Daffodils in Spring by Pamela Morsi

Author:Pamela Morsi
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-11-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Calla didn’t know exactly how she was going to broach the subject of going back to school and getting involved in the book group. Her first plan involved the easy way out. She’d tell Nathan and he’d tell his girlfriend to go and she would.

Of course, nothing was ever easy.

“She doesn’t like the idea of going to an alternative high school,” Nathan said. “Jazzy says they’re only for misfits and criminals. And she’s not that big on reading. I don’t think she’d be interested in a book club.”

“It’s not really a book club for people who already love reading,” Calla explained. “It’s more a book club for young women who haven’t even thought about reading.”

He shrugged. “Look, I don’t think she’ll go. But you can ask her.”

“I was hoping that you would,” Calla replied.

“Me?” Nathan looked up from his breakfast cereal. “Not a chance.”

“Why not?”

“Things are just not that good between us,” he said. “She’s in this weird place. She wants to be with me every minute. But everything I say or do seems to annoy her. If I suggested it, she’d think I was trying to get rid of her or change her or…or something. I’m just laying low and letting things work out. Isn’t that what you told me to do, Mom?”

It had been what she told him. And he was probably right about her reaction. Calla needed to be the one to convince her. She decided to try the direct approach, and if that didn’t work, she’d play it by ear.

She made arrangements to leave work early the next Monday. She wanted to go by the Cleveland apartment before either Gerty or Nathan had gotten home.

She knocked on the door of 2B. She could hear the sounds of a game show on the television. A shadow momentarily passed across the peephole and then the door opened abruptly. Jazleen’s eyes were wide with fright.

“Is Nathan all right?” she asked.

“Oh yes, yes, Nathan is fine,” Calla answered. “I didn’t come here about Nathan.”

Jazleen sighed with relief, then immediately her expression turned puzzled.

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Jazleen’s gaze became wary. She leaned indolently against the doorjamb.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“May I come in?”

With a reluctant shrug, she invited Calla inside.

The place was neat as a pin, and from the tiny kitchen came the warm and homey smell of pinto beans boiling on the stove.

Jazleen flounced across the room and seated herself cross-legged on the couch. She glanced at Calla and then deliberately turned her attention to the game show, as if she intended to ignore the woman’s presence completely.

Calla, giving herself maternal license, picked up the remote control and silenced the room.

“I was watching that.”

“I want to talk to you about something,” Calla said. “It shouldn’t take long.”

Jazleen’s expression was tight-lipped and defiant. “I’m not your child,” she pointed out. “Don’t think you can boss me around the way you do Nathan. Nobody tells me what to do.”

“I didn’t come here to give any orders,” Calla said as gently as she could manage.

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