Wishing Pearl Read Free Page A

the plastic ring and held it out to Olivia.
    She peeked at the clock on her bedside table. Seven o’clock. They still had three hours before Jordyn had to be home. One beer wouldn’t hurt, would it? And it should be worn off by then anyway.
    “I think I’ll just have one tonight though.” Hopefully Jordyn didn’t see Olivia’s hand shake as she reached out for the beer.
    “Great. More for me.” Jordyn pried open her tab with her fingernail, and a big flake of her neon green nail polish chipped off and fluttered to the floor. She hoisted her can in the air and tipped it toward Olivia before guzzling at least a third of it. Wiping the foam off her mouth, she let out a belch. “The fizz always does that to me on the first drink.” She giggled.
    “Classy.” Olivia shook her head and popped the top of her own can. She took a discreet sniff. Lots of people seemed to like beer, so maybe she would, too. Olivia took a hesitant sip. It tasted quite different than the sweet champagne she’d had at weddings. Foamy, fizzy, and bitter. The way
Chuck
put it away, she figured it would taste a lot better than it did. But maybe it would grow on her.
    Olivia couldn’t pry her eyes off the sight of tiny Jordyn, with her blond hair in schoolgirl braids below her ears, chugging the last of the beer from her first can. She looked like a little girl playing dress-up in her mommy’s clothes.
    Bringing the can to her lips, Olivia took another bubbly sip. It wasn’t horrible—maybe slightly better than the first drink—but it still wouldn’t top her list of favorites with Diet Dr Pepper and cream soda. What she wouldn’t give for a big frosted mug of those two mixed together over a bunch of crushed ice. So far the beer thing didn’t seem that exciting, let alone tasty.
    Jordyn pulled another can from the plastic ring and started right in on it. Within an hour she had three empty cans scattered around her. She rolled from her perch on the bed and stumbled toward the bathroom. “I’ll be right back, after I … well, you know.” She slurred her words then laughed like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.
    Olivia smiled and shook her head. Why did alcohol make smart people so stupid? On the other hand, she hadn’t thought of Charles or his whereabouts in a long time. Maybe she’d discovered the key to coping in her family—get drunk and stay that way to escape from reality. One beer sure wouldn’t cut it though. She took a sip of her beer.
Ick
. It just didn’t taste good. No matter how many times she tried it, she just couldn’t get enough down her throat to make a dent in her fears.
    By nine forty-five, all the beer had disappeared, leaving only crushed cans as evidence. How was Jordyn planning to get home in time for her curfew? Surely she didn’t plan to drive after drinking five beers. Besides, Charles was probably home by now. How would they get her out of the house without running into him?
    “Well, it’s time for me to go.” Jordyn stood up and swayed before she found her balance. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a set of car keys.
“Vroom, vroom.”
She made a steering motion.
    “You can’t drive like this.” Olivia reached for Jordyn’s keys. “No way.”
    Jordyn jerked the set of keys away and dangled them overhead and out of reach. “Don’t be so bossy, Livly. Get it? Like lovely, but Livly. Get it?”
    Oh no. Jordyn was in bad shape. She could hurt herself or someone else or get in really big trouble. Or all of the above. The way she saw it, Olivia had three choices. She could try to get permission from Charles to take Jordyn home. But then he’d want to know why Jordyn couldn’t drive herself home. That wouldn’t work. Second choice: sneak Charles’s keys and do it anyway. Yeah, that would work if she had a death wish. Plus he’d probably search her room while she was gone.
    That reminded her—hide the empty cans before Charles came up for a visit. Olivia scooped up the three