Free Share No Secrets by Carlene Thompson Page B

phone feeling frayed and mean, unworthy and ungrateful. But at least she hadn’t been dishonest. Small comfort, she thought miserably. They should put on my tombstone, “Adrienne was a bitch, but she had integrity.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake,” she said aloud. “Now you’re wallowing in self-pity.”
    “Mom, what are you talking about?”
    Skye stood at the entrance to the living room, looking rumpled and depressed.
    “I’m indulging in self-analysis.”
    “Oh.” She yawned. “That’s weird.”
    “Tell me about it.” Adrienne put the phone receiver back on the cradle. “Neither one of us finished even one sandwich earlier. Hungry?”
    “Yeah. But I don’t really want to hang around here. The house seems lonely and sad this evening. Could we go to Fox’s for pizza?”
    Adrienne thought of the warm little restaurant with its huge portions of food, and occasional spirited performance on karaoke night. “That’s a wonderful idea.” She glanced out the window. “But a storm is predicted, although everything looks fine now. Get your windbreaker. And don’t wake up Brandon. He’ll want to go with us.”
    “I’m going to be too fat to get into my jeans tomorrow,” Skye announced an hour later before she popped a bit of pizza into her mouth.
    “You could use a couple of extra pounds, kiddo. You’re getting taller but not putting on weight.” Adrienne frowned. “You’re not doing anything unhealthy to keep your weight down, are you?”
    “You mean like throwing up after I eat?” Skye made a face. “No way. That’s
so
gross. Besides, Fox’s Pizza Den has the best pizzas I ever ate. It would be sacrilege to eat one, then throw it up.”
    “I’m glad you think so,” Adrienne said, biting into what she swore was going to be her last piece.
    It was karaoke night and an intrepid soul approached the microphone. After some adjusting, unnecessary blowing into the live mike, and murmuring “testing, testing,” he gradually slipped into a rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers. The longer he sang, the more confidence he gained and the louder he got Unfortunately, he couldn’t sing. At all. Although the guy was clearly pouring his heart into the song, he was slaughtering it
    Skye and Adrienne struggled not to giggle. Finally Skye got enough control to ask, “Do you remember a couple of months ago when Julianna talked you into getting up there?”
    Adrienne rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, yes. She was driving because I drank beer and way too much of it. Please don’t remind me.”
    “I can’t help it.” Skye’s eyes twinkled. “You were singing that disco song—”
    “Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive.'”
    “You were flinging your arms around and making all these faces! And your
voice
…” Skye nearly doubled over with laughter. “Mom, you were just
awful”
    “Thank you, sweetheart. It’s so considerate of you to bring up one of the most mortifying nights of my life.”
    “Maybe it was mortifying for you, but everyone else was getting a big kick out of it. Especially Julianna. She kept nudging me, trying to get me not to laugh. I couldn’t help it, though. I’m sorry. But when you announced you were going to sing
another
one, I started thinking maybe we could never come here again because of the big embarrassment factor.”
    “Thank goodness Julianna came up on stage.” Adrienne smiled, abashed, at the memory. “She had to literally push me away from the microphone and insist that it was
her
turn.” Adrienne shook her head. “And darn it if she didn’t do a great job with ‘Wild Horses.'”
    Skye smiled. “You were mad as all get out for a few minutes, but you got over it quick. And Juli
was
good. People kept asking her to sing other things, but she wouldn’t, not even when a guy tossed a whole
dollar
up on the stage!” She giggled. “Juli took that dollar over and put it in the can for donations for the volunteer fire department