Sharing Hunter by Julie Glover

Author:Julie Glover [Glover, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781734185607
Publisher: JBQ Publishing
Published: 2019-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

23

Chloe

“Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.” – Mark Twain

Dad always said that Easter was the real start of spring.

I sat in my closet and held the golden egg in my hands. Not one of those cheap plastic things for mini-versions of candy. This was one of two smooth wooden eggs painted a piercing gold. The other was somewhere in the house, tucked away in a box where Dad pulled it out every year. He’d make up riddles and leave clues for me to hunt down the prized egg. When I found it, I’d receive a hundred-dollar bill, a proud smile, and—in the last two years, away from my mother’s eyes—a secret toast.

But this egg was mine to hide. I’d joined the tradition of leaving clues for him to hunt down my egg soon after we’d moved into this house. No matter how clever my puzzles, he always beat my time—finding the golden egg first.

Stupid memories. If I expected a rush of emotion staring at an Easter egg, it wasn’t coming. Why I’d even pulled it out, I didn’t know.

I should be using this time for more research or reading ahead for classes. Even though Rachel had assured me I’d moved ahead of Lisa again, my lead wasn’t enough to relax. Our race to the finish line was still on.

I laid the egg back in a box in the corner of my closet, where I stored stuff I didn’t need to deal with regularly. Or at all.

Then headed to the window and shut off my lights so I could peer through the fading dusk. I could easily see the Lejeune house from my second-story view. They were in their backyard with Evan swinging a straw basket, running around, holding up a plastic egg every time he found another one.

Hunter had helped Rachel hide the eggs this afternoon. I’d seen him skulking through the backyard, placing eggs up in trees and under bushes.

When he left, she texted me a pity invite to her family’s evening Easter egg hunt and barbecue supper. Not with the pity dangling outright. Rach would never do that.

But it was there. Her family versus mine.

Rachel laughed at something. Her father threw his arms over her and squeezed hard. She laughed harder, her smile no more than a millimeter of my vision. It looked bigger.

Screw this.

Slamming my blinds closed, I pulled away. Grabbed my jacket, bag, phone. The whole house was dark—Mom ignoring the holiday by agreeing to coordinate two Easter events, one right after the other.

I stopped by Dad’s office to load up my own toast, golden egg or no. Tucking the small flask of liquor into my pocket, I headed out the door.

When I reached Hunter’s street, I slowed my truck to a turtle crawl. Cars filled his driveway and lined the street. His house displayed an Easter wreath and balloons at the entrance. I hadn’t bothered to ask what he was doing for Easter.

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.