One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

Author:Mara Purnhagen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Canada, Social Issues, Dating & Sex, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic, General, Comics & Graphic Novels, Games, High schools, Ghosts, Fiction, Manga, History
ISBN: 9780373210237
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-02-14T22:00:00+00:00

twelve

It was the cookies that scared me. I’d experienced some terrifying things—a certain asylum immediately came to mind—but walking into the kitchen after school and seeing a plate of freshly baked cookies sitting on a plate, the chocolate chips glistening and melting, was enough to stop me in my tracks.

“Charlotte! You’re home!” Mom emerged from the laundry room holding a basket of folded sheets. She set the basket down and went over to the table. “Sit down and tell me about your day.”

It was a trap. Mom didn’t bake. I wasn’t sure she even knew how to turn on the oven. She was watching me, though, a wide, fake smile stretched across her face, so I sat down at the table.

She pushed the plate toward me. “Here. Have one. Have two!”

I picked up a cookie. “Who died?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No one died. Can’t a mother make her daughter a batch of cookies?”

“Sure, a mother can. Just not my mother.”

Mom frowned. “I knew the cookies were overkill.”

“What’s wrong? Tell me.”

She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. “Dad moved out.”

I dropped my cookie. “He what?”

“It’s only temporary,” Mom said quickly. “He’s going to be staying with Shane for a few weeks, just to get a little space.”

“That’s all? Are you sure?” I didn’t like the sound of “a little space.” Little spaces tended to become big spaces, which grew into wide chasms of nothing.

“I’m sure.” But she didn’t look at me when she said it.

“Well, if that’s all,” I said sarcastically. “Our family is falling apart, but a couple cookies and a few weeks’ living apart should put it back together.”

“Charlotte, stop. I know you’re upset now, but this is for the best.”

“Aren’t you supposed to try counseling or something first?”

“It was our counselor who suggested this.”

I could feel my jaw drop. Mom went on to tell me that she and Dad had been going to couple’s therapy twice a week for more than a month. They attended sessions in the early afternoons, when I was at school. “We didn’t want to worry you,” she said. But I was past worry. It must be bad, I thought, if their own counselor was recommending a trial separation. And when had a separation led to anything but divorce? It was the beginning of the end, and I knew that the scent of fresh-baked cookies would forever remind me of that awful moment in the kitchen.

I retreated to my room. The thirteen roses Harris had sent me stood on my nightstand. A few of them were beginning to droop, their blooms bent over as if they were napping. They wouldn’t last through the week. Not that it mattered.

I sat on my bed and pulled out my cell phone. Harris had already left two messages, but I didn’t feel like talking to him. The only thing on my mind was what was going on with my parents, and I didn’t feel comfortable enough yet with Harris to spill my guts about that. I took a chance and dialed Annalise, hoping she would answer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.