Another Summer by Georgia Bockoven

Author:Georgia Bockoven
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780062004215
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2001-07-30T21:00:00+00:00

“HE WON’T EVEN KNOW I’M NOT THERE,” Ann insisted. “All those rides only take two people at a time anyway. I’d just be standing around all day waiting while you two were going from the Ferris wheel to the roller coaster to the tilt-a-wheel.”

“You don’t have to stand around. You can go on the rides with him.”

“You know I don’t like that stuff. I never have.” Ann opened the egg carton and began cracking eggs into a bowl for French toast, Jeremy’s favorite breakfast. “And Jeremy knows how much I hate crowds. You two can spend the day together and then we’ll all go to Monterey tonight to watch the fireworks.”

“How can you do this to him, Ann?”

She turned on him. “How can you do this to me?” She sucked in her bottom lip and bit down hard. She might not be able to give Jeremy what he really wanted or needed on this day, but she was determined she wasn’t going to let him see her cry on his birthday.

“I’m hanging on by my fingertips, Craig. And you keep pulling on my ankles.”

“It’s his birthday, Ann. Can’t you get it together just this one day?”

Her throat hurt from trying to hold back tears. “It isn’t just Jeremy’s birthday–it’s Angela’s, too. I don’t understand how you can put that aside so easily.”

“And I don’t understand why you pick days to focus on her loss. Why was it more important to think about what she missed by never experiencing a Christmas or Valentine’s Day or Easter than it is to know she missed knowing what a terrific big brother she had every single day of the year? Who the hell cares about a box of candy shaped like a heart when there are snowflakes and rainbows and butterflies to see and feel?”

“You can’t know what it’s like to carry a baby all that time and–”

“But I do know what it’s like to cut the cord that attached her to you. And I know what it felt like to be the first one to hold her and welcome her into the world.”

“You welcomed her … I told her good-bye.” Ann couldn’t look at him anymore. She turned away and picked up another egg, balancing it on the edge of the bowl as the tears she could no longer control began to fall.

“Please,” Craig said. “This will be a birthday Jeremy remembers the rest of his life.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“If you know,” he said, anger thick in his voice. “Why don’t you care?”

She caught her breath in surprise and in pain at his cutting remark. She turned to face him. “How could you say that to me? What gives you the right?”

He stared at her a long time before answering. “How long is this going to go on, Ann? Months? Years? Give me something to shoot for. If nothing else, dangle a carrot in front of me to keep me going. I need something to hang on to.” Looking away and

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