Read Online One Dead Cookie by Virginia Lowell - Free Book Online Page B

supposed to go back on the bus with the team. Instead,
     we got hold of a bottle of vodka and—”
    “How did you—?”
    “It doesn’t matter, okay, Livie? We got some, that’s all. We drank until the bottle
     was empty, and then my girlfriend drove us home. And, yeah, I know we shouldn’t have
     been on the road, but my girlfriend only had a couple sips. She was on a diet or something.
     Jennie passed out, though. We carried her to her house and sort of propped her up
     on the porch. Then we rang the doorbell and ran, so we wouldn’t get caught. We all
     got home safe, only Kevin got really sick, so his parents figured out what had happened,
     and we got into trouble. The coach kicked Kevin and me off the team. Kevin blamed
     me because…well, it doesn’t matter.”
    Ellie squeezed Jason’s forearm and said, “Don’t leave Livie thinking you or Charlene
     provided the alcohol, dear.”
    Jason heaved a long sigh. “Yeah, okay, it was Jennie who brought the bottle. She stole
     it from her mother. She said there was plenty more and her mom wouldn’t notice. Kevin
     lied to his parents and said I brought it, but I told Mom the truth, and she told
     Kevin’s mom.”
    “Mom? She believed you, and not her own son?” Olivia asked.
    “I’m afraid so, dear. Some mothers are able to see their children clearly, yet still
     love them.”
    “Anyway,” Jason said, “Kevin and I stopped speaking to each other, and I never saw
     or heard about Jennie until I recognized her in the store.”
    “Did she recognize you?” Olivia asked.
    “She didn’t seem to,” Jason said with a shake of his head. You know, there is one
     reason I remember Jennie, besides how cute she was. She said she didn’t have a dad,
     and her mom was…I think she said her mom was on drugs. I remember thinking I was luckier
     than Jennie. I didn’t have a dad anymore, but I had a mom who cared enough to notice
     my existence at least.”
    “Thank you, dear,” Ellie said. “I think.”
    Jason snickered, and the mood lightened. “Hey, that took a lot of energy,” he said.
     “Some key lime pie might help me get my strength back.”
    Olivia shoved the pie pan toward him. “Thanks for telling me all that, Jason. I think
     it explains a lot.” She could understand Jennifer’s reticence, given her tough childhood.
     “Do you happen to remember how old Jennie was?”
    Jason opened a mouth filled with pie, and said, “Nope, but she seemed about our age.
     Anyway, she wasn’t a kid.”
    “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Jason.” There was a touch of pride in Ellie’s stern
     voice.
    *   *   *
    E xcited and exhausted, Olivia slumped on a kitchen chair in her childhood kitchen to
     watch her mother slide a sheet of round cutout cookies into the oven. She and Ellie
     had spent nearly three hours experimenting with recipes for decorated cookies to serve
     at Maddie’s engagement party. After they’d finished mixing the batches, they’d begun
     toroll and cut the dough. Soon they would be able to taste the results.
    “Mom, how can you keep standing on your feet for so long?” Olivia asked. “I mean,
     aside from the fact that you are practically weightless.”
    “Tai chi,” Ellie said as she set the oven timer. “And calisthenics, of course. I’m
     afraid my weightlessness is pure myth. I gained a pound over the winter, after I worked
     so hard last summer to get back to ninety-nine pounds.”
    “A pound, wow. You must need a whole new wardrobe after packing all that weight on
     your little body.”
    “Livie, dear, sarcasm is not your most attractive quality. When one is four foot eleven,
     an extra pound can be quite cumbersome.”
    “Uh-huh.” Olivia stretched her arms over her head. She’d developed a kink in her back
     from working at the kitchen’s low counters, designed for her mother’s diminutive stature.
    “How about a glass of lemonade while we wait for the cookies to bake?” Ellie opened
     a cupboard and