Read Online A Long Time Coming by Heather Van Fleet - Free Book Online Page A

Cruz to go surfer boy shopping in her life?
Not very many, that was for damn sure. And according to Harley, she’d be
getting her fill—times ten—this weekend. It was just too bad not a damn one of
them would be anything beyond a pretty face to look at. She only hoped that
they were the perfect distraction to all the crappy things that would not take the
hint and get the hell out of her mind.
         She sighed, nodding to
herself as determination took hold of her insides. She rounded the corner, with
her chin held high, ready to make this thing happen. Ready to take on the world
for one last weekend, before it all changed for good. And there, standing in
the arms of the boy who’d robbed her heart, was Harley and her big, ginormous,
and oh–so–contagious smile curling up at the edges of her lips.
    Abigail’s heart swelled at the
sight. It’d been three hellish years for that girl, it was about time she saw
genuine joy in her dark, haunted eyes.
    Feet picking up speed, as did
her heart, the closer she came to her best friend, Abigail sprinted her way
forward. Twenty feet, fifteen feet, Abigail blinked, pausing and stiffening for
only a fragment of a tiny second. Oh hell, was Harley’s sign meant for her?
Groaning she continued to move onwards until only ten feet separated their
reunion. But then she blinked again. Did that sign seriously say “It’s my best
friend’s first time in Cali, let’s find her a surfer boy!”?
    Redness accompanied the smile
on Abigail’s face. She was not an easily embarrassed person, dammit. But
leave it to Harley to get to her for once. She shook her head, dropping her
bag, and darted the rest of the distance across the tile to close in on her.
Harley did the same, tossing the poster she was holding back towards Mason’s
readied arms, before racing the rest of the way forward.       They smashed
into each other, all girly squeals and screeches. It was like pigs mating—loud
and annoying—but necessary to keep the bacon pushed into production. A horribly
bad analogy, yeah, but it was what it was.
    “Oh my God, Abigail, my mom
was right, look at you,” Harley’s arms loosened from around her waist, but
neither let go as they pulled back to look at one another, “You look exhausted!
What the hell? Don’t you sleep anymore?”
         Abigail’s grin faltered for a moment, and her breath
caught just in the base of her throat. She had to pull herself together. This
was a reunion, not a powwow over her newly–discovered health issues. So she
faked a grin, yanking Harley back into another fierce embrace. It wasn’t long,
though, before a real hug took over the faux one with a vengeance. No matter
what she was dealing with, seeing Harley always made things good, made things
seem feasible, even though her best friend had no clue what shocking revelation
she’d discovered only six hours beforehand.
    “Ah hell, I missed you too, Harley!” Their mutual squeeze
was full of so much emotion that Abigail wouldn’t be surprised if they were
going to explode into a real life Hallmark card. It was moments like that when
Abigail knew that life would eventually find its way back to a normal
state.
    They giggled in unison,
pulling back to face Mason just as he released a low, pitiful groan, “Jesus you
two, if I would have known you were gonna get all hot and heavy in the middle
of the airport, then I would’ve brought my video camera,” he waggled his
eyebrows teasingly, winking as he reached for Abigail’s suitcase.
    Abigail shook her head,
breaking away from the hold of her best friend’s arms to grab her bag off the
floor. “And hi to you too, Mason,” with his hair just barely grazing the tops
of his shoulders, and a five o’clock shadow that said lazy summer days all over
it, Mason Daniel looked older than the last time she’d seen him, and most
definitely the epitome of California, sexy surfer boy. But he was one hundred
percent Harley’s. Always had been, and