Taking Back Mary Ellen Black by Lisa Childs

Author:Lisa Childs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Daddy came back alone in the Bonneville. No high beams of a four-wheel drive followed him down the alley. Even the girls, who had been too timid to approach the bald giant, breathed a disappointed sigh that he hadn’t returned. Mom rattled the pans of leftovers she’d heated to fill up that O’Brien boy.

“From the size of him, that wouldn’t have been easy anyhow,” Gram commiserated.

“Daddy’ll eat it, Mom,” I reminded her, knowing she’d be disappointed she hadn’t been able to feed Rye. She loved feeding people.

“But I brought him back a couple of Big Macs.”

“He’ll eat those, too.” As clogged as his arteries probably already were, it wasn’t as if any more fat could get into them. Since I’d moved back I’d harped on them all about fat and exercise, but I’d wasted my breath. They hadn’t changed. Nothing ever changed in this house. Not the faded yellow countertops. Not the teapot wallpaper. And not me if I stayed here. “Gram, can I talk to you a minute?”

I steered her into the living room, out of my mother’s ear-shot. Funny how sometimes she seemed as deaf as Grandma, unless you were talking about something you didn’t want her to hear. Grandma settled onto the rarely used couch. “What is it?”

“I need to get out of this house, Gram. I love you all, I really do, but the girls and I need a place of our own. I want to take you up on your earlier offer.”

“My pin money?”

I nodded. “I’ll pay you back. Siggy would charge me fifteen percent interest—”

“That crook!”

“I’d rather give you the interest than Siggy. You can use it for Vegas.”

Grandma leaned forward and squeezed my hands. “You don’t need to do that, honey. The money is yours whenever you want it. Just tell me. All I want is for you to be happy. And you’re not going to be happy living here—”

“Thank you!”

“And you’re not going to be happy with boring accountants. If I was looking for a good time in the sack, I’d look at that Ryan O’Brien—”

“He’s my best friend’s little brother.”

“So? He’s not your little brother.”

No, he wasn’t. But I didn’t know what else he was. And if I asked Grandma about him now, she’d think I had more than normal curiosity about a friend’s brother. She’d think I was interested in him as a man.

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