Read A Stroke Of Magic for Free Online Page B

phone, as if she were exasperated with me. “What day is today?”
    “It’s Saturday. Yesterday was Friday, and tomorrow is Sunday. That doesn’t tell me anything.” As soon as I spoke, though, I realized. “Oh, crap. Is this some early surprise birthday thing?”
    “Well, it’s not now, is it?”
    All at once, the early morning phone call made sense. “You set me up! You didn’t need a babysitter.”
    “Oh, stop. We had to find some way to get you out of the house for a few hours. Just get in here.” She giggled, clearly pleased with herself.
    “Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe I’ll just get back in my car and take off. How’d you guys get in, anyway?” Damn. I was not in the mood for a birthday gathering. After a week of weirdness, I just wanted to be left alone. At least until Chloe had more information.
    “You’re a dork. Grandma still has a key.” Her voice lowered again. “Get in here before Mom figures out I’m talking to you. She’s glaring at me from across the room.”
    Before I could respond, my phone beeped and the call ended. So…great, just great. If I didn’t make an entrance quickly, my sister would bring everyone outside.
    For half a second, I contemplated leaving anyway. But that would just add fuel to the already roaring fire. Annoyed, I stared at my cell phone for a second. Then, tucking it back into my purse, I stood and straightened my oversized white shirt. Was it voluminous enough to cover my ever-growing baby bump? I wasn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d definitely begun to show. It had been several weeks since the last time I’d seen any of my family. Would they notice?
    Probably. And that thought made me grab my sweater out of my car. Thank goodness I’d left it there. I’d have to tell everyone soon, but not today, and not all at once. That would be a level of hell into which I wasn’t ready to descend.
    I pulled on the sweater. I hated surprises. Well, let me rephrase: It was the being surprised portion of surprises I didn’t like. Planning out surprises for other people was a totally different story. For some reason, though, my family had failed to catch on to this. Or maybe they just ignored it.
    “No time like the present,” I muttered, taking the steps, once again, to my condo. Pushing the door open, I stepped inside. From the entryway, the dining room opened to the right, and I saw a huge birthday cake sitting on my table. The living room was on the left, and my family had decorated it with balloons and streamers. A Happy Birthday! banner hung over the entrance to my hall. And everywhere I looked, too many freaking people met my gaze.
    Weirdly, no one noticed me right away. Again I thought of sneaking out, but before I could, all eyes turned toward me.
    “Surprise!” my family yelled, in almost perfect unison.
    I put a fake smile on. “Wow. I had no idea,” I said. “Especially since my birthday isn’t until Wednesday.”
    Grandma Verda, decked out in a turquoise running suit with orange piping matched with almost fluorescent purple sneakers, approached me. “If we’d waited until Wednesday, then it wouldn’t have been a surprise, now would it?”
    “I guess not.” I gave her a quick hug.
    “Besides, you probably have plans with your girlfriends on your birthday. This is for family only.”
    She was right. I did have plans with Chloe on Wednesday, but that wasn’t really the point. “You guys should have let me know you were coming over.”
    “That wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.” Her faded blue eyes zeroed in on me. “How are you feeling?”
    “Surprised, I guess. Why?” I tugged at my sweater, worried it wasn’t enough coverage to hide my condition. Besides, my grandmother? She wasn’t just smart; she had this creepy and often right-on-target intuition about things.
    “Just wondering. You’re wearing a heavy sweater in the middle of May. I thought you might be ill.” Her hand reached toward my stomach. I