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Back The Surrogate Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Part One
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Part Two
  39. Thirty-Four
  40. Thirty-Five
  41. Thirty-Six
  42. Thirty-Seven
  43. Thirty-Eight
  44. Thirty-Nine
  45. Forty
  46. Forty-One
  47. Forty-Two
  48. Forty-Three
  49. Forty-Four
  50. Forty-Five
  51. Forty-Six
  52. Forty-Seven
  53. Forty-Eight
  54. Forty-Nine
  55. Fifty
  56. Fifty-One
  57. Part Three
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Acknowledgments
  64. About the Author
  65. About the Publisher

“This is pretty far away,” said Cally. “You could have dropped us off.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” I said, turning the engine back on. Cally grabbed the safety strap and braced. I yanked into reverse, drove up close to the mall doors, and pulled over to let her out.

“Meet me inside, right there,” she said, pointing.

I peeled off and found a place to park. Got out of the truck and slammed the door. I just wanted to get this over with. And I didn’t want to stay mad. As I stomped through the snow and around the parked cars, I thought about my dad. When he lost his temper, he couldn’t get it under control. I didn’t want to be like him.

Once he threw me down the basement stairs. He found out I’d skipped school that day. They were making the whole seventh grade take a career interest survey. I didn’t want to take the stupid test. I didn’t know what it would ask. Or how to answer. But I’d already skipped so many times, I was on the truancy list. The school called home, and my dad, who’d been drinking because that’s what he did during factory layoffs, answered the phone. He didn’t say anything. He hung up, walked over to me, picked me up, and threw me down the steps like I was a pile of dirty clothes. I shouted at him. Called him a drunk. And he locked the goddamn door at the top of the steps. Just left me down there. Until my sister, Deena, came home and unlocked me. No one said anything about it. Not my dad. Not my mother, because she always acted like she didn’t have a clue. My older brothers had moved out. It was just me and Deena. And Deena never said a word.

It was a good ways across the parking lot. By the time I got to the mall entrance, my head was clear and I was sweating under my coat. Cally was standing inside the doors, waiting. She led me through the maze, past Victoria’s Secret, the crappy Gap, idiotic American Eagle. The place was covered in red banners and silver glitter. Christmas trees everywhere. Christmas songs blasting. Lights. Wreaths and shit. And an old guy dressed as Santa so kids could sit on his lap and say what they wanted. Not that I ever did. Creepy as hell.

I stopped in front of Penney’s. “How about this?” This was where my sister shopped. She lived in northern Wisconsin, not far away.

“I’d rather find the Target,” said Cally, and we kept going. Strangers pointed at us. Said things to Cally about the baby. How small, how cute. Cally nodded at them. I tried to ignore them. “There.” Cally pointed and we sped up, like Target would protect us from the mall people.