Read Online Leaving Normal by Stef Ann Holm - Free Book Online Page A

She set the red-leafed plant in its shiny gold foil wrap on the counter-top. Then she came to him and put her arms around his waist and held on.
    She smelled differently. He couldn't bring himself to embrace her in return. "I didn't think any of the stores were open today," he said.
    "Oh…um, no." She inched away, not meeting his gaze, then went to the sink and finished loading the dishwasher. "I got it yesterday."
    "Where's it been?"
    "At Laurie's. We ran over there this morning to pick it up. I forgot it last night."
    Tony showed no emotion. His muscles were tight, like iron bands in his body that held him rooted to the spot.
    "Can I, Tony? Mommy said when we got home, I could open them."
    "Sure, Parker."
    Keeping a smile on her lips, Kim dried her hands and took Tony's to lead him into the living room. The skin on her palm was cold, her fingers loose around his. He let her take him to the sofa and sit down, cozy next to him.
    "That one's for Tony, Parker." Kim's face was flushed, her blue eyes startling next to her pale com-plexion and pink-blushed cheeks. She was a beautiful woman on the outside with classic good looks, and she had a very confident personality. Her liveliness and vitality for living life on the edge were infectious. That was what had attracted him to her in the first place.
    Tony took the gift, and the others to follow. The three of them spent the morning opening presents and he pretended to enjoy himself as if nothing were wrong—as if his life was not somehow off-kilter.
    Later off while Parker played with her new toys, Tony cornered Kim in the kitchen as she put on a fresh pot of coffee.
    "Where were you this morning, Kim?"
    Looking insulted for the first time since coming through the door, she said, "At Laurie's."
    "Why don't I believe you?"
    "I don't know."
    They merely stared at one another, allowing a ridiculous span of silence to be broken only by the playful hums of a six-year-old who was completely oblivious to the two adults at odds with each other.
    "I'm going to Rocky's house to get the kitten for Parker," Tony finally said in a soft voice, picking up his keys.
    "She's going to love it, Tony."
    "Yep," he replied in a clipped voice.
    After punching the garage-door opener, he realized Kim's car was in the driveway blocking him in. Rather than move it, he opened the door to the Mazda coupe and got inside. The small vehicle swallowed his large body, making him feel closed in. Almost suffocated.
    Feeling for the lever under the seat, his hand touched a cold object.
    Kim's cell phone.
    It must have fallen on the floor mat. He tossed the cellular onto the shifter console, made an adjustment to the seat and slid it back as far as it would go to accommodate his long legs.
    He put the car into gear, rested his wrist on the steering wheel and turned down the radio that heralded holiday tunes. He punched another station, not in the mood for fa-la-las.
    Driving down Fairview Avenue, he headed to Rocky's house to pick up the kitten. Rocky had two playful rottweilers who Tony hoped like hell had left the kitten alone. Rocky had agreed to keep the kitten overnight so he could surprise Parker with the Christmas present today.
    The anxiousness he'd been feeling about watching her face when he gave it to her was now diminished. While he didn't want to believe Kim could do such a thing, he wondered if she had told Parker not to tell him where they'd been last night and this morning. If Kim had devised a "game" to play with her little girl… If that was the case…
    Tension built in the back of Tony's eyes, around the sockets where moderate pain grew into a vague headache.
    Stopped at a red light, he was jolted out of his thoughts by the chirp of an incoming call on Kim's phone. Startled into action, he reached over and punched the answer button.
    "Hello?"
    Nothing.
    "Hello?"
    The line went dead.
    Tony glanced at the ID, but the LCD reading blinked to gray.
    "Shit," he muttered, fumbling with some of the task