Read Online The Healing by Frances Pergamo - Free Book Online Page A

beside him was playing a lively rock song, he sat perfectly still except for the rippling of his jaw as he chewed a piece of gum. He brightened considerably the instant he saw Karen, yet it wasn’t simply that he was glad for the company on a lonely day. There was genuine affection in his expression.
    â€œThe weather forecast is calling for rain this afternoon,” she informed him.
    Mike shrugged his powerful shoulders. “I have to be here anyway.”
    Karen sat across from him at the table. “How boring.”
    â€œNot anymore,” he said.
    â€œWhat are you reading?”
    He turned the book over. “Oh, just some murder mystery. I try to identify with the wise-guy detective and figure everything out before the end.”
    â€œWhy doesn’t that surprise me?”
    â€œI guess you’re getting to know me.”
    Now Karen was the one to grin. “I guess I am.”
    â€œWhat kind of books do you like to read?”
    â€œHistorical novels and sweeping family sagas,” Karen answered. “You know, the kind that are about twelve hundred pages long.”
    â€œNo juicy love stories?” Mike probed.
    â€œOnly if they’re complicated and unpredictable.”
    He blinked at her thoughtfully for a moment but didn’t volley back a reply. It was obvious his wheels were spinning, but the words weren’t forming.
    Karen’s smile faltered. Had she said something wrong? “What’s the matter?” she asked.
    â€œNothing,” he said, and started fidgeting with the empty gum wrapper on the table. “It’s just that—well—you’re not like most girls your age.”
    She didn’t quite know how to take that remark. “What do you mean?”
    â€œDon’t get me wrong,” he said. “I mean it as a compliment. You seem so—I don’t know—so down-to-earth. So together. So feminine .”
    Karen’s eyes widened. She was the jock of the group, yet Mike perceived her as more feminine than somebody like Anya? “How so?” she asked, truly curious.
    He seemed relaxed in talking to her openly, but his hands continued to fold the gum wrapper. “I don’t know if I can explain it,” he said. “But remember yesterday we were talking about how you blushed that first day on the beach?”
    Karen nodded.
    Mike continued, “Well, that spoke volumes about you. It was like I had some kind of psychic experience when I saw how you reacted to me. The way you kept your shorts on until I wasn’t looking and sat there on your towel all uptight.” He grinned at her, but then he got serious again. “You weren’t into playing games or strutting your stuff like the other girls. Stop me if I’m way off track, but I’m guessing you’re a good girl from a good family. You follow the rules. You always do what’s expected of you. And your father probably spent the last four or five years telling you that all guys are on the make.”
    It was unbelievable. He might as well have been looking into a crystal ball.
    Karen suddenly had her own flash of insight about Mike Donnelly. The real Mike Donnelly. He wasn’t perched on the lifeguard chair like some bronze demigod who was menacing or out of reach. He was sitting across from her with his worn-out sweatshirt and windblown hair, more real and connected to her than any human being had ever been. “I’m afraid I wasn’t as accurate when it came to judging you,” she told him.
    His features curled with the grin she had come to love. “Don’t be so quick to doubt your instincts,” he said. “A few months ago, you probably would’ve been dead-on.”
    â€œSo why the change?” Karen asked innocently.
    Mike looked at the table, obviously gathering his thoughts and choosing his words carefully. “I guess I grew up a little,” he said, his eyes locking on hers with new