Changing Habits by Debbie Macomber Read Free Book Online Page A

a welcome break, but she hesitated.
    â€œEveryone’s going to be there,” Jane urged her. “Bob and Gary and Sharon and just about everyone.”
    â€œI can’t,” Joanna said reluctantly.
    â€œWhy not?” her friend asked. “You haven’t gone anywhere in months, not since Greg left.”
    â€œThat’s not true. You and I went shopping last week.”
    â€œYou spend more time with that girl at the hospital than you do with any of us.”
    â€œYou mean Penny?”
    â€œWhatever her name is. You’re always there. Who is she, anyway? It isn’t like she went to school with us. You barely know her.”
    Jane was right. Penny had leukemia and after her classes Joanna often stopped in to visit the teenager. Sister Theresa had introduced Joanna to Penny. These daysJoanna had more in common with the hospital patient than her high school friends. Penny’s boyfriend was also in Vietnam; they compared notes and discussed news about the war. Sister Theresa had mentioned how beneficial these visits were for Penny, but she didn’t understand how much Joanna got out of them, too.
    â€œYou’re right, we did go shopping,” Jane went on, “but that was just the two of us. You haven’t gone out with the crowd. We used to all hang out, remember?”
    As if Joanna could forget.
    â€œI’m engaged.” She didn’t feel comfortable meeting her friends in situations that often involved couples pairing up. Not when she wore Greg’s engagement ring.
    â€œThat doesn’t mean you’re dead,” Jane muttered.
    â€œI know, but it bothers me….” Greg didn’t like it either. When she happened to mention running into their old gang, he’d plied her with questions. He hadn’t asked her not to hang around with their high school friends, but she could tell from his letters that he worried when she was out with the guys. She couldn’t find it in her heart to write him long, chatty letters in which she conveniently forgot to mention that she’d sat beside Paul or Ron at the movies.
    Greg was the possessive type, but she didn’t mind. She saw it as proof that he loved her. Besides, it wasn’t his fault that he was in the middle of the war while several of their friends had gotten college exemptions.
    Penny understood Joanna’s dilemma on an entirely different level. She didn’t want to write Scott, her boyfriend, about her experiences in the hospital or the progression of her disease, so Joanna helped her think up cheerful news to convey to her sweetheart half a world away.
    â€œDo me a favor,” Jane said. “Ask Greg. Do you honestly think he wants you to stay home, pining away for him?”
    To Joanna’s astonishment, when she did bring it up, casually—with the assurance that she’d stayed home—Greg protested. “Jane’s right. You should be going out with our friends,” he wrote. “I know you love me and I love you. I might be cut off from everyone while I do this stint in the Army, but that doesn’t mean you have to be, too.”
    Joanna read his letter a second time, just to be sure there wasn’t any hint of resentment. She detected none and wondered if she would have acted as magnanimous had their roles been reversed. Still, she wrote him every day, rain or shine, whether her moods were up or down.
    His letters came intermittently now, always with a good excuse about why he hadn’t been able to write. “I’m sorry, Joanna. Has it really been a week? Forgive me, sweetheart, but it’s crazy over here. I promise to look at the wedding invitation samples and get back to you soon.” Then he’d remind her of his love and everything would seem perfect again.
    Joanna’s studies at the hospital continued. Despite her fears that Greg’s absence would make the time drag, this first year was flying by.
    â€œWas it hard for you