Anything Less Than Everything by Heather Adkins Read Free Book Online

coming
across as forced, fake. Words were just starting to come to me when the buzz of
my phone pulled them away back into the recesses of my brain. “Darn!” I said
under my breath as I checked the number. I didn’t recognize it, and the
unfamiliar area code could only mean telemarketer.
    “Hello?” I
answered, trying to make my annoyance clear.
    “Hey, Brooke.
It’s Aaron.” He paused. “Is this a bad time?
     My heart
skipped, the image of us on the swing immediately coming to mind. This was
completely unexpected. Aaron Davidson called me. Me. But why? “No, of course
not!” I replied, recovering. “I thought you were someone trying to sell me
something. How are you? How’s camp?” Pause . “Um, how did you find my
number?”
    He laughed
that slow easy laugh that made me feel so at ease. “Okay, let’s see. I’m good.
Camp’s tough but I’m learning a lot. And I got your number when you texted me
the other night, telling me you made it home.”
    “Ahh...so
that’s why you were worried about my well-being,” I said, a bit of mischief in
my voice.
    “Just an
added benefit,” he said, and I swear I could feel him smiling over the phone.
    “So, what’s
up?” I asked. “I thought they kept you running and passing twenty-four-seven,
with only an occasional break for a few drops of water.”
    “Feels like
it,” he said, and I could hear the tiredness in his voice, could imagine him
wincing as he stretched out his throwing arm. “Most of the guys went out, you
know, dinner, looking for girls.”
    “And you
didn’t join them because...”
    “I had to
stay here to ice my leg,” he replied.
    “You got
hurt?” I didn’t mean for my voice to sound as panicked as I’m sure it did. “Are
you okay?”
    “I’ll be
fine. Just a pulled hammy. A slight pull. Nothing a night of ice and rest won’t
fix. Besides, it gave me a good excuse to bow out of their plans and call you
instead.” I felt a smile twitching at the corners of my mouth. Aaron wanted to
talk to me instead of picking up girls. Aaron Davidson called me.
    “Well, I’m
glad I didn’t hang up on you like I usually do the telemarketers.”
    “Me, too.” We
each sat there in silence for a few seconds, but like before, it wasn’t
awkward. “So, what have I missed in your life over the past two days?” he
finally said. Two days . Saturday night on the swing seemed a lifetime
ago. So much had changed in my life in just forty-eight hours. So much had
changed in me .
    “Well,” I
said, “I found a part time job to keep me busy over the summer.”
    “Job? I thought
the whole point of becoming a teacher was that you didn’t have to work in the
summer,” he said.
    “That
certainly is a benefit,” I replied. “But it’s at a home decor boutique, and the
discount will help me fill up my new apartment.”
    I let those
words hang in the space between us.
    "Did you
mention that this weekend?" I could picture him scanning through our
conversations, looking for some mention of my plans.
    "No,"
I replied. "It was sort of a recent decision. Like, yesterday
recent." I told him how it had all happened, about how I planned to buy
out a few furniture stores the next day. About how shocked everyone in my
family still was about my plans.
     "Why
are they shocked?" he asked, a note of confusion in his voice.
     "Well,
I guess they're just used to me asking their opinion before I make big
decisions."
    "And you
didn't this time?"
    "Nope. I
just woke up and knew it was the right thing to do. And so I did it."
Saying it that way made me feel more powerful than I had in years.  
    “I haven’t
technically moved in yet, but I signed the lease. It’s mine. I’m going
furniture shopping tomorrow and hope to be sleeping there sometime this week.
It’s closer to school and brand new and just all around awesome.” All around
awesome? Did I really just say that? The pause on the other end at first made
me think Aaron was thinking the same thing, but