Marianne by Elizabeth Hammer (best books to read in life TXT) 📕

my darling son Mickey has been refusing all the food they offer. They sat him down and discovered what I’ve known all along—Mickey Padilla only eats two things. Chicken nuggets in the shape of T-Rexes…” She gestured toward Marianne to finish her sentence. “And...?”

“Oh crap,” said Marianne. “Mayonnaise sandwiches.”

“Bingo,” laughed Danielle. “They thought I was starving the kid of nutrients.”

“Those idiots,” said Marianne. “Why didn’t they just ask you?”

“I don’t even care.” Danielle rolled onto her back and smiled. “It was all worth it just to get that call today.” She sighed and stretched her arms out. “It feels so good.”

“Yeah, but now you have to make lunches again,” said Marianne.

“Gladly,” said Danielle, sitting up. “Who knows best, Marianne? Who knows best?”

“You do.”

“Yes!” She gave Marianne a high-five and stood up. “All righty, gotta go.” She walked out of the room and shouted, “Don’t forget again!” before she closed the front door.

Marianne turned to Patrick and laughed. “I thought she was going to punch me.”

Patrick was staring down at the carpet with that same annoyed vibe coming off of him as before.

“Hello?”

He looked up at her. “How come you didn’t eat today?”

Marianne’s breath caught. She could feel the guilt all over her face. But the guilt was for the past times she’d lied to him, not for today. She hadn’t meant to starve herself today. “I, um...” She stuttered over how to best explain herself. “I just wasn’t hungry in the morning. And then when I was, I decided to wait for dinner. I thought, you know... maybe we could go out or something, so I was waiting for you.”

He still looked irritated. “Are you lying to me?”

Marianne blinked. He’d never called her out like that. And besides, she’d told the truth! She was just deciding to get offended when Patrick spoke again.

“Sorry,” he said. “That was rude.”

Marianne looked down at the ground. No need for him to feel bad; she usually was lying. “No. It’s okay.”

Patrick stood up. “It’s not okay. You shouldn’t have to—”

Marianne cut him off by shaking her head and laughing. “Don’t worry about it. I totally looked like I was lying; I know that. It’s just that... we’ve talked about this before, so it made me uncomfortable when you asked.”

“Oh, no.” Patrick grimaced. “I’m a nag.”

“You are not.” Marianne crossed over to him and put her arms around his waist. “It made me nervous because I don’t like you worrying for me. I don’t like you thinking I’m doing stupid stuff.”

“Okay.” Patrick sighed. “But you know, it would be a lot easier for me to relax if you’d stop forgetting to eat. It’s weird, Marianne.”

“Agreed,” she said. “But I didn’t forget today. I was waiting for you—only you haven’t asked me out yet.”

“Marianne York,” he said in a formal voice. “Will you have dinner with me?”

“I will.”

Patrick smiled, slapped her on the rear, and towed her out of the room.

Marianne couldn’t fall asleep that night. She tried mashing her face into the pillow, putting on socks, closing the curtains... nothing made her comfortable. Why couldn’t she hold it together for even three days in a row? Seducing her boyfriend. Skipping breakfast and lunch. Forgetting Nana. She’d even gone off on Mom tonight when the book had reappeared. She’d done it with righteous, deceitful style, too.

Cringe.

When Marianne had called Patrick on Halloween, she’d looked at it as a kind of reboot on her life. A clean install that would make everything function better from that point on. Try again, loser.

Round and round it went in her head. She just couldn’t get off the topic, and that had to say something about how self-absorbed she was. About two AM, the old fantasies started to show up in her thoughts. Composing a list of The Ten Most Melodramatic Ways Things Could Go Tragically Wrong was tons of fun, but definitely unhealthy, so she decided to get up.

Marianne picked her way through the dark house and into the den. She was just flipping on the computer, crossing her fingers it wouldn’t crash again, when she noticed a light on next door at Nana’s house. She crossed over to the window and saw Danielle and Nana standing on the pavement beneath her. She shoved the window open. “What the hell?”

“Good morning to you, too,” said Danielle.

Marianne looked through the screen toward the sky to see if it was actually much later than she’d thought. It wasn’t. “What the hell?” she repeated.

Danielle shivered in her robe. “Come hang out with us.”

Come what? Why were they together? Why now, in the middle of the night? Why...

“Okay,” said Marianne. “I’m in.” She turned her back on the garbled computer screen and went out through the back door. She met them on the side yard and followed them on tiptoes through the wet grass in Nana’s backyard and into the house. Danielle closed the door and followed Marianne into the den. Marianne blinked at the bright lights in the house and asked, “Why are you hanging out at three in the morning?”

Danielle shoved her from behind. “Mad that we didn’t invite you earlier?”

“Maybe.”

“She couldn’t sleep,” said Danielle, flopping down on the couch by Nana. “It’s pathetic, but keeping her company is more fun than staying home.”

Nana sat forward and changed the channel to the Home Shopping Network with the remote. “A-N-N… wait,” she said, looking back at Danielle. “Does annoying have two N’s?”

Danielle rolled her eyes and looked at Marianne. “You were right. She does it to get at me. It’s personal.”

Nana winked at Marianne and gestured toward the other couch. Marianne sat down, smiling. “Do you guys want me to make something to eat?”

Danielle sat bolt upright. “What? Like a party?” she said. “Yeah! And let’s play games, too.”

Marianne leaned away from her ridiculous enthusiasm. “You can calm down.”

“Eff off, Marianne,” said Danielle. She started to sit back, but got slapped up the back of the head by Nana. “What?”

Nana tried to look as if she hadn’t done anything. “Watch it,”