Read Online To Have and to Hold by Laura Dower - Free Book Online Page B

the store. This was way too close for comfort.
    Madison looked over “Hey, Hart,” she said, without really looking into his eyes.
    “Find any more books?” Hart asked, running his fingers through his hair. He stood to the side of a computer terminal where Egg helmed the controls.
    “Maddie!” Egg shouted, way too loudly. “You have to help me!”
    Egg punched blindly at a bunch of keys. Hart just watched. Meanwhile, Dan and Chet sat at the next computer terminal checking out a NASCAR website.
    “What’s the address of the wedding page your dad did?” Egg asked.
    “Why do you want that ?” Madison sighed. She’d nearly forgotten about Dad’s “We’re Getting Hitched!” webpage. “Oh, Egg. You don’t want to look at my dad’s stupid page,” Madison said.
    “Yeah, I do,” Egg replied. “Just tell me the address.”
    “His home page is his name,” Madison said.
    Egg typed it in. Up on the screen, Dad’s work logo appeared. Below a scrolling list of pages for his company, Madison saw the links “Invitation,” “Wedding Party,” and “Sign Our Guestbook.” In one corner was a small photo of Dad and Stephanie together. Egg clicked to enlarge it.
    “Whoa, who’s that?” Chet said, glancing over from his terminal.
    “My future stepmother,” Madison groaned as the now larger-than-life photo of Dad and Stephanie came into view.
    “She’s really pretty,” Chet said.
    “No kidding,” Egg said, giving Madison a teasing little punch in the side.
    She punched him right back—only harder.
    “ Ouch !” Egg cried.
    “Your dad has a cool webpage,” Hart said.
    “He put a lot of new stuff up since you last showed it to me at the animal clinic,” Dan said.
    Madison cringed. Why were her friends looking at her dad’s webpage? Why couldn’t they flip back to NASCAR?
    The boys clicked on “Sign Our Guestbook.” A page with blanks to be filled in appeared. Egg typed in everybody’s name. Then he asked the group, “What should I type for a message?”
    “This is really dumb, Egg,” Madison said. She wanted to melt into the floor.
    “I know! Type in ‘Congrats, Mr. Finn,’” Dan suggested.
    Egg tapped out the words on the keyboard. He added: “From all of Maddie’s friends.”
    “That looks cool,” Chet said.
    Everyone agreed. Egg hit SEND .
    “What did you do that for?” Madison asked, sulking a little.
    “I don’t know,” Egg said. “Because it was there.”
    The other guys laughed. Madison bent over and hit the OFF key on the computer.
    “Hey!” Egg cried. “What did you do that for?”
    “We’re done here, right?” Hart said.
    “Let’s go get some of those free smoothies from Mr. Gillespie,” Chet suggested.
    “Yum,” Dan said, eager to have something to eat. Sometimes friends referred to Dan as the “garbage disposal” at school. He would eat anyone’s lunch leftovers, anytime.
    “I’ll go find Aimee and the others,” Madison said, turning away from the boys. She wanted out of there—fast!
    Luckily, the smoothies smoothed over any crabby moments, and the later afternoon delivered less embarrassment. At around three o’clock, the rain finally stopped. Egg convinced everyone to head down to Lake Dora to go swimming, even though the sky still looked cloudy.
    “Oh, I can’t go,” Madison said.
    Egg teased her. “Why not?” he complained. “You can’t just ditch us. Come on. You’re not mad about that webpage thing, are you?”
    “No. I have to finish getting ready for Texas,” Madison said. “Sorry.”
    “When are you leaving, again?” Dan asked.
    “Tomorrow,” Madison said.
    “I can’t believe you’re going so far away,” Fiona said, looking a little sad.
    “Give me a break,” Chet cracked to his twin sister. “You’re such a drama queen. She’s only going for a wedding.”
    “But the trip is five days,” Aimee corrected him. “And that is a long time.”
    “It’ll go fast,” Egg said.
    “I’ll miss you,” Fiona said, reaching