Free RG2 - Twenty-Nine and a Half Reasons by Denise Grover Swank Page A

could grill out.”
    Grilling out in this heat sounded like asking for heatstroke, but Lord knew Mike loved his smoker like a duck loved water. And spending the evening alone with my worries didn’t sound very appealing. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
    “Great, see you at seven. Not a minute sooner.” Then she hung up.
    Seven? That was odd. Usually dinner at Violet’s house was around six and I never arrived at a specific time. I just showed up.
    The boys next door were running around their house, digging up the azalea bushes under the kitchen window. A wave of melancholy washed over me. My daddy and I had planted those for our neighbor back when I was a little girl. Gardening was the one thing we shared that Momma couldn’t take away from us.
    One of the boys turned to look at me and chewed on the side of his lip. He tugged on his brother’s arm. “Andy Junior.”
    “ What ?”
    The boy tugged harder and Andy Jr. glanced over his shoulder, the shovel dropping to the ground.
    The first boy squinted. “How come you look like you’re about to cry?”
    “I was just thinking about my daddy.”
    “Where is he?”
    “He’s in heaven.”
    The boy’s mouth dropped open into an O .
    The topic of death caught Andy Jr.’s attention. “What happened to him?”
    “His heart gave out.” Although now I wondered if he died of a broken heart. I suspect Daddy never recovered from the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of my birth mother. “Daddy and I planted those bushes when I was about your age.” I looked to the first boy. “Your name’s Keith, isn’t it?”
    His eyes widened with fear. “Yes, ma’am.”
    I smiled even though I didn’t feel like smiling. My own heart hurt too bad. “You know, Keith, I don’t have kids of my own, but I have a niece around your age. The next time she comes over, maybe you can play with her.”
    Andy Jr. scoffed his distain. “I ain’t playin with no girl .”
    “Well, nobody invited you , did they?” I asked, aware I had just sunk to the level of a six-year-old but too cranky to care. “I was talkin’ to Keith.”
    Keith beamed, his huge grin revealing a gap in his bottom teeth.
    I decided to head inside before I stooped even lower than I already had. Walking into the kitchen, I tried to shake myself from my reverie. I needed to quit dwelling on sad things.
    By the time I left for Violet’s, I still hadn’t heard from Joe. My discomfort had turned to fear. What if something had happened to him and Hilary hadn’t told me?
    I pulled in Violet’s driveway, surprised to see an unfamiliar car parked in front of the house. I’d barely made it to the porch when the front door flew open. Violet stood in the doorway, dressed in a skirt and sleeveless blouse, and wearing a cute pair of sandals instead of her usual barefoot style. That should have been my first clue to turn around and run.
    “Rose, honey, come on in.” Her voice was overly bright and cheerful, then her smile fell and her voice lowered. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
    I looked down at my blue capris and gauzy white blouse.
    She waved her hand and stumbled as she moved out of the opening. “Never mind. You look very bohemian.”
    Shaking my head in confusion, I walked past her. “Violet,” I whispered. “Have you been drinkin’?”
    She laughed, a melodious sound I’d always been jealous of, like everything else in her life. Only now it sounded brittle. “Maybe. Just a little.”
    Now I was really confused. Violet rarely drank and never on a weeknight.
    She pushed me out the back door and onto the covered patio, the overhead fan working overtime to stir up the air. I stopped two steps out, Violet slamming into the back of me and making me stumble.
    A man wearing jeans and a polo shirt rose from the patio chair he’d been sitting in and grabbed my elbow to steady me. “You must be Rose. I’ve heard so much about you.” He smiled at Violet, then held out his right hand. “I’m Austin