Leaving L.a.. Rexanne Becnel

Leaving L.a. - Rexanne  Becnel


Скачать книгу
had been our secret, hers and mine, until Mother had followed us one day. She and her man-of-the-moment had laughed with glee when they’d discovered our hideaway. Then they’d climbed up there and christened it—her term for screwing in a new place. Or in an old place with a new man.

      Whatever. The magic had been ruined.

      But I’d got even. I’d broken a dozen glass bottles on the tree house floor, and when that hadn’t stopped her from going back, I’d set it on fire.

      I don’t know why the whole woods didn’t go up in flames that day. Maybe because it had been raining so much that summer. But the floor of the tree house had burned away, and so had the rope ladder. Most important, Mother never went up in our tree house again. I ruined it for her, just like she’d ruined it for Alice and me.

      Is it any wonder I equate sex with power? Every bit of my mother’s power came from sex, but she’d used it indiscriminately. In the end it had ruined her life and probably that of several men. Certainly it had ruined my life and Alice’s.

      But I learned from her mistakes. She who commands men with her sex rules the world—if she can keep her cool about her. Cleopatra. Helen of Troy. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Elizabeth I.

      One thing I certainly didn’t associate sex with was making love. And I don’t much equate it with pleasure either. I’ve had one or two considerate lovers. But the other boyfriends have always been about themselves and their pleasure.

      Not that I really cared. I’ve always thought sex was highly overrated.

      Tripod started barking, drawing me back from my sour thoughts. Sex had given me this baby, and that’s all that mattered anymore. So I changed directions to where Tripod stood barking for all he was worth at a big, curled-up water moccasin.

      I grabbed my idiot dog by the collar. “I suggest you stick to poodles, if you want to stay alive,” I muttered. For once he listened and followed me down another path that took us to the edge of our property.

      Beyond the woods I saw an old white house, plain and ordinary except for the incredible display of flowers that surrounded it. Wow! When I was really young, an old man had lived here. Then he’d done what seemed like the oddest thing. As old as he was, he’d married this really nice, really old woman.

      At that precise moment my eyes picked her out. It was her, sitting under a sweet gum tree on a wide, wooden bench painted cardinal-red. Twenty years ago her hair had been turning gray. Now it was completely white.

      She was the one who’d taught me how to jitterbug and how to waltz. She’d showed me the samba and the rumba. And the tango.

      I started forward with the first genuine smile on my face since I’d arrived in Oracle. She didn’t notice me right away, not until a huge yellow cat spied Tripod and leaped up onto her lap.

      I don’t know much about Tripod’s early years, but I know he’s as terrified of cats as he is of big trucks and SUVs. No doubt he’d come up on the short end of a confrontation with a cat or two. At least he hadn’t lost a leg to a cat. But that didn’t change anything. He saw the cat, stopped dead in his tracks, and started to bark furiously—from a safe distance of at least a hundred feet or so.

      “Will you please shut up?” I muttered to him. To the old woman—Harriet was her name—I waved. “Hello there.”

      “Why, hello.” She smiled and gestured me over.

      I went. Tripod remained behind, howling like I’d abandoned him on the side of the road. As if.

      “You’re Harriet, aren’t you?” I began. “I don’t know if you’ll remember me but—”

      “Zoe.” Her eyes lit with recognition, and the loveliest smile brightened her sweet, old face. “Zoe Vidrine. I’d recognize that flame-red hair anywhere.” She reached out a hand to me and squeezed tightly. “Even prettier than I remembered. But I could swear someone told me you were…” She trailed off, too polite to finish the thought.

      “Dead?” I grimaced. “That seems to be the story Alice spread around. But it’s not true.”

      “But why did she think you were dead?”

      Because she’s a lying thief, I wanted to say. But I didn’t. “We lost touch for a while. But now I’m back.”

