Read Online The "What If" Guy by Brooke Moss - Free Book Online

all the time.” Holly nudged me playfully.
    “I am. I still don’t know what’s going on with my dad. He’s acting so old. He itches all the time and sometimes scratches himself raw. He hardly eats a thing, and when he does, he winds up in the bathroom all night. Elliott is freaked out by how much he shakes, too. I really need to find out what’s wrong with him, but his doctors won’t tell me anything. Neither will my dad.”
    Holly’s eyes grew sad. “He’s been hitting the bottle heavy for the past decade. Those first couple of years after you left were rough for him. He lost his license for a while and had to walk everywhere. My mom and dad found him asleep in their front yard one night.”
    I cringed at the thought of my father passed out among Mrs. Momsen’s yard gnomes. “Oh, lord, how embarrassing.”
    “Ah, we got used to it.” Cody smiled patiently. “We all took turns taking care of Billy. The women kept him fed until he learned how to make a couple things for himself. And Smartie Guire drove him around until he got his license back.”
    That familiar guilt gripped my gut again. “I hate to admit it, but when I left, I was sick of taking care of my dad. I didn’t stop to think that he’d become the whole town’s problem.” I waved to a neighbor as she dropped some candy into Elliott’s bag. “Add a broken heart and an unplanned pregnancy, and I just couldn’t come back, not even to check on him. I’d talked so big at school, bragging that I was never coming back here, that I’d become a famous painter, that I’d be the biggest name to ever come out of Fairfield. I wish I could take it all back.”
    Cody and Holly exchanged a knowing glance. By the time I’d left town after graduation, my attitude had gotten embarrassingly disrespectful. Hindsight was a real bitch, just like I had been.
    Cody snickered and straightened Trevor’s hat. “I remember that. You actually told the ladies in the school office not to hang your picture on the wall with the other graduates because you were going to be bigger than all of us.”
    Covering my face, I moaned. “I was such a brat.”
    “It’s okay. They put your picture up, anyway.”
    “They did? Argh, my senior picture was a real winner.”
    “At least you didn’t have yours taken with your boyfriend. Talk about overkill.” Holly raised an eyebrow at Cody.
    “I know, right? It’s like screaming, ’Hello. I’m taken.’” I laughed.
    “I thought we looked good.” Cody frowned, his blond eyebrows pinched together.
    Holly shook her head. “It could have been worse. Kyle Norten had his taken with his trombone.”
    “That’s like screaming, ’I’ll never get laid.’” I dug in my pocket for another piece of candy.
    The three of us giggled like kids as we crossed the street with the children.
    “Mommy?” Tanner called.
    “Yes dear?” Holly sang in a sickeningly sweet voice.
    “What does get laid mean?”
    I snorted.
    “Nothing honey, go back to your trick-or-treating.” Holly shook with laughter and pointed at herself. “Mother of the year, right here.”
    “You’re a great mom,” I said. “Five kids, and one on the way. You run a household and a preschool, care for your kids, and help with the farm. You’re supermom.”
    “Whatever,” she chided. “You’re a college-educated single mom, an artist, and a pharmacy clerk. You’rethe supermom.”
    I hung my head. “I never got my degree. I worked in a gallery. But as a manager, not an artist.”
    “You never finished your degree?” Cody asked in disbelief.
    I wrapped my arms around myself. “No. I never went back. When Elliott was old enough to start kindergarten, I enrolled him in a private school that focused primarily on the arts. I put in extra hours to send him there, but I didn’t mind. I didn’t have a career painting, but I worked in a gallery and Elliott was happy.”
    “Hmm…” Holly murmured. Cody pecked her on the cheek then chased after Thomas, who was