Free A Trusting Heart by Shannon Guymon Page B

think showing up tonight would be in your best interest. After all, it would be a start in making things up to your father.”
    Megan opened the top drawer of her desk and reached to the far back for her bottle of Tylenol. Her mother had a bad habit of causing her pain.
    “If it was so important to him that I be there, why am I just now finding out about it?”
    Megan tried to keep her tone of voice even and courteous, but she felt a sudden burst of anger at the attempt to humiliate her into submission. She knew anger never helped any situation, so she concentrated on a memory she had of her mom when she was a little girl. She had been lost at the mall and her mom had found her, crying and upset. And she had made it all better. It was the best memory she had of her mom and it came in handy at times like this.
    “Oh, I’m sure I sent you an invitation, Megan. You probably just misplaced it. You can’t blame me for your poor organization.”
    Her mother was lying. She had a really bad habit of doing that.
    “Is Linette going to be there?”
    There was a pause from her mother. Obviously she had hit the nail on the head.
    “As a matter of fact, Linette just informed me that she won’t be able to be here till eight.”
    So that was the real reason behind the sudden invitation. She had to come up with a daughter quick, and she had been desperate.
    “Tell the magazine that pictures will be after dinner. Goodbye, Mom.”
    Megan hung up the phone and wondered why she was going. She wasn’t even really a part of the family anymore. But there was always hope and she couldn’t let that die. Not yet, anyway.

Eleven
    MEGAN DROVE UP TO her family’s home in the Riverbottoms and sat in the car as the cramps in her stomach grew worse and worse. This was not going to be fun. It never was. She forced herself to get out of the car and glanced down at the pantsuit she had been wearing at work all day. Dean had been late, so she hadn’t been able to go home and change. It wasn’t that bad really, if you didn’t mind a mile of wrinkles.
    “Megan!”
    Megan jumped out of her skin. She turned to see who was calling to her out of the trees, and saw her sister motioning for her. Megan looked up at the house quickly and then ran over to her sister.
    “Linette, why aren’t you inside? Mom’s going to kill you.” Linette was in the shadows, but Megan could still see the pouty expression on her face. Her mom and her little sister could have been twins. They looked the same and they had very similar personalities, which of course meant they didn’t get along at all.
    “Meg, I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. I’m not. Let’s take off! We can go see a movie or something. Or . . . we could go get something to eat.”
    Megan smiled and put her arm around her sister. After moving out, she hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Linette as she would have liked. Mostly because of her parents. To them, Megan was just a reminder to them of how they had failed. But she should have made more of an effort.
    “How about I go in, just for pictures, and then I’ll sneak out, and we can go rent a video and pig out on popcorn. Oh, but you probably have classes tomorrow. Maybe Friday?”
    Linette grabbed onto Megan’s arms, with surprising strength, considering how skinny and frail she looked.
    “Give me your house key and I’ll just wait for you at your house, okay?”
    Megan looked up at the house, knowing what waited inside for her, and shrugged. It might help to have something to look forward to. And it looked like her sister needed someone to talk to.
    “Fine. There might be a bag of popcorn in the pantry. You’re welcome to anything you find. I’m just sorry there isn’t more. I didn’t go shopping this week.”
    Or last week.
    Linette grabbed the house key Megan held out to her and ran for her car, a sporty little Mazda. Megan frowned as she looked closely at her sister’s departing figure. She wasn’t just thin. She