Read Online Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie - Free Book Online Page B

had to people who took care of you were nothing compared to the obligations you had to the people you wanted to take care of. You could pay back the people who took care of you, but the ones you had to keep safe, well, they were with you forever. Which meant that even though he wanted nothing more than to never see Frog Point again, he had to come back to See Anna. He looked at her now with love that went bone-deep, and thought about how much she still looked like the brisk blonde woman who had saved his life so long ago. Her apron was new, something trendy pin stripes instead of her usual flowers, but her now white hair was still parted in the center and wound into a knot at the nape of her neck, as smooth and neat as ever, and her blue eyes hadn’t changed at all. Nothing important about Anna ever changed.
    He grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am, I certainly have washed my hands. You trained me right.” He walked around her to his place at the side of the table and squeezed her waist as he went.
    She sniffed. “I know you’re grown, C.L., but you’re my boy still.”
    “You bet.” C.L. dropped into his seat and held up his hands for inspection, palms out. “See? Clean.”
    Anna set another steaming bowl in front of him, green beans this time. “You clean your plate tonight, too. No argument.”
    C.L. looked out over the spread: sugar-cured ham, biscuits and butter and Anna’s raspberry jam, green beans with bacon, cheese-sauced potatoes, homemade pickles, chunky hand-cut coleslaw with red peppers. Anna’s food, one of the miracles of life. “Yes, ma’am.”
    The screen door slapped and Henry came in from the porch, not as gigantic as he’d seemed when C.L. was a boy but still plenty big and broad, his hair white now instead of dark but still thick and springy. He washed his hands at the sink and said, “Smells real good, Anna,” and she said, “Thank you, Henry,” and C.L. thought, I have heard them say that to each other before every meal I’ve ever had here. And not for the first time, he sent silent thanks to his mother for throwing him out. It was the best thing she’d ever done for him.
    Henry sat down at the head of the table, and C.L. folded his hands while Anna dropped into her chair and bowed her head. Henry said, “Lord, thank you for this food, Amen.” Anna and C.L. echoed, “Amen,” and then Henry reached for the ham and Anna passed the biscuits to him, and C.L. scooped up a ladle of potatoes. “Don’t eat all of those, boy,” Henry said, and C.L. looked at the huge bowl and said, “Well, I don’t know, Henry. I’m hungry tonight.”
    “Worked up an appetite asking questions all over town, did you?” Henry stared at him from under furry white eyebrows, and Anna said, “Henry, the boy’s eating.”
    C.L. grinned at his uncle and shoved the potatoes across the shiny oilcloth. “I was just looking for Brent Faraday. Didn’t anybody tell you that?”
    “About twenty people,” Henry growled. “You up to something?”
    “Nope.” C.L. forked a piece of ham the size of Florida onto his plate. “Just doing one last favor for Sheila.”
    Anna hesitated, her fork frozen over her plate. “Sheila?”
    Too late, C.L. remembered that Sheila was not one of his aunt’s favorite people. “It’s all right. She just called and asked me to check into some things. She’s getting married to Stan Sawyer. Don’t worry.”
    “I’m not worrying,” Anna said, but she put her fork down.
    “It’s all right,” C.L. said. “It’s just a favor, that’s all. She said if I did this for her, she’d sign away the rest of the alimony. This is all about money.” He reached over and patted her hand. “It’s all right. Eat.”
    Anna gave a small humph sound and picked up her fork.
    Henry picked up the attack. “So what does Sheila have to do with Brent Faraday?”
    C.L. stifled a sigh and turned back to his uncle. There was no use fighting it. Henry was going to get all he knew sooner or later