Free Out of the Shadow by J. K. Winn Page B

funeral, she swallowed the knot of misery forming in her throat. "Thanks. I appreciate your sentiment, but I’d rather not speak about it right now."
    A stricken look formed in his eyes. "I shouldn’t have brought it up."
    She could see his embarrassment. "I’m the one who should be sorry. You were only trying to be helpful."
    "Tell you what," he said. "To make up for my blunder, how about if I take you out for coffee sometime. I’d like to get to know you better."
    Before she had a chance to answer, Julie appeared at her side, with an expression Becca knew only too well. Her mother's pleasure because she had hit it off with Drew dampened her enthusiasm for him a little.
    "I have someone I’d like you to see." Julie held onto the hand of Becca’s cousin Andy who, according to the set of his jaw, had been dragged over against his will. She smiled up at him, noting how much he looked as she remembered him, skinny and shy, with disheveled, mousey-brown hair and a wrinkled shirt. Andy might have graduated from college by now, but he had quite obviously never advanced much past nerd.
    She rose to give Andy a hug. When she asked him a simple question, he immediately lunged into a long diatribe about his stamp collection, offering Julie the opportunity to pull Drew aside and bend his ear.
    Always polite, Becca listened absent-mindedly to Andy, although what he called philately, or stamp collecting, didn’t interest her in the least. She soon found herself distracted by her cousin Freddie, who stood a few feet behind Andy and performed a card trick to the amazement of a couple of kids. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Barbara Murray piling her plate high with caviar-covered crackers.
    As Andy droned on about his discovery of a rare 1860 Brown Jefferson Mint, all Becca could think about were the many parties she had attended at this house over the years. Card club parties, birthday parties, anniversary parties, graduation parties. Even her wedding had been held in a tent in the backyard.
    Parties provided opportunities to come together in camaraderie and joviality - to celebrate life - but she couldn’t relate to those emotions at all. Instead, the animation of others only amplified her sense of alienation, until she was on the verge of tears.
    Julie sidled up alongside her and, with an excuse to Andy, nudged her aside. "Your uncle has arrived. I want you to come with me to welcome him."
    Grateful for her mother’s intrusion, she didn’t put up a fight when Julie grasped her by the arm and piloted her over to a large man with his back to her. When Julie tapped him on the shoulder, he turned toward her.
    "Oh my God," he said to Julie. "It’s Becca. My little Becca. My, how you’ve grown."
    He scooped her up into a comforting bear hug, until a familiar scent made Becca’s stomach lurch. She pulled back, but much to her surprise, the room had begun to spin as if she'd had too much to drink. She seized the back of a chair to steady herself. Everything around her had taken on an unreal quality, as though she’d accidentally stepped out of the present dimension into a cartoon world.
    What had happened? This was her dear Uncle Paulie. Her mother’s brother, who bore a close resemblance to the photo on Julie’s mantel; except for a couple of extra pounds, the shaved head, and the wire-rimmed glasses. Why the strange reaction?
    He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and the room spun faster.
    Although she tried to smile, her lips refused to cooperate. "It’s good to see you, Uncle Paulie."
    He turned toward Julie, offering Becca a second to compose herself, but she couldn’t quite calm the shivers inside.
    "She’s a beauty, sis. A real beauty."
    To be social, she answered his questions about her as briefly as possible. But when she made a simple inquiry into his life in California, intending to finish off the conversation, he launched into a colorful description of Napa Valley, depicting the verdant rolling