Free Really Something by Shirley Jump Page A

listen to Doc Wilson and finally do what the doctor had been advising for years—
    Send Katie away.
    He’d have freedom. He’d have a life again. And in a rehab hospital, she’d get the treatment she needed, whether she liked it or not, because the hospital staff wouldn’t cater to a woman who threw stoneware at their heads. There’d be someone more adept than he at getting her to talk, to work her physical therapy exercises. To get her to look forward to something other than the next drink.
    In his head, though, he still saw the Katie he used to know. The laughing tomboy who’d sooner scramble up a tree than put on a skirt for church. The all-star baseball player who’d had a full ride to college, a promising future in front of her. The sister who’d adored him, because he was older and bigger and there to protect her whenever the world got a little too scary for his tough-on-the-outside but total-marshmallow-on-the-inside sister.
    He’d been there every time. Except one.
    â€œDuncan?” Katie’s voice, small and vulnerable now, on the other side of the alcohol coaster.
    He sighed.
    â€œDon’t leave me. I’m sorry.” She started to cry. “Please. I can’t do this without you. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”
    His shoulders sagged. Duncan drew in a breath, released it, then he reached for the cold, hard doorknob.
    â€œI need you, Duncan.” But he was already there, vowing to try one more time to reach the Katie he remembered.
    To keep trying, and maybe, he’d finally repay his worst sin.
    Â 
    Black coffee.
    Allie despised black coffee. She’d drunk enough of it in the past few years to want to throw the mug at the wall. All in that quest to avoid calories. Sugar. Fat. The triplet enemies of an hourglass shape.
    Still, here she sat in Vanessa’s kitchen, sipping a mug of Chock full o’Nuts and pretending the taste didn’t make her want to hurl. But it was either that or extra time on the treadmill and for Allie, the choice was easy. She hated the treadmill more.
    Vanessa slipped into the seat across from Allie at the oak table. “You sure you don’t want any creamer?”
    Allie nodded and forced herself to take another sip, the caffeine a welcome benefit to the bitter brew. “Too much creamer and I might as well just wear the cow.”
    â€œYou have more willpower than me.” To add an exclamation point, Vanessa sloshed a generous amount of hazelnut-flavored creamer into her cup.
    Allie watched Vanessa stir the beverage from dark to light, inhaling the scent of toasted nuts. Longing rumbled in her stomach. She tamped it down with another swig of coffee. “Duncan kissed me.”
    Vanessa’s teaspoon landed with a dancing clatter on the hardwood table. “You kissed Duncan Henry ? And you just drop it on me like that? Allie, you have to build up to a thing like that. Let me prepare for a bombshell.”
    Allie laughed. “Okay, I guess it is pretty momentous news.”
    â€œAre you kidding me? Around here, news like that makes the front page .” Vanessa leaned forward, arms crossed on the table. In the living room, her two oldest children started arguing about whether to watch SpongeBob or Jimmy Neutron. “Tell me what happened. In detail. I’m a married mom. I spend my days changing diapers and eating the crusts off peanut butter sandwiches. The only thing I have is living vicariously through you or Desperate Housewives. ”
    â€œDetails it is then.” Allie told her about finding the farm yesterday, then getting rained on, and then the kiss, which had now tattooed itself on her memory. So much for focusing on working. She could barely remember she had a job right now.
    â€œSo where does it go from here?” Vanessa asked. “Just kiss him and go? Will there be more? A Duncan Part Two?”
    â€œNeither. I’m not interested in his body. All I