Read Online Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk - Free Book Online Page A

sweetie,” he said, and Nell answered with her adorable baby talk, cute enough to make me think it had all been worth it.
    Then she puked.
    “Oh my God.” I grabbed her burp rag as Leah snorted, and began to wipe the white stain on his shirt. The fabric puckered where the liquid sank in. “I’m so sorry. That’s probably why she was crying.”
    Aaryn held Nell at arm’s length, like he was afraid she might do it again. “Wow. That’s a first.”
    Smiling, I gathered her up and cradled her. Funny how shocking puke could be when it wasn’t part of your everyday routine.

    “Oh well, a little puke never killed anyone, right?” he said.
    I aimed and tossed the rag at his chest.
    “Hey!” He dodged that thing pretty fast.
    “How old are you?” Leah asked. Great, now she was interested in him. I knew my sister too well.
    “Nineteen.” He picked at his shirt to help it dry. “Hey, Karma, did you know I’m going fishing with Danny tomorrow?”
    “Oh?” I filled a bottle with water, then shook the formula out.
    “Yeah.” Aaryn sat on one of the stools behind the kitchen island, the one with the ruffled vinyl edge. “I told him to invite you to the café after, but I think he took it the wrong way. He got kind of jealous.”
    My face flushed at the thought. Danny, jealous of Aaryn? “Really? Well, tell him I said sure. That would be nice.” I smoothed Nell’s hair from her ear to her neck with my fingertip. Silky and soft, so precious. “I mean, it’s our anniversary, so it would be nice to get some extra time together.”
    “Is he normally a pretty jealous guy?”
    “Danny? Oh no, not really. I don’t know.”
    Aaryn clapped his hand to his forehead. “Duh—I guess he’d rather hang out with you instead of fishing. Not too romantic if I’m there. I’ll cancel.”
    “No, no, no, it’s okay, really. You don’t have to cancel. I have dance and homework, and it’s not like we have a sitter.” Nell squirmed when I hugged her. “Do you want to see what I got him?”
    “The suspense is killing me,” Leah said.

    “Yes,” Aaryn said.
    It wasn’t until I was at my bedroom door that I realized he’d followed me. “Oh, uh, you can just wait in the kitchen.” But the door opened when Nell banged on it, and he saw the mess, my God, how embarrassing. Thankfully the path to Nell’s crib and her neat pile of belongings looked somewhat responsible.
    “You weren’t supposed to see that,” I said, flipping on the light. I really had to make it a priority to clean my room.
    “I mean, who could expect that your clothes would, you know, go into the basket instead of onto the floor?” Aaryn said.
    “Shut up. I have bad aim. And bad rebound.” I found Danny’s gift among the clutter without any problem.
    “Here it is. Cute, right?” The photo frame had three images. “This one’s from homecoming, the day I knew he was my Mr. Right.” I wore a pink dress; he, a suit coat and baseball cap. Aaryn’s smile had changed to a weird half gape. “I was so nervous,” I said, and let out a weird, three-second giggle, almost like I was there again. Maybe my nerves had something to do with how crowded the hall felt with Aaryn next to me. He seemed comfortable standing inches away. “I guess this one speaks for itself.” The shot of me and Danny, him giving my belly a thumbs-up—classic. Nell kept trying to grab the frame. “So yeah. That’s his gift.”
    “ ‘You’re my everything,’ ” he read aloud, which is what I’d doodled across the final photo, one of me taken during a dance shoot.
    “Is it dumb?” I cradled the frame against my chest, feeling insecure from the intense look he was giving me.
    “Not at all.” He nodded, urging me to show him again, one finger on the corner of the frame. “That pose is amazing.”

    “Oh, thanks. Juliette’s a nag about angles. I hope Danny likes it.”
    “Me too.” Nell beat his shoulder. “I really don’t want to take up all his time