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I hope you’ll enjoy reading about the Sweeney sisters as much I’ve enjoyed writing about them. They are real women faced with everyday challenges, struggling to balance the demands of career and home while remaining true to themselves.
Annie checked the clock on the dashboard. She had eight minutes to change into her work clothes, grab a snack, and still be on time for her after-school job at Captain Sweeney’s Seafood Market. She turned off the main road and zoomed down the wooded driveway toward the house. When she rounded the last bend, she saw Heidi leaning against the hood of her vintage turquoise Mustang.
Annie glared at her. “You gave up the right to call me honey, or any other term of endearment for that matter, when you abandoned me.” She tried to brush past Heidi, but she grabbed her by the arm.
Annie yanked her arm away. “The decision was right for you at the time. A very selfish decision, I might add. You took off to Hollywood to chase your dreams of becoming a big movie star, and left me with a man who didn’t know how to scramble an egg or balance his checkbook, let alone raise a little girl.”
Annie stalked off toward her car, but Heidi teetered after her on spiked-heel booties. “You and I were getting along so well together back in December, before you found out who I was. We were becoming friends. We share so many things in common. I know we can build a life together based on that friendship. You can come live with me. I recently signed a lease on the second-floor apartment in a newly renovated old home down on Broad Street, on the Battery. I think you’ll like it. I even have an extra bedroom for you.”
“I’m not your baby! You abandoned your baby sixteen years ago.” Shoving Heidi out of the way, Annie jumped into her car and struggled to fasten her seat belt. As she shot off down the driveway, she watched her mother slowly disappear in the rearview mirror. She careened onto Creekside Drive with barely a glance in either direction. Tears blurring her vision, she smacked her palms against the steering wheel. “Ugh! I hate her!”
He engaged his blue lights, preparing to pull her over, when the accident happened. Tires screeched and a horn blasted as the minivan swerved into Annie’s lane. The sounds of metal crunching and glass shattering filled the air as her Honda hit the front end of the minivan, bounced off the curb, flipped over, and landed on its roof.
“Come here, you.” He pulled Sam from her chair and held her at arm’s length, taking her in from the top of her cropped blonde head to her dark-washed jeans and the pointy toes of her cowboy boots, relieved to see she hadn’t changed since breakfast. Sensing the worry behind her deep blue eyes, he wrapped his arms around her slight frame and buried his face in the soft spot at the crook of her neck. “You never know when you wake up in the morning what the day will bring.”
"Tangle of Strings is another fine episode in Ms. Farley’s engaging series but I do suggest the series be read in order because each book builds on the one before and it’s the best way to fully understand the Sweeneys and other people in their lives. I’m sorry to say this appears to be the end of the Sweeney family saga but Ms. Farley has at least left us with the possibility of future installments and I’ll be very happy if that happens."
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Tangle of Strings
