Paper Moon Read Free

mind me, just give me the bear and get on that plane. Karen won’t forgive you if you embarrass her by giving her a teddy bear in front of her friends.”
    Blaine grimaced. He hadn’t thought of that. The idea that his little girl had outgrown teddy bears from her daddy stung somewhere deep inside. He gave his mom a hug and a hasty kiss on the cheek and handed over the stuffed animal.
    â€œThanks, Mom. You take it easy while we’re gone. I mean it.” He put a hand on her shoulder, lightly tanned from early morning hours spent in her garden. With a little help from boxed hair color and a complexion that defied time, she hardly looked her sixty-two years. She’d always been blessed with good health, and he was blessed with her. She had rented out the home she and her late husband had shared in Florida and moved back to Edenton to take care of Karen after Ellie’s untimely death.
    â€œNow if that’s not the pot calling the kettle black,” she snorted, “I don’t know what is.”
    â€œI don’t know what I’d do without you,” he repeated in earnest.
    â€œMe neither.” Neta gave him a gentle but firm shove. “Now get going. I promised Mark I’d meet him for dinner tonight.”
    â€œIf he’s not there by the end of happy hour, I wouldn’t wait for him,” Blaine called over his shoulder.
    At the gate, Blaine handed the ticket clerk his boarding pass.
    â€œWelcome aboard, Mr. Madison.” A bright-eyed miss in uniform flashed a picture-perfect smile.
    â€œThanks for waiting.” Not that it was her decision.
    Some of the other travelers were not as tolerant, given the scowls cast in Blaine’s direction. Scanning the seats, he spied a block of passengers wearing the orange-and-green colors of Edenton. In their midst, his daughter stood, waving frantically to get his attention.
    â€œI didn’t think you were going to make it,” she accused.
    â€œI was beginning to wonder myself. My earlier plane was delayed by a security alert. It made me miss my connec—”
    â€œHere’s your shirt.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWe’re all wearing the same T-shirts so we know who is in our group.” Karen enunciated carefully, as if he had the wit of a Neanderthal.
    â€œI’ll put it on later . . . although, you realize, it clashes with my tie,” he said, hoping to lighten the mood.
    With a roll of her eyes, she dropped into her seat.
    Blaine hesitated a moment. The only seat open in the group was not beside his ponytailed daughter, but behind her.
    â€œI was supposed to sit with you, but when you didn’t get here, I swapped with Miz C so I could sit with Annie,” Karen told him.
    â€œHi, Mr. Madison,” said a perky blonde-haired clone beside Karen, her braced teeth gleaming through her smile.
    So much for father-daughter quality time.
    â€œAnnie, good to see you again.” He vaguely recognized her. Karen rarely had friends over, and if she did, they stayed locked up in her room as if adult exposure might be contagious.
    â€œSir, please take your seat and stow your briefcase.” The flight attendant gave him a tightly fixed smile.
    â€œSorry.” He slid into his seat.
    â€œI have you checked in, Mr. Madison. Glad you could make it,” a woman with a clipboard and heavy Spanish accent announced from across the aisle. Wearing dark-rimmed wire glasses, and with her equally dark hair knotted in the back and skewered by what looked like short wooden knitting needles, the lady dropped the board into a briefcase and shut it with an authoritative click. Blaine wasn’t certain if it was the taut coiffure or heavy eyeliner that gave her coal-dark eyes the illusion of a slant.
    â€œThank you, Miss—” What was the name on the permission slip he’d signed? He finished with a smooth “Marron.”
    â€œMah-rrrown,” the Spanish teacher corrected, rolling