Read Online Reality Ever After by Cami Checketts - Free Book Online Page A

dreamed I could love someone, but I can’t live like this. You said you needed time. I thought you were healing from the baby, but you were with him .” He gestured to Josh who was holding his nose and glaring at them. Crew held up his hands and backed toward his Jeep. “I can’t take it anymore.”
    He jumped into his Jeep, jammed it into gear, and spun away before Sydney could even react.

 
    Chapter Nine

    Days went by in a blur. Crew wouldn’t respond to her texts or phone calls. She went to his house several times, but his Jeep wasn’t in the driveway and his parents eyed her suspiciously and claimed they didn’t know where he was. She kept replaying the last time she’d seen him in her mind. She still had no idea what letter he had in his hand and she had no idea how to fix things.
    Their wedding day dawned bright and beautiful. Sydney went through the normal routine. Dance class in the morning. Snow Shack in the afternoon. Hide in her ceramics shed and try to avoid her parents after that. She went for a long run in the heat of the early evening, hoping she’d get heat exhaustion and keel over.
    That night she lay in bed and broke. Sobs shook her body.
    Granny floated above her, murmuring the appropriate words of comfort, but not offering a lot of help. Sydney needed someone to hold her and make it all better.
    “Ah, love,” Granny murmured. “Sometimes things can just get messy.”
    Sydney hugged her pillow to her chest, the tears still streaking down her face, but her body gradually shuddering less. “I just love him so much, Granny. I wish I could go back and tell Crew he’s the one I’ll always love. I wish I could make this right.”
    Granny smiled broadly. “Now that’s what I like to hear. Go to sleep, love. It will be better tomorrow.”
    She drifted off to sleep, not really trusting Granny, but wishing with all her heart it could be true.

 
    Chapter Ten

    Syd awoke to find herself walking swiftly from the gym to her car. Josh was beside her and she had on the same clothes she’d worn before. Her car was in the same place and the sun lowering toward the western mountains. It seemed surreal, like a dream, but not.
    “I think you like me,” Josh said.
    Syd did a double-take as he repeated the words that had led to Crew discovering them kissing last time.
    “Will you at least give me a chance? Spend some time with me. We could go to dinner.”
    “Not hungry.” Sydney said automatically. She pinched her arm and it hurt. She was awake. What in the world was going on?
    “A late movie?”
    “I have to teach early in the morning.”
    “Coffee?”
    “Don’t like it.” It was the worst deja-vu ever because she knew exactly what was coming, but for some awful reason she seemed to be spouting the same answers. Granny appeared, giving her an encouraging smile, in the windshield of a Yukon. Syd suddenly realized this was real. This was happening all over again. Why would Granny send her back in time if she was going to make the same mistakes? She wanted to scream and run away, but someone had set her on auto-pilot.
    “Hmm, how about ice cream?”
    “I can’t.” Sydney glanced at his handsome face. “I’m sorry Josh, I can’t.”
    “Why not?” His voice was tinged with frustration.
    “Because I’m engaged.”
    They finally reached her car. She inserted the key into the lock and her fingers trembled worse than the last time she lived this. Had she really gone back in the past?
    Josh’s hand engulfed her own, steadying her fingers, helping her turn the key. She shivered. How was she going to change this if everything was happening the exact same? He released her hand, opening the door for her. As he placed the keys in her hand, his fingers brushed hers.
    “Thanks,” Sydney muttered, studying the pavement for some kind of answers. She pressed her lips together.
    She could feel his breath on her neck, he was too close. His hand on her back tried to bring her closer. Her head swiveled in