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEAYABgAAD/4RWLRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgABwESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEaAAUA AAABAAAAYgEbAAUAAAABAAAAagEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAAAUAAAAcgEyAAIAAAAUAAAAhodp AAQAAAABAAAAnAAAAMgAAABgAAAAAQAAAGAAAAABQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIDcuMAAyMDE0OjEx OjE1IDA0OjAzOjQzAAAAAAOgAQADAAAAAQABAACgAgAEAAAAAQAAAfSgAwAEAAAAAQAAAtcAAAAA AAAABgEDAAMAAAABAAYAAAEaAAUAAAABAAABFgEbAAUAAAABAAABHgEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAIBAAQA AAABAAABJgICAAQAAAABAAAUXQAAAAAAAABIAAAAAQAAAEgAAAAB/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgEASABI AAD/7QAMQWRvYmVfQ00AAf/uAA5BZG9iZQBkgAAAAAH/2wCEAAwICAgJCAwJCQwRCwoLERUPDAwP FRgTExUTExgRDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwBDQsLDQ4NEA4OEBQO Dg4UFA4ODg4UEQwMDAwMEREMDAwMDAwRDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDP/AABEI AIAAWAMBIgACEQEDEQH/3QAEAAb/xAE/AAABBQEBAQEBAQAAAAAAAAADAAECBAUGBwgJCgsBAAEF AQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAEAAgMEBQYHCAkKCxAAAQQBAwIEAgUHBggFAwwzAQACEQMEIRIxBUFRYRMi cYEyBhSRobFCIyQVUsFiMzRygtFDByWSU/Dh8WNzNRaisoMmRJNUZEXCo3Q2F9JV4mXys4TD03Xj 80YnlKSFtJXE1OT0pbXF1eX1VmZ2hpamtsbW5vY3R1dnd4eXp7fH1+f3EQACAgECBAQDBAUGBwcG BTUBAAIRAyExEgRBUWFxIhMFMoGRFKGxQiPBUtHwMyRi4XKCkkNTFWNzNPElBhaisoMHJjXC0kST VKMXZEVVNnRl4vKzhMPTdePzRpSkhbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG1ub2JzdHV2d3h5ent8f/ 2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AOupA8FZB0VDFzK7rn41euRWz1TVIDi0nb7B+d7kcZrPSF21xY5u6QQNAdse 4t9/8hqmlz/KnX3RR1/S2akOR5kae1Lt+imdWXaBYPX+l9RySHUw9jRArGhH3q6zq9YvdWA59gI3 NbB2B2rHW+72sVfMz7rSQXbWn80cKHFPJzhMYyjDHdiwb8P7zPljj5ICcoynlqiAQI+P9146/o3U pIdWGa6DcOVvdJrwcGHih12Ts2ucYMExv2bj+dtSseHHXX5wlWawJ2AHstEfCsNA5DOZ8+CP2R9f /PcrJ8e5niMcQx4496OSf+NL0f8Ajbzn156hVfl0M9MgitzgHwYcTt0d/J2rI+rmHlZuU01Gtprc 2xznzu2tcN7a9v8AJXR/WDpNefQHD23Vy5ju+v0gqX1bobhG0SPWcdjz2AHuaB/35Vc3I+3LhgP1 UtR1/vRdLkfisc0Acsh70fTIVw8R/Rn6XrasdtthvcBJJ2N0ADfANWpiVtYyQ2PJYdeS+AwgNgg7 5ggdx/VWtVlNa0SSZ78D8VXluSXZhD0REQAKAjEbAB2KHAt8AkstnVcOi5lFt9bbbhLKi4bnAclr PpOSQ4hS32ZcV0X/0NyhgDrbW7hbaxjWvDo27Htta4fu/R/NV2zMLabbHsDQGB79pbtFjC59tzA5 vt9dr9jmrIxcl9hLRqS1xAHJ2tL4H+arByXEva5oiCHtIiI/SPY7930vz0Z/CeUwzOP3ZxkIcdSl H+b9ULv2/wC808XxzmcsRIxxkGfD6YS+f0/6xq2ZbLc/KzGuPp5JDmMM7m+Tm/Qb9L8xVrrxzMeC hkW5Uva9rGRMgQJ2t3uaz+x+k/69/wAIhWvyHOsbFLDuJscHNAaXPdW5hdu/fydin5eHL4aMZg8X 704+ry4WHmuYy5rEhVfuwkw9bc4+7QfcjVtc+IfHnKzsjPc1pusobDi1o/NDJ91b3Nl271Nm5X35 V77WtNTWl29rmlmyGh7axZ9Jzdtj/wCb/P8A5xX48/h9MeKIMrA14vkHFLVysnI5PVKjQ1Pp4fmb TsN5Gjw9ZOd0nJotdmYrC4x+mqbrIH+EZ/LatWv1nCPYS3cS0mHtDQZHO7a3b9BWGG71C6S3c6Tq C3U7fZp9HeUsmfGYkTnDuKlHi/weFGGJxzEoRkDdEGJ4D/etzelz1Nza6HtaIk2uk7fgxv03Lp8b o2P6cDIsseRq54aRp3DGbdv+cuRdcMTr1zGAUuzKm3MA0Be0kW7f67HNc9dH07qzXAMcYsPtA4WT zI4MpB2D2fw7LPNysZ4yR4by0+ZHf9V6aOru61ZvvMNIaA0srNbdjbGt2et+c787YktrF6hRY4Bt oJmAQQZjnb/VSTKO/gzXP5OD1XxXr/jcL//RdljmTHdpafg4bHf9EozLw5xNsO2gkEgHUN2t5/qt Vfa4AmDHdXG4NjaXOtBD7WltLBySf8I7+S1q3OdOGGHJkmI3wGIl+n/VgJf33lfh+PNk5rDjx2R7 kZEfoVfqnL/Ai4v2661jy87vc5oJAJ1btc7+t6Z9P/rdf+jVLI6hbZYcf1Npvd+kcADEubbP/bjW qODh5j+oXYd4dSJIcY4Akts2lG630zGxqcfJYwgVA12PGhI+m19kfvO3LN5WEZ8tEiEf1XDGRr7O B2fiMPZ543I1n4smIR/RP9eP+0TNxGPIN9TrLBA9TaJIH0fdS781WftWJW30wwEEuJoa0OlziHve a2lzt+5rfcqGBj5vUGt3k+kBG0e1sfyo913/AFx7Gf6P1F0OF0qikD1Ne+xntb/5JykyczyeCIEo xuPywjETyj/1X/V9bXw/D+f5mRMTLhJ9U5SOPD/68/wINXHyshzmsqxrHy0tMNZu2kbfd7t30fb7 VoBuQAxzsa1rhq11lTvb/J9Sltv/AFC18UsY0NrAa3sGiPyK
Скачать книгу