Blue Clouds Read Online Free Page A

of how much we have.”
    Shifting her bulging shoulder bag, Pippa marched toward the door. “Then let’s not keep George waiting. Is he still as handsome as ever?”
    Meg hurried to catch up, glancing over her shoulder at the baggage carousel. “Your suitcase, Pippa? You are staying awhile, aren’t you?”
    â€œMy bags will follow,” Pippa replied airily, suddenly desperate to escape the airport and enter the real world again. She hadn’t just run from Billy. She’d run toward a whole new life. She couldn’t wait to get started.
    Without questioning, Meg led her outside to the battered minivan.
    â€œI figured they’d tow me off and make me strand you here,” George admonished as they climbed in. “Hi, Pippa, how’s tricks?”
    It was an old joke between them, and Pippa grinned in appreciation of the memory. “Well, your mind hasn’t changed any, George, even if it does have more room to grow than before.”
    Starting the engine, George ruefully rubbed the bald spot at the back of his head. “All those hair roots get in the way. There’s just that much less for the kids to turn gray.”
    They laughed and joked and caught up on old acquaintances as George navigated L.A.’s freeways. Pippa exclaimed over the multilaned bumper-to-bumper traffic, and her hosts laughed at her Kentucky naiveté.
    The space-age highways gradually reduced to four lanes along the scenic coastline. Pippa gasped at the views, at the flowers—in April, roses! She opened the windows and breathed in the sunshine, shutting out all memory of Kentucky sleet and terror.
    Pippa exclaimed again as they turned from Highway 101 into the charming town of San Luis Obispo. She wanted to explore the sun-drenched mission, the art galleries, the cafes—everything.
    Meg laughed. “If you stay here any length of time, you’ll have your fill of tourists soon enough. You’ll like Garden Grove. It’s much quieter.”
    As they reached the narrow rural road surrounded by flat fields and framed by mountains, Pippa finally calmed down and began to talk of the present and the future.
    â€œMeg said in her letter that they closed down the printing plant. Is there any talk of reopening?”
    Both faces in the front seat turned grim. George answered first. “Wyatt tore down the plant last month.”
    â€œThe town will die, and it’s all Seth Wyatt’s fault,” Meg finished bitterly. “The plant used to employ two hundred people. Now they’re moving away, looking for work elsewhere, and business has already dropped off. The people left have no money. It’s the beginning of the end.”
    â€œMy father and grandfather kept that pharmacy running, even through the Depression. I hate being the one who loses it,” George said mournfully. “I wish the damned man would come out of hiding long enough so we could talk to him.”
    â€œTalk to the Grim Reaper?” Meg scoffed. “Since when can we reason with Death?”
    Worriedly, Pippa listened to the exchange. “The Grim Reaper? Is that what they’re calling this Seth Wyatt? Isn’t he the man you said advertised for an assistant and a nurse’s aide?”
    Meg made an impolite noise. “Even starving, no one will take him up on the offer. The town has despised the Wyatts forever, but Seth has brought the name to new lows. He crippled his son with his recklessness, then sued his ex-wife with every big lawyer in the state until she finally let him have the boy. Now he’s destroyed the industry that was the one good thing the Wyatts did for the town.”
    â€œThey say his wife walked away with a large chunk of his fortune,” George reminded her. “We don’t know the whole story.”
    â€œWe can see our future plowed under by bulldozers,” Meg replied angrily. “What will happen to Mikey if you close the store and we move