Beyond Reason by Karice Bolton Read Free Book Online Page A

sigh.
    Were they cracking already?
    “First, we aren’t kidding about how good you look. There’s something about you that’s really refreshing to see,” Gabby said.
    “But we do have something to confess,” Brandy continued.
    “You didn’t really come down to visit me?” My brow arched. “You only wanted to come to my town for no sales tax?”
    “No, we did come to see you. But you may not want us to stick around after we tell you what we did,” Brandy said.
    They were cracking!
    “Let’s order pizza first,” I said, reaching for my phone. I knew once they’d made up their mind to tell me about their Austin plan, it had to have been driving them nuts. Once they could get everything off their chests, they’d start to feel better. But I wasn’t ready for them to feel better yet. Nope! I wasn’t that nice. “You want chicken and spinach pizza, Thai pizza, pepperoni? And we have to have a salad. Maybe a Greek salad or we could do the chop-chop. Their chocolate brownies are to die for.”
    “You know…” Brandy narrowed her eyes at me.
    “Know what?” I feigned innocence.
    “She does know.” Gabby nodded her head. “The little snot. Who told you?”
    “Told me what?”
    “You know what,” Gabby said.
    “What kind of pizza do you want?” I tried again.
    “Was it Mason? He can never keep his mouth shut,” Brandy huffed.
    “I bet it was Aaron. He didn’t seem too pleased,” Gabby mused.
    “What on earth are you guys talking about?” I glanced at my phone, wondering if I should text Ayden that his sister was about to give in and tell me everything. I hadn’t actually heard from him since Wednesday, and with this, I’d at least have an excuse to reach out.
    “We tracked down your high school boyfriend,” Brandy said, at last.
    Even though I knew it was coming, my heart still did the stop and ‘oh my gosh’ routine, which was annoying. I didn’t want to give away that Ayden had come clean so I just stared at them, waiting for either one of them to continue.
    “That was why we planned a trip to Utah,” she continued.
    “You didn’t have his name.”
    “Do you think I’d let a little thing like that stop me from possibly finding my best friend’s true love?” Brandy asked, completely deadpan.
    “Listen, what you guys have done is sweet but very misguided. There was more to the story than I told you. And I recognize that’s my fault, not yours. But I actually have tried to reach out over the years and he’s never responded. So you better get ready to just enjoy a lovely ski trip and nothing more.”
    Brandy and Gabby looked at each other and then turned their attention to me.
    “He responded to us,” Gabby said.
    “What do you mean responded to you?” I asked. My pulse began racing as I thought about what just rolled off her tongue. It was one thing to track him down but quite another to contact him.
    “Aaron and Jason have been against this idea from the beginning—”
    “For good reason,” I interrupted Brandy.
    “They knew they couldn’t convince us to give up our idea, but they thought the least we could do was make sure Austin wasn’t married with five kids.” Gabby had pressed herself into the chair as far as she could go.
    “And?” I asked.
    “He’s not married, not by a long shot,” Brandy answered. “He responded to our email and said he’d love to see you.”
    “Well, that’s not exactly how he said it.” Gabby’s brow raised at Brandy, but Brandy didn’t continue so Gabby took over. “He kind of implied he was looking forward to meeting all of us.”
    “Okaaay?” I prompted. “That seems normal enough.”
    “It was kind of in a flirty way,” Brandy finished for Gabby.
    I noticed just how close Brandy and Gabby had become recently. Living in Portland away from them definitely put a bit of wedge between me and them. Maybe I should look for work in Seattle once I gave my notice. They were like my family, far more so than my blood