Free Face the Music by Andrea K. Robbins Page A

Molly’s legs.  “Can I ask you something?”
    “What?”
    “It’s kind of stupid, but… ”
    “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.  As a teacher I’m required by law to tell y ou that.”  I raised my eyebrows, gave him an authoritative look , and then laughed .
    He grinned.  “ We usually have a little get-t ogether on Monday night s after the show.  It’s sort of a farewell party for whoever is going home that week .  Anyway, I was thinking it w ould be fun if… if you came.”  He then added, “Hopefully it won’t be my farewell party!” 
    My stomach lurched at the idea. 
    “But what do you think?  Will you come?”
    I watched as he spoke; his breath condensed in the cold air with each word.  He looked at me with those endlessly deep brown eyes and was so unintentionally seductive with the snow whirling around him that my mind blurred.  I had to remind myself to breathe. 
    “Allie?”
    I blinked and sucked in a deep breath of the crisp air.  “Huh?”
    “The party?”
    “Mmmm…well, it sounds fun.  I’ll have to see , though.  I usually watch Molly on Monday nights.  Can I get back to you?”
    “Of course.  You have my number, right?”
    Indeed I did.  “Yeah, and I’ve been trying to figure out, where did you get mine?  I thought Emily gave it to you, but she said she didn’t.”
    A trace o f a smile played at his mouth.  “You did.  You gave it to me that night at the club.   You were pretty out of it by then. ”
    I had absolutely no memory of that.  “I wonder if there are any other strange men walking around Chicago with my number,” I muttered, annoyed at myself.
    He laughed.  “Strange, huh?  Look, I’m not trying to hook up with you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    “What?”  I stopped walking and stared at him.
    “Your apartment walls are thin.”  He watched as I digested what he was telling me.  “But you have to admit, I am pretty sexy, right?”
    My mouth just hung open.  “Is this your thing?” I asked once I’d found my voice.  “You get off by feeding your ego at the expense of others?”
    He laughed again.  “I like making you blush.”
    I shook my head in exasperation .  What w as I supposed to say to that?
    By the time we got inside, Molly had fallen asleep in his arms.  He looked perfectly content as he cradled her.  A turbulent wave swelled in my chest, and at that moment I became very aware of the fact that I was feeling something much more than my initial, phys ical attraction towards Chris.   I swallowed hard and did my best to bury those feelings.   I’d been burned once before.  I had no desire to let it happen again.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
    Saturday afternoon I went to see Grams.  It had been weeks since my last visit to the Cedar Cr eek Nursing Home, and since Grams’s health was in a constant state of decline , I tried to stop by as much as I could.  Although the quality of our visits grew increasingly worse as her disease progressed, I told myself that, deep down, she appreciated our time together.
    Alzheimer’s started claiming Grams’s mind about ten years earlier .  At first she just seemed forgetful.  She would lose her keys or misplace her purse, but it got worse over the years and one day she went for a walk and didn’t come home.  Mom found her on a park bench about three miles from the house.  She couldn’t tell us how she got there and didn’t remember the way home.  Mom took her to a specialist after that, and it was then that we learned of her condition. 
    Gramps took care of her for the first few years, but he had a heart condition and one morning just didn’t wake up.  Poor Grams was devastated; after being married for nearly forty y ears she just couldn’t understand why Gramps wasn’t there anymore.  She came to live with us after that, but then Mom died, and it got to be more than I could handle.
    Cedar Creek was recommended by one of her doctors.  It was a