Read Online B008DKAYYQ EBOK by Joyce Lamb - Free Book Online Page B

one likes to be confronted with the awful truth.”
    She stared at him in stunned silence as her anger returned with slamming force. Fine, if he wanted to go there. She jerked up the hem of her scrubs top. “See that scar?” She pointed at the puckered line of flesh he’d touched so tenderly the day before.
    He glanced down at her exposed abdomen, his derision faltering.
    “You don’t get a scar like that from an abortion,” she ground out. “Ask your buddy about it.”
    Cole raised his gaze to hers, the color that had reddened his cheeks fading.
    Lowering her shirt, she took a calming breath. Swift, Bailey. Real swift. Let’s share our woes with the whole world, shall we?  
    Disgusted with herself for letting him goad her, she started to edge by him.  
    He grabbed her arms, and she flinched back. He released her, raising his hands and looking beyond frustrated. “Can you just wait?”
    She leaned against the wall, as much for support as for the distance it put between them. “For what?”
    “Will you tell me what happened?” No trace of his anger remained.  
    Oh, God. Sympathy was deadly when it came to maintaining her composure. “I don’t want to do this. I’ve already said too much.”
    “I don’t think you’ve said nearly enough.”
    “What difference does it make? You’ll just go back to Daniel, and he’ll tell you something completely different. I’d rather just drop it.”
    “You’re the one who—”
    “Who what? Brought it up? Then that means I get to be the one to decide when to let it go.”
    “That’s not fair—”
    “Fair?” She lost the struggle to keep her voice down. “I don’t need you to tell me what’s not fair.”
    The pathetic way her final words cracked apparently did the trick, because he backed off and gestured toward the front door. “All right, all right. Let’s go.”

Chapter 10
    “Bailey!”
    Hearing the joy in her nephew’s voice, seeing it in his face when he saw her, lightened Bailey’s mood instantly. She was able to push back the lingering tension from the silent, uncomfortable ride over and the way Cole had insisted on carrying her bag. About halfway up the steps to her brother’s apartment, she’d been wondering why everyone in Kendall Falls lived on the bloody second floor. But then Austin whipped open the door.  
    “Hey, kid, what’re you doing up so early?” She took in his jeans and untucked T-shirt as she entered the living room. She’d expected him to be in his favorite SpongeBob pajamas.  
    He wrapped his little arms around her waist and squeezed. “I missed you last night,” he said against her midriff. “I thought we were going putt-putting.”
    “I know. I’m sorry,” she said, stifling a wince as she kissed the top of his blond head. The physical discomfort of his tight hug was nothing compared with the peace that settled over her when she felt the six-year-old’s fingers dig into her back. Everything in her world that the past twenty-two hours had set adrift righted. “I got waylaid.”
    “Yeah,” he said, peering up at her with his head back. “You’re definitely way late.”
    She smiled into his wide, green eyes, so like her own and his father’s. So like his grandfather’s. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “Can we go next week instead?”
    “Sure.” He gazed up at Cole, who’d followed her in and set her bag inside the door. “Who’re you?”
    Cole offered his hand. “Cole Goodman. You are?”
    Austin shook Cole’s hand, as serious as a businessman about to seal the deal of his life. “Austin Chase.”
    “Nice to meet you, Austin.”  
    Bailey glanced around the small, two-bedroom apartment that James and Austin had moved into only recently. Chaos ruled. An opened pizza box, containing two slices of congealed pizza, sat on the floor by the brown, faux leather recliner, along with two dirty dishes and an empty glass clouded with milk residue.
    Several newspapers and magazines looked as if