Read Online Thirteenth Child by Karleen Bradford - Free Book Online Page A

instant she was tempted to call to him, even lifted her hand to wave, then Barney grabbed her arm.
    “Look,” he shouted. “They’re starting!”
    Kate jumped as the first bomb burst exploded overhead. Her eyes were drawn immediately tothe shower of multicolored stars falling toward them, but not before she had seen Mike half rise as if about to come over to her, then sink back down when she didn’t wave after all.
    Not my problem, she thought, and soon forgot about him.
    When the fireworks were over and she and Barney went to retrieve their bikes, she remembered him and looked for him back at the dock. He wasn’t there.
    The next morning, the Davidson boy was through the door the moment she opened up.
    “Another robbery!” he told her, bursting with the importance of being the first to bear the news.
    A small variety store had been held up at around midnight. The thief had been wearing a ski mask and had brandished a knife. It was a family-owned business and the owner had made the mistake of trying to fight. The thief had stabbed him in the arm before taking off with everything in the cash register.
    “It’s one of those bikers, I’ll bet.” The group of regulars had come to their own conclusions around their table that afternoon.
    “No way,” Barney countered, when Kate told him what the talk was. “They’re good guys. They wouldn’t do anything like that. It’s somebody from out of town. Has to be.”

seven
    A couple of days later Kate was surprised to see Jed’s pickup pull into the station just as she finished gassing up a car. Mike eased himself out of the cab.
    “Hi,” he said.
    “Hi,” Kate answered.
    “I….” He shrugged and tossed his hair back out of his eyes. “I brought something. Peace offering, sort of.” His voice was carefully offhand.
    She replaced the nozzle in the pump, wiped her hands carefully on a paper towel, and bent down to the car to accept the money from the driver.
    “Figure it’s my turn to apologize.”
    The car drove away. Kate found herself wishingsomebody else would pull up, her dad would appear, her mother would call—anything. She didn’t know what to say.
    “Bad idea, I guess,” Mike muttered, as the silence lengthened. He turned to hoist himself back into the cab.
    “No. Wait.”
    He checked himself. “Want to see what I’ve got?” His eyes lightened and a grin began at one corner of his mouth.
    “Well … sure.”
    He loped around to the back of the truck and lowered the panel with a crash. There was something long and rectangular sitting in the bed of the truck, covered with a tarpaulin. There were also two large coolers in there, and a fair amount of water was sloshing out of them.
    Mike’s grin widened. He pulled the tarpaulin off. “A tavern the other side of town just folded. They had to get rid of all their stuff and they said I could have this if I’d truck it away.”
    “What is it?” she asked. “Looks like a glass coffin.”
    “A fish tank. And wait until you see the fish. They’re in the coolers. Not your usual fish, that’s for sure.”
    “Mike, a fish tank? That size? I don’t know if Dad—”
    “Where is he? Let’s ask him. I got to get those fish out of the coolers pretty quick—they’re too big to stay there very long.”
    Where was her father? Up over the garage, of course. Had been all day. Kate would rather be torn apart by wild horses than admit that to Mike, however.
    “He’s in town.”
    “Never mind. You could put it on that counter beside the worm refrigerator,” Mike said. “Your dad wouldn’t care. Probably think it’s great.”
    Kate had doubts about that, but Mike steamed on. She’d never seen him so enthusiastic.
    “Word gets around, you’ll get people pouring in here just to look at the fish. Business will boom. Your dad couldn’t object to that.”
    No telling what her dad could object to, Kate thought.
    “Here,” Mike went on, jumping up into the back of the truck. “Come on up and take a