Read Online Yours: A Standalone Contemporary Romance by Jasinda Wilder - Free Book Online
Authors: Jasinda Wilder
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I ’ ll have you know.”
“For real?”
He laughs. “For really real. Grew up on a six-thousand-acre ranch, roping steer and breaking broncs. My dad kicked a fit when I moved to LA to go to med school. Had to give the ranch to my kid brother who, I have to say, can ’ t ride half as good as me.”
“How did your dad end up in Los Roboles?”
“Long story. Marcus still has the ranch down in Ardmore, but Mom and Dad retired a few years ago, moved to the middle of nowhere up in northern Cali. Humboldt County, somewhere. Deserted and rugged, the way they like it. I ’ m still not quite sure how he ended up in that hospital, actually. I just know I got the call from Mom, so I went. That ’ s when I met you. Dad ’ s a stubborn, taciturn old fucker. It ’ s hard to get two words in a row out of him.”
“So how ’ d you end up so loquacious?”
This gets me a big old grin. “I get that from Mom. She ’ s the opposite of Dad. It ’ s hard to get him to talk at all, harder yet to get her to ever shut up. I ’ m sort of in between.”
“Sounds like they ’ re quite a match.” I know I sound plaintive, a little jealous.
“What are your folks like?” He ’ s asking, but I think he knows it ’ s a loaded question.
I can ’ t help a sigh. “My dad took off with the nanny when I was eleven, left Mom with me, my brother, and a pile of debt. Mom wasn ’ t exactly…up to the task of being a single mother of two while struggling under crushing financial debt. So I finished junior high and high school living with my mom ’ s folks, my grandparents. They passed when I was in nursing school, and I don ’ t talk to Mom, seeing as she abandoned me just like Dad did. Nate, my brother, is a problem child, always has been. In and out of jail, off and on drugs. No one can do anything for him and, believe me, I ’ ve tried.
“I grew up in San Francisco, moved to LA for nursing school when I was eighteen and never looked back. Don ’ t know where Mom is, don ’ t know where Dad is, and don ’ t know where Nate is. Delaney is my best friend and she ’ s really my only family.”
“Jesus, babe. That ’ s rough.”
“It is what it is.” I shrug. “And now I ’ m here.”
“And now you ’ re here,” he agrees. Touches my chin with a thumb, kisses me softly, sweetly, quietly. “And now you have me. Always will.”
We kiss again, and that leads to more…a lot more.
Which leads to us getting married when we ship back to the States after doing a year together in Africa.
And that leads to six glorious years with Ollie. Six years of love, sex, and arguments. Six years of war zones, earthquakes, disease outbreaks, hurricanes, typhoons, and even a tsunami.
Six years.
And I ’ d never trade a single moment of any of those years, not for all the treasure in the world.
Just live for the spin and hope for the win
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, New York
I remember a light. A white light. Bullshit, I always thought. But it’s fucking real. There was a white goddamn light, and I went into it. I remember peace. I remember floating. I remember this…nothingness, a beautiful, all-encompassing, soothing nothingness.
That’s something I’ll never forget, that peace.
I didn’t die. I don’t know why, but I didn’t. Robby got me to the hospital in time, and they kept me alive. I don’t remember any of that, because I was kept alive via machines. I was in an induced coma, just waiting.
It was futile.
I’d never get a transplant.
They could keep me alive on the machines indefinitely, as long as that machine was plugged in. But without a transplant, I’d never leave the bed.
And fuck that.
I signed the DNR form a long time ago; if I die, let me die. Don’t put me on the heart-lung machines; don’t keep me alive and tethered to fucking pumps and shit. But Mom, I guess, circumvented my wishes, and had me kept alive.
“Alive”, though, is a
“For real?”
He laughs. “For really real. Grew up on a six-thousand-acre ranch, roping steer and breaking broncs. My dad kicked a fit when I moved to LA to go to med school. Had to give the ranch to my kid brother who, I have to say, can ’ t ride half as good as me.”
“How did your dad end up in Los Roboles?”
“Long story. Marcus still has the ranch down in Ardmore, but Mom and Dad retired a few years ago, moved to the middle of nowhere up in northern Cali. Humboldt County, somewhere. Deserted and rugged, the way they like it. I ’ m still not quite sure how he ended up in that hospital, actually. I just know I got the call from Mom, so I went. That ’ s when I met you. Dad ’ s a stubborn, taciturn old fucker. It ’ s hard to get two words in a row out of him.”
“So how ’ d you end up so loquacious?”
This gets me a big old grin. “I get that from Mom. She ’ s the opposite of Dad. It ’ s hard to get him to talk at all, harder yet to get her to ever shut up. I ’ m sort of in between.”
“Sounds like they ’ re quite a match.” I know I sound plaintive, a little jealous.
“What are your folks like?” He ’ s asking, but I think he knows it ’ s a loaded question.
I can ’ t help a sigh. “My dad took off with the nanny when I was eleven, left Mom with me, my brother, and a pile of debt. Mom wasn ’ t exactly…up to the task of being a single mother of two while struggling under crushing financial debt. So I finished junior high and high school living with my mom ’ s folks, my grandparents. They passed when I was in nursing school, and I don ’ t talk to Mom, seeing as she abandoned me just like Dad did. Nate, my brother, is a problem child, always has been. In and out of jail, off and on drugs. No one can do anything for him and, believe me, I ’ ve tried.
“I grew up in San Francisco, moved to LA for nursing school when I was eighteen and never looked back. Don ’ t know where Mom is, don ’ t know where Dad is, and don ’ t know where Nate is. Delaney is my best friend and she ’ s really my only family.”
“Jesus, babe. That ’ s rough.”
“It is what it is.” I shrug. “And now I ’ m here.”
“And now you ’ re here,” he agrees. Touches my chin with a thumb, kisses me softly, sweetly, quietly. “And now you have me. Always will.”
We kiss again, and that leads to more…a lot more.
Which leads to us getting married when we ship back to the States after doing a year together in Africa.
And that leads to six glorious years with Ollie. Six years of love, sex, and arguments. Six years of war zones, earthquakes, disease outbreaks, hurricanes, typhoons, and even a tsunami.
Six years.
And I ’ d never trade a single moment of any of those years, not for all the treasure in the world.
Just live for the spin and hope for the win
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, New York
I remember a light. A white light. Bullshit, I always thought. But it’s fucking real. There was a white goddamn light, and I went into it. I remember peace. I remember floating. I remember this…nothingness, a beautiful, all-encompassing, soothing nothingness.
That’s something I’ll never forget, that peace.
I didn’t die. I don’t know why, but I didn’t. Robby got me to the hospital in time, and they kept me alive. I don’t remember any of that, because I was kept alive via machines. I was in an induced coma, just waiting.
It was futile.
I’d never get a transplant.
They could keep me alive on the machines indefinitely, as long as that machine was plugged in. But without a transplant, I’d never leave the bed.
And fuck that.
I signed the DNR form a long time ago; if I die, let me die. Don’t put me on the heart-lung machines; don’t keep me alive and tethered to fucking pumps and shit. But Mom, I guess, circumvented my wishes, and had me kept alive.
“Alive”, though, is a
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