Read Online Hush by Nancy Bush - Free Book Online

wasn‘t. She was trying, but it was hard.

    ―Are we the only ones here?‖ Coby asked. ―I thought I‘d be the last one.‖

    ―People are having a little trouble in this god-awful weather,‖ Annette said on a sigh. ―But a bunch of them are here. Yvette, Juliet, and Benedict are at the store. My dad‘s watching TV upstairs in his bedroom. Suzette‘s taking a nap, I think, and Nicholette‘s on her way with her boyfriend, Cal Ekhardt. Do you know him?‖

    ―I‘ve met him a few times when he‘s picked Nicholette up.‖ Nicholette, Annette‘s older sister, was an attorney with Jacoby, Jacoby, and Rosenthal and consequently had become the Ette sister Coby knew best.

    ―Juliet‘s guy‘s on his way, too,‖ Annette added. ―Kirk Grassi.‖

    ―Kirk Grassi,‖ Coby repeated in surprise.

    ―Well, she invited him, but I can‘t really tell whether they‘re together or not, you know what I mean? And you heard about Suzette and Galen Torres, right? They‘ve been dating for almost a year. Those boys in your class . . . they seem to hook up with my family, don‘t they?‖

    Not just the boys , Coby thought, shooting her dad a surreptitious look. ―I haven‘t seen Kirk since high school. He wasn‘t at Rhiannon‘s memorial service.‖

    ―Yeah . . . I don‘t know what his deal is. It‘s going to be kind of like a reunion around here.‖
    Annette glanced at Dave, too, and smiled. ―Even Mr. Greer is going to be here.‖

    ―Donald,‖ Dave said, as if they‘d had this discussion before.

    ―I know, I know. But I‘m never going to be able to call him Donald,‖ Annette dismissed.
    ―He was our vice principal, after all.‖

    Coby thought about Wynona‘s serious-minded father. ―Is Wynona invited?‖

    Annette made a face. ―Yes, but she‘s not coming. Said it was to do with work, and maybe it is, but she‘s really not interested in any of us.‖

    ―I haven‘t seen her in forever, either,‖ Coby said, more to herself than Annette.

    ―Social work has made her really hard,‖ she said, grimacing. ―It‘s like helping people has made her totally hate them, does that make sense?‖

    ―She hates the people who victimize children and women,‖ Dave corrected her carefully.
    ―Not the victims.‖

    ―Well, she doesn‘t like any of us much, either,‖ Annette responded, giving Dave a long look. Then to Coby, ―You know about her suicide attempts, right?‖

    ―No,‖ Coby admitted, as Dave snapped, ―Annette!‖

    ―I‘m not trying to gossip,‖ she snapped right back, ―but if you don‘t know the truth you can sure step into a whole big pile of shit without meaning to. Especially when you ‘re talking to someone like Mr. Greer . . . Donald,‖ she corrected herself.

    ―You shouldn‘t just announce these things,‖ he said.

    ―I‘m telling Coby. Coby. No one else.‖

    ―What happened?‖ Coby asked, and Dave, annoyed, made a gesture of impatience, handed the opened bottle of Cabernet to Annette, then left the kitchen, as if he couldn‘t bear listening in any longer.

    Annette made a sound of frustration. ―Oh, hell. I‘m so sick of secrets. I know way too many of them, and keeping a lid on them is like bottling up poison. Eventually the container breaks and the stuff just spills all over everybody. Ugh.‖ She poured them each a glass of ruby red wine. ―I‘m thirty, and I‘m just not going to play that game anymore. That was my birthday promise to myself.
    Bad secrets need to be laid on the table. What you know can‘t hurt you as much as what you don‘t.
    So, yeah, Wynona made two suicide attempts, one with pills, one by slitting her wrists. Neither effective. I don‘t want to sound like a complete bitch, but they were cries for help, not a serious attempt to kill herself, and she got a lot of attention. Then she decided to dedicate her life to social work, helping others, but she‘s not very good at it.‖

    Coby stood with her glass in hand, speechless.

    ―I am a