Any Man of Mine Read Free

I am now.” Tracy complained in a voice that conveyed to me her utter disbelief that I would seriously want to leave home and community and head to the big, bad city.
    I tried to find the words that would make her understand, as I wrapped my hands around the steering wheel and rested my chin on it, staring through the window of the garage in front of us. “You see that man?” I asked Tracy, lifting my pinky finger to point at Tom Grady. “He pulled me out of Frieson’s pond when my brothers dared me to skate across it. He told me to be quiet in church when I was a crazy teenager sitting with her friends. He loves to tease me about an especially touching moment of the Christmas program when I, as an innocent girl of five, lifted up the skirt of my best Sunday dress as I stood on the stage displaying my underwear to my horrified family members and an amused public. There are at least a dozen people who have some kind of memory of me that is either unflattering or embarrassing. There are no secrets in this town for me. There is no mystery. No surprises.”
    â€œI can see why you want to leave. Sort of,” Tracy conceded. “But I’m selfish. And I want you here. With me and David.”
    â€œI know. And I love you and David, too. But with me and my brothers, well, I’m losing the love.They’re turning into permanent residents. If I want to be released from guy-dom, I have to move out.”
    â€œBut the city…”
    I don’t know why I had hoped she would support my decision. Tracy was warming to hearth and home of late. She had even bought David a pair of slippers. Next was an SUV and the requisite Labrador retriever. From there it was a quick slip into having children, and I knew she wanted to share each step with me. The way my love life was unfolding, I wasn’t going to catch up any time soon.
    â€œIt might not happen,” I said with a lame attempt at reconciliation. “I could spend the rest of my days stuck here in town with Dad and the boys and their toys and dirt and stuff, turning into an old maid who reminisces about the few dates she went on with the occasional man that made Preston a momentary stopping point in his climb up the career ladder.”
    â€œI can see that I’m not going to get anywhere with you today,” Tracy said primly, pushing open the door. “I’ll go see if my car is ready.”
    Tracy disappeared into the building, the tilt of her dark head telling me more than her parting comment did. The vibration of my cell phone gave me something else to think about. The number gave me something else to sigh about. It was my brother Neil.
    â€œHey, babe,” he said as I flipped open the phone and mumbled hello. “Can you stop by the shop? Chip needs a ride home to pick up my truck and bring it here.”
    â€œI was going to come anyway to get you guys to fix my flat tire,” I said, glancing quickly at my watch. Neil and Chip worked at another mechanic’s shop in town and I liked to give them my business. Tracy’s husband David got all his mechanic work at Grady’s. When they got married, Tracy started going there, too. I thought this took the whole “whither thou goest I will go” part of the wedding vows they exchanged too far. As for me, I went to the place my brothers worked at because I often got a deal on work done on my car. “But first I have to stop at the office then run a couple of errands.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œSo that means he’ll have to wait for about an hour.”
    â€œHang on a sec, I’ll tell him.” He put the phone down. Over the clanging of metal I could hear Neil deliver this information to my other brother, then some muttered conversation, followed by a shouted-out greeting to someone entering the shop. Then a burst of laughter. Sounded like they were having fun. I waited and waited. No surprise that their time was more valuable than mine.
    I