One Second After Read Free Page B

go inside to wait?”
    â€œWith those two mongrels? The way they jump, they’d ruin my nylons.”
    Ginger and Zach were all over John, jumping, barking, leaping about . . . and studiously avoiding Jen. Though dumb, goldens knew when someone didn’t like them no matter how charming they might be.
    John reached in, pulled out the bag of Beanies, and, walking over to the stone wall that bordered the path to the house, began to line them up, one at a time, setting them side by side.
    â€œNow John, really, isn’t she getting a bit old for that?”
    â€œNot yet, not my little girl.”
    Jen laughed softly.
    â€œYou can’t keep time back forever.”
    â€œI can try, can’t I?” he said with a grin.
    She smiled sadly.
    â€œHow do you think Tyler and I felt about you, the day you came through our door?”
    He reached out and gave her an affectionate touch on the cheek.
    â€œYou guys loved me.”
    â€œYou a Yankee? Like hell. Tyler actually thought about driving you off with a shotgun. And that first night you stayed over . . .”
    Even after all these years he found he still blushed a bit at that. Jen had caught Mary and him in a less than “proper” situation on the family room sofa at two in the morning. Though not fully improper, it was embarrassing nevertheless, and Jen had never let him live it down.
    He set the Beanies out, stepped back, eyeballed them, like a sergeant examining a row of new recruits. The red, white, and blue “patriot” bear on the right should be in the middle of the ranks where a flag bearer might be.
    He could hear the growl of the school bus as it shifted gears, turning off of old Route 70, coming up the hill.
    â€œHere she comes,” Jen announced excitedly.
    Going back to the Edsel, she leaned in the open window and brought out a flat, elegantly wrapped box, tied off with a neat bow.
    â€œJewelry?” John asked.
    â€œOf course; she’s twelve now. A proper young lady should have a gold necklace at twelve. Her mother did.”
    â€œYeah, I remember that necklace,” he said with a grin. “She was wearing it that night you just mentioned. And she was twenty then.”
    â€œYou cad,” Jen said softly, and slapped him lightly on the shoulder, and he pretended that it was a painful blow.
    Ginger and Zach had stopped jumping around John, both of them cocking their heads, taking in the sound of the approaching school bus, the squeal of the brakes as it stopped at the bottom of the driveway, its yellow barely visible now through the spring-blooming trees.
    They were both off like lightning bolts, running full tilt down the driveway, barking up a storm, and seconds later he could hear the laughter of Jennifer; of Patricia, a year older and their neighbor; and of Seth, Pat’s eleventh-grade brother.
    The girls came running up the driveway, Seth threw a stick, the two dogs diverted by it for a moment but then turned together and charged up the hill behind the girls. Seth waved then crossed the street to his house.
    John felt a hand slip into his . . . Jen’s.
    â€œJust like her mother,” Jen whispered, voice choked.
    Yes, he could see Mary in Jennifer, slender, actually skinny as a rail, shoulder-length blond hair tied back, still a lanky little girl. She slowed a bit, reaching out to put a hand on a tree as if to brace herself, Patricia turned and waited for her. John felt a momentary concern, wanted to go down to her, but knew better, Jen actually held him back.
    â€œYou are too protective,” Jen whispered. “She must handle it on her own.”
    Young Jennifer caught her breath, looked up, a bit pale, saw them waiting, and a radiant smile lit her face.
    â€œMe-ma! And you drove the Edsel today. Can we go for a ride?”
    Jen let her hand slip, bent over slightly as Jennifer ran up to her grandmother, the two embracing.
    â€œHow’s my birthday