blubber.
    â€œAnnie,” Jill says gently, “so you’re absolutely sure this time?”

Three Months Later

ANNIE
    â€œThis plane smells,” Annie says to Les as she twists the air knob one way then the other for a lukewarm blast.
    Her brother’s eyes are closed, his head pressing the back of his still-upright seat, desperate for sleep, she knows, after six days in a cheap room in Times Square that vibrated when the traffic barrelled down Broadway. All night long, light from the Square’s giant TV screen bled through the curtains, so Les reported, to bathe the room in “the colour of nightmares.” Unlike Les, Annie had slept like a log. External chaos calmed her right down – what a former boyfriend called Ritalin logic.
    To help Les get caught up on the plane she gave him a few Ativan, memory erasers