Chasing the Dream: Dream Series, Book 3 by Isabelle Peterson Read Free Book Online Page B

her marriage when she was just sixteen, a year before they left India. I thought about who I was dating when I was sixteen, and couldn’t imagine marrying him. Currently, her fiancé was a med student, studying to be a cardio thoracic surgeon. Jenny had a right of refusal to the arrangement, but she explained that she and Ankur had grown up together and she liked him very much. If her parents were happy with the traditionally arranged marriage, then so was she. Her parents’ marriage had been arranged, and they were an amazing couple. Ankur was graduating in the next couple of days and had been matched for a residency at the hospital his soon to be father-in-law worked at, with a little help from said future father-in-law. The wedding would be a three day affair, originally supposed to have been in southern India, but over the past year, had been relocated to Manhattan, because of Ankur’s residency, which made Jenny very happy.
    Through the week, Kevin would knock on my door or text to see how things were going. My life seemed to be settling into a nice, professional normal. The long days usually wore me out and I was becoming one of those ‘early-to-bed’ people that I never understood. All in all, I was feeling completely successful.
    On Thursday night, Ben, the cocky intern, organized us interns to go watch a Yankee’s game at a popular bar, Stan’s, “within spitting distance” to the ballpark. Pulling out my fake ID that I’d only used twice in Ohio, and taking a cab to the Bronx, I went, looking forward to getting to know the other interns, even if I was dog-tired. If it had been quiet enough to talk, I think I would have had fun getting to know Serena, Blake and Dan, the three Jenny and I hung close to. It was clear that Ben and Terri had already hooked up, and Matt was part of their little clique. The bar was packed, with everyone decked out in Yankees t-shirts, caps and temporary tattoos. It was a good game, only made better with a Yankee win. My dad would have been proud at my attending a baseball game. He was a die-hard fan of the San Francisco Giants.
    The weekend came, but was not the same as the weekend before. No dinner date with Kevin. No jog in Central Park, but that was fine—I was totally worn out from the ten-hour days at work. I enjoyed that Saturday by sleeping in until two in the afternoon. Sunday I did some grocery shopping. Monday was Memorial Day.
    Kevin invited me to go with him to one of his fellow teacher’s home in Westchester, but I’d also been invited to a couple of co-workers holiday barbecues, and he’d already admitted that I wasn’t the object of his attentions, other than a neighbor and daughter of a friend. I thought it would be best to take up a co-worker’s invitation and considered which invite to take: Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Chelsea. I took up the invitation to Brenda’s Memorial Day barbecue at her place in Chelsea, because I didn’t have to leave the ‘island.’
    After a run in Central Park on the path Kevin taught me, I got ready for the party. Following Brenda’s instructions to get to her place, I took a downtown Six train to Grand Central Terminal, transferring to the Seven train over to Forty-second Street, then getting on a downtown One Train to Eighteenth Street. As I walked along Nineteenth Street, I was shocked to see so many gay couples, men and women, as well as men who were dressed like women and women who were dressed like men. Brenda’s apartment was amazing and had a fantastic view from the roof-top patio, reminding me that there was a roof-top patio on my building, but I had yet to make it up there. I made a mental note to check it out. There were a dozen or so people from work at Brenda’s, along with other neighbors of hers and other friends. The most interesting introduction Brenda made was to her wife, Marie, a chef at a well-known restaurant. Never in a million years would I have guessed that Brenda was a lesbian. She certainly