Read Online Accidentally in Love by Laura Drewry - Free Book Online

should say or do something?
    “Where will you go?” Gail’s voice broke through the moment, making them both blink and reach for their drinks.
    “How ’bout we just let him eat, Mom?”
    “It’s okay. I put in to go back to Etobicoke. My folks are just outside Ottawa, so…” His voice was smooth and even, and when Ellie flicked what she hoped was a casual glance his way, he was looking right back at her, his face as straight and unsmiling as ever.
    “Did you go to university before joining the RCMP?”
    “Yes, ma’am. I have a degree in English; figured if the cop thing didn’t work out, I’d like to go into teaching.”
    “Oooh, that’s smart.” Gail nodded. “Ellie here was going to be a journalist, weren’t you, sweetie?”
    “Yup,” she scoffed. “I was. All part of the Big Plan.”
    “Sounds a little ominous,” Brett said.
    Ellie couldn’t help but smirk at her own youthful arrogance.
    “I had it all figured out. I was studying journalism and playing on the national softball team; was going to make the ’04 Olympic team and head off to Athens, and when my brilliant career as a player was over, I’d have my degree in hand and would just walk right into a job as a sportscaster on TSN. Pretty good plan, eh?”
    “You were on the Olympic team?”
    “Nope.” She lifted her wineglass but didn’t drink, just swished it around a little. “I got cut in the final rounds of tryouts. No Athens for me.”
    “Well shi…shoot.”
    “Yeah, that’s not quite what I said, but you’re close.”
    “So what’d you do?”
    “You mean after I stopped screaming and yelling and carrying on like a three-year-old?”
    “She really did,” Gail said quietly, with a firm nod. “You should’ve heard her.”
    “Yeah.” Ellie could hear the amusement in Brett’s voice even though he didn’t laugh. “After that.”
    “I did what any self-respecting woman would do: I went shopping. Little retail therapy was just what I needed, and as it turned out, one of my coaches had a connection to the owner of this high-end boutique in downtown Toronto. We got to talking, she needed someone to work the summer, so ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing, I was hired.”
    “And the journalism degree?”
    “Never happened. I got on full-time at the boutique and never went back.”
    “It’s the only thing she’s ever quit in her whole life.” Gail shook her head over a sigh. “I just hope she doesn’t come to regret that one day.”
    “I won’t.” Ellie sipped her wine slowly. “I learned more working there than I ever would have learned sitting in a classroom for another two years. I’d probably still be working there if I hadn’t been arrested.”
    “I still don’t understand why she had to move all the way out here,” Gail said. “Smart girl like her, she could’ve found work somewhere else, but oh no, she got it in her mind she had to get as far away as she could, and then Gabbie followed her the next year.”
    And just like that Gail was back to her inquisition. Had Brett ever met Gabbie, did he have siblings, what did his parents do, did he have hobbies or pets? He answered each question patiently and evenly, although it meant he was barely able to touch his food.
    Part of Ellie felt bad for him, sitting there getting peppered with all those questions, but a bigger part of her was grateful that she didn’t have to talk anymore. She’d already told him more about herself in the last half hour than she had in the four years since she’d met him.
    Weird.
    “And that tattoo,” Gail said, frowning slightly at the bottom half of it, not covered by his sleeve. “Does it symbolize something?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” A splash of pink blotched his cheeks for a second. “It symbolizes my own stupidity. I planned on getting a small rose, in memory of my twin sister, but I, um, well…I’m not a big fan of needles, so my buddies took me out for a few drinks beforehand and, well, none of us really remembers what happened