Read Online These Boots Weren't Made for Walking by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online Page B

now.” He looks curiously at me as if he's not quite sure who I am. “You really are Cassidy Cantrell, right?”
    “Of course.”
    “But your mom said you were driving from the city, and I don't see a car.”
    I laugh nervously. “No, I actually came here in a U-Haul truck. I just unloaded all my stuff into the garage.” I point down at my grungy attire. “As you can see, I still have on my moving clothes. I just turned the truck in and decided to walk home.” I really wish I could shove my hands into my pockets right now. I'd like to play up the sporty sort of fun girl who's not afraid to drive a U-Haul truck or walk across town, but my jeans are too tight for this little gesture.
    He looks surprised. “So you are moving back to town?”
    I shrug, then shyly smile again. “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “Your mom said it was just a visit.”
    “Mom doesn't know everything,” I say a bit slyly.
    He turns at the sound of a car coming down the street, and we both watch a sleek silver sports car slow down and pull into the driveway. I wonder what's going on here and why Mom's driveway has suddenly turned into Grand Central Station.
    “Speaking of your mom…” Todd nods toward the prettyblond driver, who's now climbing out of the car, as if this should all make some kind of sense to me, which it totally doesn't.
    “Huh?” I study the tall, thin woman in the stylish denim jacket and belted, low-rise jeans. She smiles at me, then removes her sunglasses. For a split second, I almost think it's my sister Callie, only this woman seems a bit older.
    “Hey, Audra,” says Todd, using
my mother's
first name, as he goes over to greet this woman. He gives her a quick hug followed by a peck on the cheek. Reality hits me like a baseball bat to the side of the head.
That woman is my mother!

odd,” says the slender, pretty woman standing in my mom's driveway, “did you meet Cassidy already?” She uses a voice that sounds strangely like my mothers. Can this really be true?
    “Yes,” says Todd. “She just walked up, and I assumed it was your daughter.”
    “You assumed right,” she says as she walks toward me.
    Todd laughs. “But I forgot to introduce myself.”
    “I already know you who
you
are,” I tell him in a chilly voice. My mom, who really looks nothing like my mom, has her arms opened wide and is grinning at me as if she thinks this is all very funny.
    “You already know Todd?” she says as she hugs me tightly, the same way she always has, but there's so much less of her for me to hug in return.
    I give her a reluctant squeeze, then step back and study her closely just to make sure it really is her. And it is; the eyes give her away. “Yeah, Todd was a year ahead of me in high school,” I say pointedly. As in
He could be your son, Mom.
    She just laughs, then gently punches him in the arm. “You didn't tell me that, Todd. You gave me the impression you were older.”
    Todd looks slightly embarrassed as he peers at me. “Really? We were in school together?”
    “Yes,” I tell him, not taking my eyes off my transformed mother. When did she lose all that weight? More important, how did she? “I'm sure you don't remember me.”
    “Well, that was a long time ago,” he says, smiling at my mom.
    “But you told me you were older than my girls,” she teases.
    “I just figured I must be,” he says. “You never mentioned their ages, and judging by you, I could only assume they were much younger.”
    She smiles even bigger now. “Thanks for the compliment, but I distinctly remember your telling me that you were pushing forty.”
    “I am pushing forty, just not too hard. It was the only way to get you to go out with me, Audra. I figured if we were
both
in our forties…”
    My mom says nothing, which makes me wonder if she's been lying about her age too. What else might be going on here?
    “I looked all over town for you, Cassie,” she says in a slightly scolding tone, sounding more like Mom. “I read your