Free The Mirror and the Mask by Ellen Hart Page A

don’t like him,” said Sunny, scratching at a small stain on her sweatshirt.
    â€œWhy’s that?”
    â€œI don’t know, I just don’t. You said you hoped he doesn’t change his mind. It was like you were pleading with him.”
    Susan smiled at her daughter. “You see the world in such melodramaticterms. It was just business. Nothing life or death. Come on.” She rose from her desk and reached for Sunny’s hand. “Curt should be here any minute. Why don’t you help me set the table.”
    â€œIf I have to,” she said with a groan.
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    Annie stood next to her car in the Lyme House parking lot and watched Dooley chow down on a goodly sized portion of stew. Once he’d licked the bowl clean, she poured him some water. And then they went for a walk.
    Annie couldn’t believe her string of good luck. Meeting Jane had been a godsend. Jane had even packed a couple sacks of scraps for Annie to take—“For Dooley,” she said. When Annie dug into the sacks, she found two thick beef sandwiches along with two plastic bowls of stew, to which it appeared Jane had added a bunch of extra meat. At the bottom of the sack was an extralarge foil-wrapped piece of chocolate cake. Annie was touched, but also embarrassed. Jane must have thought she was starving.
    â€œWhat an incredible loser she must think I am,” she whispered to Dooley.
    Even so, Annie was grateful. The sandwiches and stew—and the pay for eight more hours of work—would keep her and Dooley alive for the next few days. And it was the next few days that mattered most.
    Finding a stairway that led down to the lake, Annie headed west, toward the setting sun. She needed time to think, and Dooley needed some fresh air and exercise.
    A half mile or so on, she stopped at a bench and sat down. She lifted Dooley up on her lap. The lake stretched out in front of her, covered with ice and a thin coating of snow. It was all so beautiful, the chilly air, the blanket of white turning a deep purple in the growing twilight.
    Annie had a lot to mull over, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop herself from thinking about Jane. Annie was probably doing whatshe always did—projecting, not seeing the real person. But she was pretty sure that with Jane, what you saw was what you got. She needed to find a way to give something back. Her mother always said generosity was its own reward, but that just seemed trite.
    Hugging Dooley, Annie said, “We found Johnny. As soon as we’re done here, we’ll drive over to his house.”
    This was the outcome she’d been praying for, ever since she’d walked out of the apartment in Traverse City, slamming the door in Johnny’s sneering face.
    â€œHe better have some answers,” she said, stroking Dooley’s fur.
    If she had to bring his life crashing down around his ears to get them, she’d do it. With pleasure. Cold and quick, just the way he’d taught her. And like Johnny, without a second thought.
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    Curt sat hunched over his second glass of chardonnay, looking more morose than Susan had ever seen him. She tried to get him to open up about what was bothering him, but he deflected all her questions, saying he was just tired.
    â€œI’m starving,” said Sunny, sitting on the other side of the dining room table from her brother.
    â€œI promised Jack we’d wait,” said Susan.
    Jack insisted that Curt and Sunny call him by his first name. He wasn’t their father and said he didn’t want to usurp Yale’s position in their lives. He saw himself as a friend. Susan found his perspective odd, but the kids were still fairly young when they’d first started dating, so they just went with the flow.
    â€œI’ve got a study date with Michael tonight,” said Sunny, playing with her water glass. “He’s coming by to pick me up. I need to change first. I don’t want him to think