Dreadful Sorry Read Free Page A

the morning, even before Molly finished breakfast, and returned around six in the evening. It was Molly's job to get their dinner started. The two of them would chat over dinner and then do the dishes together.
    Molly wedged one foot at the side of the dashboard and glanced over at her mother. "So how come you left early today?"
    "I'm going to dinner with a new lawyer at the firm. So I just told my secretary to divert all my calls and decided I'd come home early to get ready."
    "Must be a very important new lawyer. Is it a man?"
    "Yes." Jen kept her eyes on the road.
    Molly looked at her mother and tried to smile naturally. "Rich and handsome?"
    Jen raised an eyebrow. "This is strictly a business dinner." Then she glanced over at Molly and grinned. "I know you. You're wondering when I'll run off with Mr. Right, aren't you? Well, I promise I'll let you know when I find him." The grin turned into a smirk. "But don't you think one puppy-dog-eyed parent-in-love at a time is enough?"
    Molly ignored this reference to her recently remarried father. Her mother was always laughing at her father.
    Jen stopped the car at a light. "So? How was it today?"
    "What?"
I made a fool of myself, that's how it was. And not just at the pool.
    "Your lesson, of course. How did it go?"
    "Fine, I guess."
Where could I have seen Kathi's cousin before?
    Jen accelerated smoothly. "You got in the water, I hope?"
    "Of course, Mom."
He must think I'm a total dork. Why did I call him that bizarre name?
    "Did you even get your hair wet?"
    Molly frowned at her mother. "Of course! I even dried my hair afterward, just like a good sensible girl."
    "All right." Jen turned off Route 21 and drove around the bend onto Valley. "I'm glad there's some progress. Really, I wish you'd told me years ago that you couldn't swim. I would have sworn you could. I mean, we never went swimming together, but I just assumed ... Well, we've been all through that. What really gets me is the lie. Forgery, Molly! Really! And you with a mother in criminal law." She pulled the car into their driveway and cut the engine. "If you're worried about something, I wish you'd talk to me about it. That's the way people solve their problems in this world. By talking things over and formulating solutions."
    "You make everything into a business meeting." Immediately Molly regretted her sharp tone. Her mother was only trying to help.
    "Business meetings get things done," said Jen. "And I think it would be ridiculous if you weren't able to graduate with your class this time next year." She shook her blond head and fished in her purse for the house key. "The smartest girl in the school!"
    Molly slipped out of the car and followed her mother slowly up the walk. "The policy stinks, Mom. Joe Rabinski doesn't have to take the test."
    "Well, it's different with him. He has a medical excuse. Joe's knee is still in a cast after the car accident. You, on the other hand, don't have a valid reason at all." Jen glanced at Molly as she opened the door. "Hey, are you all right? You look so ... shaky."
    Molly hugged her backpack to her chest and pushed past her mother. "I'm fine."
    "Well, never mind," Jen said comfortingly. "Everything's working out all right now. You'll be swimming in no time. I asked everyone—and they tell me Coach Bascombe's the best teacher around." She kicked off her pumps and moved toward the kitchen. "I have to leave at seven, but I'll cook tonight—something just for you."
    Molly escaped to her room and lay on the bed. She could hear classical music blasting from the kitchen as Jen began preparing the meal. Jen played Beethoven and Tchaikovsky at top volume whenever she cooked or did housework. "It takes me beyond the mundane," she'd explained once when Molly yelled for her to turn the music down.
    Now Molly burrowed her head into her pillow. Thank God it was Friday. No swim lesson tomorrow. Maybe she'd see Michael—go to a film or something Saturday night,(if her mother let her