Free Island Girl by Lynda Simmons Page A

sending it flying across the floor.
    “Pick that up,” Mark said on his way out the door. I followed, hoping that daughter of his didn’t decide to pitch coffee or hair dye or anything else that would make me have to kill her.
    Mark walked across the yard to the birdbath. I followed and smiled up at him. “Your daughter seems like a nice girl. Who does her hair?”
    He sighed and looked back at the house. “She did that when I told her about Seth’s place. I don’t think she’s completely comfortable with her new look, but I’m going to buy her some fishnets this afternoon, let her know I’m okay with it.”
    “Will you take her for piercings too?”
    “Fortunately, she’s still too young. No one will do it.” He glanced over at me. “You probably find my parenting methods odd, but her mother died when she was six, so it’s been just the two of us for a long time now.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that. It’s hard to lose your mother when you’re young.”
    He shrugged. “We’re doing okay. And I find that the best way to diffuse a rebellion is to embrace it. Find out all I can about the movement or the phase and then encourage it. Last summer, I developed a real appreciation for gangsta rap, but now she refuses to listen to it.”
    “Mission accomplished?”
    “And I’m hoping the fishnets will work as quickly. Once she adjusts, I think Island life will be good for her. Let her be a kid a while longer. She starts junior high in the fall, and to be honest, I’m worried.”
    “As you should be. But be honest, are you really here because of me?”
    “Maybe a little. Okay maybe a lot.” He gave me a sheepish grin and for a moment I caught a glimpse of the young man he used to be. The one who taught me how to laugh again after Eric left. “You scared the shit out of me the other day, okay? I couldn’t get you off my mind. Couldn’t say, Oh well she’s going to kill herself, what’s for dinner? Life is precious, Rube. You can’t throw it away like that.”
    “I’m not throwing anything away. I’m merely helping nature along. Speeding up an inevitable process, thereby saving us all a lot of time, money, and heartache. And I don’t need interference from you.”
    I looked back at the kitchen door, saw Grace watching us and started walking, leading him away from the house and the possibility that she might hear. Heading out the gate and down toward the bay. Nodding to neighbors and picking up speed as I went, making him hurry if he wanted to keep up. He was out of breath in seconds. “If I’d known you’d go this far, I wouldn’t have come to see you in the first place,” I said. “All I wanted you to do was talk to Liz. But you can forget that too. I’ll find another way. Maybe hire a hit man. Get him to wing her and bring her home in a sack.”
    “That’s crazy talk and you know it,” he said between breaths.
    “So what? I am crazy and you know it.”
    He took my arm, tried to make me slow down, but I shook him off and kept going. “This is exactly why I’m here,” he called after me. “You’re not thinking clearly. You need me.”
    I took a quick look around and then hurried back to where he stood. “Keep your voice down. I don’t need this all over the Island. And I don’t need you.”
    “But you could have years ahead of you,” he said.
    I started walking again, heading back the way we came. Going slower so he could keep up this time. “Years of what?”
    “Life.”
    “No, Mark. What I’ll have is years of existing, not life, not living.”
    “But there are always advances. That’s why I brought the crosswords and brainteasers. Studies show—”
    “That crosswords can combat loss of memory and improve brain function. I do keep up. But the fact is that there is no cure. My brain is deteriorating, rusting over as we speak.”
    “So until they find a cure, there are people who love you, who will take care of you—”
    “Please. I refuse to be tended to , or lovingly