Pretending Normal (23 page)

His silver eyes are on me, moving from my hair to my chin, to my hands, but he says nothing.
I sit next to him, rest my fingers on his forearm.
Do you know who I am?
Ms. O’Grady has promised to bring me here once a week. She says it’s the least she can do and besides, we get to spend extra time together. She’s also going to help me research Penn State, which is only forty-five minutes north of here.

Graduation
isn’t that far away, but U Penn and Temple are. How will I teach my father to re-learn his life if I’m not here? You can’t run away because your life isn’t what you
think
you want it to be. Ms. O’Grady has taught me this. I’m thinking about giving up journalism and studying creative writing in college. You can’t run away from things that make you vulnerable, because
living
makes you vulnerable. Ms. O’Grady has taught me this, too.

“
Dad? I brought something for you.” I open my purse and carefully slide out the picture of us I found in the Chevy. “Here”—I point to each of us—“this is you, this is Mom, Kay, and me.” He lifts his hand and touches the picture, his big fingers moving over each face. He does this over and over, first Mom, then Kay, then me.

“Sara?”
When he looks up, his eyes are wet.

He remembers me.

“I’m here, Dad. Right where I want to be.”

And for the first time in my life, this is true.

Copyright 2012 by Mary Campisi

PRETENDING NORMAL is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and situations are all products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to real persons, locales, or events, are purely coincidental.

Mary Campisi should have known she’d become a writer when at age thirteen she began changing the ending to all the books she read. It took several years and a number of jobs, including registered nurse, receptionist in a swanky hair salon, accounts payable clerk, and practice manager in an OB/GYN office, for her to rediscover writing. Enter a mouse-less computer, a floppy disk, and a dream large enough to fill a zip drive. The rest of the story lives on in every book she writes.

When she’s not working on her craft or following the lives of five young adult children, Mary’s digging in the dirt with her flowers and herbs, cooking, reading, walking her rescue lab mix, Cooper, or on the perfect day, riding off into the sunset with her very own ‘hero’ husband on his Ultra Limited aka Harley.

Mary has published with Kensington, Carina Press, The Wild Rose Press, and Jocelyn Hollow Romance.

website
:  
www.marycampisi.com

e-mail
:    
[email protected]

twitter
:   
https://twitter.com/#!/MaryCampisi

blog
: 
http://www.marycampisi.com/blog/

facebook
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At Amazon:

Contemporary Romance

A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One
)-
link

A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two)
Coming late 2013

Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) -
link

The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) -
link

Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) -
link

Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) -
link

Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) -
link

Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book One) -
link

Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two
) -
link

What’s Left of
Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) -
link

Begin Again: Short stories from the heart -
link

The Sweetest Deal -
link

Regency Historical

The Redemption of Madeline
Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) -
link

The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) -
link

A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014

A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014

Innocent Betrayal -
link

Young Adult

Pretending Normal -
link

At Barnes and Noble:

Contemporary Romance

A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One
)-
link

A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two)
Coming late 2013

Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) -
link

The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) -
link

Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) -
link

Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) -
link

Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) -
link

Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy Book One) -
link

Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) -
link

What’s Left of
Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) -
link

Begin Again: Short stories from the heart -
link

The Sweetest Deal -
link

Regency Historical

The Redemption of Madeline
Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) -
link

The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) -
link

A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014

A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014

Innocent Betrayal
link

Young Adult

Pretending Normal -
link

Contemporary Romance

A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One
)-
link

A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two)
Coming late 2013

Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) -
link

The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) -
link

Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) -
link

Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) -
link

Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) –
link

Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy Book One) -
link

Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) -
link

What’s Left of
Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) -
link

Begin Again: Short stories from the heart -
link

The Sweetest Deal -
link

Regency Historical

The Redemption of Madeline
Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) -
link

The Seduction of Sophie
Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) -
link

A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014

A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014

Innocent Betrayal
link

Young Adult

Pretending Normal -
link

Contemporary Romance

A Family Affair (Truth in Lies Series-Book One
)-
link

A Family Affair: Spring (Truth in Lies Series-Book Two)
Coming late 2013

Pulling Home (That Second Chance Series-Book One) -
link

The Way They Were (That Second Chance Series-Book Two) -
link

Simple Riches (That Second Chance Series-Book Three) –
link

Paradise Found (That Second Chance Series-Book Four) -
link

Not Your Everyday Housewife (That Second Chance Series-Book Five) -
link

Pieces of You (The Betrayed Trilogy Book One) -
link

Secrets of You (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Two) -
link

What’s Left of
Her: a novella (The Betrayed Trilogy-Book Three) -
link

Begin Again: Short stories from the heart -
link

The Sweetest Deal -
link

Regency Historical

The Redemption of Madeline
Munrove (The Model Wife Series-Book One) -
link

The Seduction of Sophie Seacrest (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book One) -
link

A Touch of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Two) Coming 2014

A Taste of Seduction (An Unlikely Husband Series-Book Three) Coming 2014

Innocent Betrayal
link

Young Adult

Pretending Normal -
link