All of Me by Heatherly Bell Read Free Book Online

letter.”
    “I’m doing no such thing!”
    “The hell you aren’t. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
    “I know that.” It wasn’t shame that had kept her away but more like a seismic change of plans.
    “Think you can work with him on this subcommittee?”
    “So far he’s actually been kind of nice.” As long as she didn’t count the midwives-as-clowns comment. “Even admitted that he broke up with me.”
    “The break.” Brooke held up two fingers like air quotes.
    “I’m going to make sure that we don’t talk about anything too personal. He’s already asked about Joe, only he calls him John to annoy me.”
    “It’s almost like maybe he thinks imaginary Joe isn’t real. Crazy.” Brooke rolled her eyes.
    Something pinged deep in Ivey’s belly. “He’s on to me? You think?”
    Brooke shook her head. “I don’t know if he would give it much thought.”
    “Don’t look now, but your dislike of Jeff is starting to show.”
    “Oh yeah? Well I wasn’t trying to hide it.” Brooke had loyalty down to a science, but then again she’d resented the fact that Ivey and Jeff had been a couple all through high school when Brooke had remained single. Not through lack of options, which was a mystery Ivey still hadn’t cracked.
    “I’m afraid I’ll break down and tell him everything. It’ll come flowing out of me.”
    “After all this time? No, forget it. You need to stem that flow and keep your mouth shut tight.” Brooke touched her lips on the word tight. “That’s your business.”
    “Aunt Lucy doesn’t think so. She still thinks he has a right to know.”
    “Lucy isn’t exactly the authority of all things relationship-wise. Which husband is she on now? I lost track.”
    She had a point. Aunt Lucy had been through four husbands, three of them since winning the lottery. Husband number four was under house arrest in New York, awaiting trial. What did she know about long-term relationships? “But she has a point. Doesn’t she?”
    “Maybe she had a point five years ago. You should have told him. You were way too honorable for your own good. He should have stepped up.”
    “He would have,” Ivey said and then wondered why she was defending her ex. They’d had plans, and they didn’t include a baby. He didn’t want to get married until he was done with medical school. Having a baby would have sent him over the edge. Besides, had everyone forgotten he’d broken up with her? He didn’t want her then, and she sure didn’t want him to come back to her out of duty.
    “As usual you made it easy for him. Like you do with everyone. Think about it. You didn’t tell Jeff because he’d drop out of school, you left your job in LA to take care of your aunt, and now I’d bet my Harley that someone else talked you into being on this subcommittee. Who is it this time?”
    Brooke had kindly left out all the times she’d covered for Mom. I’m sorry, Mrs. Monroe, my mom can’t come to the phone right now. She’s got the flu.
    “All right, so what? I try to help people. I’m a nurse. What do you want from me?”
    “I want you to bandage a cut or deliver a baby but stop trying to fix everybody and everything. For once, will you do what you want?”
    “It’s not that easy. When I look at him—I don’t know, he reminds me of what I lost. I can’t help it.”
    Brooke squeezed Ivey’s hand. “But what do you want?”
    “I want to stay. And I want this job.” Saying it out loud confirmed it, and for once maybe she’d stay, even if it was going to make things more difficult for her, for Jeff, and the rest of the blue-versus-pink-divided town. Too bad.
    “Good for you. Then take it. Fight for it.” Brooke pounded the table with her fist.
    Ivey startled. “Right.”
    A hard-looking man with his jaw dialed to crush strode up next to Brooke and put a hand on her shoulder. “I need to talk to you. Now.”
    “I’ll be right back,” Brooke said as she rose, then called out to her coworker: