Read Online The Rockin' Chair by Steven Manchester - Free Book Online Page A

to be healed. For so many reasons, he cried right along with her.
    Evan could feel the hardness of her bones tremble against his broken heart. Pulling back, he peered into her distant eyes. “T, where’s the baby?”
    She sniffled and resumed the hug, whining louder with every sway of his familiar frame. “Lila’s with Nancy … a friend,” she managed between sobs.
    He grabbed her face and forced his own smile. “I’m here now, T. Let’s get a bite to eat and you can tell me everything.”
    She avoided his eyes. “I’m not sure you’ll wanna hear it,” she said shamefully. As if she finally felt the shock of his presence, she looked into his eyes. “What are you doing here, Ev?” she asked.
    He smiled again—only this time he meant it. “Grampa John sent me here to take you home.” Recalling the letter, he sighed. “Grandma’s not doing well.”
    Tara never flinched at the news and retained her empty stare.
    â€œI want to hear what’s been going on with you,” Evan confirmed, and realized again that his concern for another’s feelings numbed his own pain.
    Hand in hand, they walked down the crowded street. As they passed the homeless man, Evan gestured toward him with a nod.
    Like it was common knowledge, Tara shrugged. “That’s Benny. They say he used to work on Wall Street until he and his family got into a car accident. He lost the use of his right leg but he was the lucky one. His wife and kids never made it.”
    Evan fumbled in his wallet and dropped a ten-dollar bill into the cup. The man smiled softly, but quickly returned his gaze to the cruel world before him.
    The long-lost twins sat in the corner booth of some greasy spoon. While his troubled sister hyperventilated and struggled to regain her composure, Evan couldn’t believe his eyes. This broken doll who sat across from him looked like anyone but the happy girl he’d grown up with in Montana. So much time has passed, he thought, and time has not been kind.
    The waitress took the order for more food than two people could have ever eaten, but Tara looked famished and Evan wanted her to have one of everything on the menu. As they waited for the banquet to arrive, Tara stared out the window and—through a long line of sniffles—began her twisted tale. The distance in her eyes told Evan that her mind was no longer with him—if, in fact, it had been at all. Starting as far back as it mattered, she told everything that her mind had not mercifully erased.
    With little money and less understanding of the real world—or at least the world that existed beyond the Rocky Mountains—Tara reached the Big Apple. From the moment she caught sight of this great discovery, she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. Oddly enough, it never once looked back—not one set of eyes.
    For the first time in her brief, sheltered life, Tara stood among millions but felt alone. It was the complete opposite of Montana, where a soul living miles away created the warm feeling of having company. Those first few hours in New York were sort of eerie but, at the same time, the most exciting time she’d ever known. She decided to savor it, wander the streets and watch.
    After grabbing a rubbery sausage sandwich from a heckling street vendor, she bought a newspaper and started on her quest to locate the address her college friend had given her. It was the residence of Nancy Vallee, a kind soul who’d agreed to take Tara in until she found a place of her own. Tara hated to impose and equally disliked the idea of bunking with someone she didn’t know— but every dream has its price, she reasoned. Besides, at that time, the quicker she got out of Dodge, the sooner she could pull down the star that had her name written all over it.
    With large-rimmed glasses and her hair pulled back in a tight bun, Nancy Vallee was one of the nicest people Tara