Read Online December (The Page Sisters Book 1) by Michelle Watson - Free Book Online Page A

them. He told me he had his leather boots specially made for him and they cost a small fortune. I figured I would never actually get them.
    I run my fingers over my inscribed name on the sides. My eyes water and the next thing I know, my arms are wrapped around Danny’s waist and my face is buried in his chest. I release a silent sob that shakes my entire body.
    “You’re welcome, little lady,” he says quietly, hugging me as if he never wants to let go.
    The only response I have is to embrace him tighter, squeezing him until my arms hurt.
    A few months ago, I would never be caught crying. I am a very prideful soul and I hate feeling weak. Danny’s changing me. He’s cracking my hard shell. But I can’t afford to slip much further. I need my shell. It keeps me safe when people don’t.
    Something as sure as destiny tells me that Danny isn’t going to stop chipping at my shell until he cracks it wide-open.  

CHAPTER SEVEN
    T HE P RESENT
     
     
     
     
     
    It’s the middle of the day and I’m the middle of my shift, feeding our four chimpanzees when my cell vibrates in my pocket.
    “I’ll be back to check on you guys.” The others pay no attention to me. Hank, Peggy, and Boomhauer are too busy munching on their sliced apples and bananas to notice me (yeah, I totally stole their names. I had a thing for King Of The Hill) but Bobby, the youngest chimp, signs I love you and waves goodbye. I’ve been teaching them sign language and they’ve been catching on very quickly, especially Bobby. 
    Smiling, I sign I love you back and wave, then exit the enclosure.
    I open the door to my tiny office that was originally a storage room and sit at my desk. Frowning at Josh’s number, I answer it.
    “Hey.”
    “Hey, stranger. I’ve been calling you for days. Why have you been ignoring me?”
    “It’s been weird since I kissed you.”
    “No, you’ve been weird since you kissed me. December, I’m not going to give you a hard time about the kiss. We were drunk and things got heated. But I get it. Danny’s back now and you don’t want to be distracted…but I thought that we could still be friends.”
    “That hurts. It’s not even like that, Josh.”
    “Really? Because it sure seems like it. As soon as he’s back you ditch me. Can you honestly tell me that these past four years have meant nothing to you?” I can just picture his baby blue eyes turning into the color of hard sea glass.
    “It means everything to me, Josh. You know this. And I’m not ditching you because Danny’s back. I just didn’t know how to clean up this mess I’ve made. It’s not fair to me that you discount my feelings by telling me how I feel. You do mean something to me.”
    “Well, it’s not fair to me that you don’t know how to handle responsibility and you avoid confrontation, so you hide while my mind automatically goes off the deep end with thinking negative things about our relationship. We are friends, so let’s be friends.”
    Flinching from his hostile tone, I lightly bang my head on my desk. “Okay,” I whisper into the phone. “You’re coming on very aggressive, Josh. I get it. I fucked up, and I’m really sorry.”
    He exhales and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, December. I needed to get through to you, and I figured me being a hardass was the way to go. Our friendship means so much to me. I’m not willing to let it go so easily. I will fight for it.”
    “There’s no need. You have me.”
    “Not yet,” he says quietly. “Can we have dinner tonight? I need to see you.”
    “Yeah. Sure.”
    “Okay. I’ll call you. Hope the rest of your day goes well.”
    “Yeah. You, too.”
    “See you tonight, December. Later.”
    “Later.”
    Disconnecting, I go over my schedule for today which includes ordering more feed for all the animals, cleaning out pens and cages, exercising the sea lions, and helping the Wilsons with Sunflower, our pregnant Siberian tiger. Being a zookeeper is challenging, but I love my