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

and her neck was all splotchy from the effort of keeping herself up in midair between the kitchen table and the freezer door.

“Maybe next time,” said Marianne. “Where are your parents?”

“Outside,” said Patrick. “Eating in peace.” He turned around and started getting food for Marianne.

“I think you need to move Adam,” said Marianne, pointing toward the little boy. “He looks like he’s going to pass out.”

“All right,” said Patrick. “You guys are done.”

Wah! They all screamed at him, but Patrick ignored them. “Go eat. We’ll play again tomorrow.”

The kids did stop whining, but they just scattered around the house and didn’t go back to their dinner. Marianne went and stood by Patrick. “How hungry do you think I am?” she asked. He’d stacked her plate three inches high.

“Do you want to sit in here or in the living room?” Patrick smiled and handed her the plate and fork. There was something funny in the way he looked at her. Like he was watching her too closely.

“Living room.”

Patrick sat on the couch and Marianne on the floor at the coffee table facing him. She ate, but she didn’t like it. It wasn’t the food that bothered her; it was the situation. Like Patrick was prodding her with a stick to see if she’d react. Marianne flicked a piece of rice at him when she caught his eyes on her one too many times. She played it off like teasing, but she was really venting. She could almost see him calculating the calories as she ate them.

“So what did you fight about with your mom?” asked Patrick.

“What do you think?”

He just shrugged.

“You don’t have to pretend.” Marianne took another bite when she was sure he was watching. No reason to waste it; she was only doing it for his benefit. “I know she had a you-know-what talk with you.”

“What kind of talk?”

“You know,” said Marianne, looking at him significantly. She mouthed the word “sex.”

Patrick’s mouth fell open. “Is that what she was getting at?”

“So she was tactful after all?” Marianne was totally shocked. “Or are you lying?”

“She talked about you, but nothing like that.”

Marianne stabbed at her food with her fork. She’d been too embarrassed to tell Patrick anything about her parents’ reaction, and here she was spilling it on accident. She should have trusted Mom more.

“Why would your mom have a sex talk with me,” he asked. “Did you tell her—”

“No!” Marianne looked at him in horror. She shook her head in defeat. “My dad saw your truck outside the morning you came home early. They freaked.”

Patrick bit his lip. “Do they hate me now?”

“No. I told them nothing happened, they just don’t believe me,” said Marianne. “Mom even got a birds and bees book to torture me with. I mean, frick! You’d think I was thirteen years old. I told her—”

“So you lied to them?” he asked, cutting her off.

“What? Did you want me to lay it all out?” She gawked at him. “Maybe we should take photos next time to—”

“Marianne!”

“Well?”

“No,” he laughed. “I don’t want you to lay it all out. I just don’t like you having to lie for me.”

“I lied for me,” she said. “I mean, you should have heard her. She even printed out pictures of gonorrhea off the internet.”

He wrinkled his nose.

“Overprotective twit,” she mumbled.

“She just loves you,” he said. “She said that you were her gold. And that it would break her heart if anything happened to you.”

“Laid it on thick, did she?”

“It was sweet.” Patrick smiled, then exhaled and turned away.

“What?”

“Ah, just parents.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I kind of hoped I’d left that whole scene behind. It’s good for me, though. Keeps me in check.”

Right. Apparently, Mom wasn’t the only one who thought of Marianne as a thirteen-year-old. She stiffened up and put her half-finished plate down on the table. “Yeah, it would really suck to date an actual grownup.”

Patrick frowned at her. “I didn’t mean anything like that.”

Maybe not, but she still wanted him to explain. “That’s what you said.”

“That’s not what I said, and that’s not what I meant.” He kicked her lightly on the leg. “Stop fighting with me. I wanted to take you out tonight.”

Never mind the explanations. Marianne smiled big. “Well, in that case...”

Patrick winked at her. “Have you ever been Frisbee golfing?”

“Have I ever been what?”

“You’ll like it, I promise. Go get ready.” He glanced down at her plate. “Are you done?”

She nodded. “I’ll meet you back here in ten.”

Marianne went home and found her parents in the backyard. She hung on the frame and stuck her head out the door. “I’m going out.”

“Is that an apology?” asked Mom.

Dad fixed his eyes on Mom and said, “Sophie,” under his breath.

Mom crossed her legs and looked away.

“Take your cell phone,” said Dad to Marianne.

Mom gave him a dirty look. “That almost sounds like you’re telling her what to do, Jimmy.”

Dad returned Mom’s look and then gave Marianne a forced smile. “Would you mind taking your phone so you can call if you need anything?”

Mom laughed once. “Oh, is that how this is going to work?” she said. “We have no say in anything, but she gets to call us to rescue her?”

“Yes,” said Dad in a quiet, hard voice. “That’s how it works.” This was a big fight, Marianne could tell. Dad usually kept his opinion to himself where parenting technique was concerned.

Mom exhaled and fixed her eyes on Marianne. “You’d better hope it’s him that answers when you get your one phone call.”

Marianne looked at Dad, and he shrugged slightly.

“What the hell!” said Mom. “You think I can’t see you?” She stood up quickly.

Whoa.

“Sophie, come on...” said Dad.

She rounded on him. “What?”

“Just hold on.” He looked around her to Marianne. “You can go now, Mary.”

“There you go again!” shouted Mom. “Don’t act like I’m the crazy one here. She just listens to you because you give her whatever she wants!”

“Can’t you see the difference here?” Dad was getting angry now.

Schnykies. Marianne