Frozen Barriers by Sara Shirley Read Free Book Online Page B

secluded life I know she’s living. I’m not sure why she’s staked her claim on me; it’s not like either of us has a shitload of time to spend together. I might have knocked her on her ass years ago, but every time I see this girl, she knocks the words right out of my mouth.
    I push off the wall and make my way back to the table, only to see Emily isn’t there. “Where did Emily go?” I ask everyone.
    Suzanne looks up at me. “She said she had a yoga class or something to get to. I gave her my cell number, and she said she’d give me a call to get together soon.” Bullshit. She’s running again. You don’t go to yoga after drinking a beer. I make my way to the front doors to see if I can catch her before she leaves, and I hear Courtney ask everyone where the hell I am going off to in a hurry. I’ll have to explain this one to her later. Hopefully, she won’t say much to Mom. She’s already wondering when either of her two oldest boys is going to finally settle down and have grandkids for her. If she hears I’ve been running after a girl I’ve basically met twice in my life, she’ll be planning my wedding before the end of the night.
    Fuck it!
    Once I’m outside, I see her across the parking lot looking for her keys inside her purse. I start sprinting across the lot before she’s just about to unlock the doors. “Emily!” I shout. She turns and sees me running toward her, and her face shoots up in shock. I make it to her car, putting one finger up as I’m leaning over onto my knees and trying to catch my breath. Seriously, I better start hitting up the gym a lot more in the next week. Spending my summer at the beach only doing twelve-ounce curls was not a wise idea.
    “Jeremy?” she questions as she plays with her car keys in her hand.
    “Hang on two seconds…” I raise my hand with one finger pointing up.
    “Aren’t you supposed to be in good shape to play hockey?” I hear her ask just in front of me.
    “Yeah, well, when you have the summers off and your friends want to do nothing but sit on the beach, drink beer, and play golf, you tend to lose interest in going to the gym.” I laugh, simply because she’s probably in better shape than me right now. Coach is clearly going to kick my ass when I report to training camp next week.
    Emily leans against her car as I start to stand back up. “You don’t seem to be in so much of a rush to get to that yoga class anymore.”
    I see her eyes stalling and searching for a reason in her head. “What are you talking about? I really am heading to a class.”
    I call her bluff. “Emily, you’re heading to a yoga class just the same as you were planning on calling Suzanne to meet up again.”
    “What do you want from me, Jeremy? I don’t fit in with you guys or anyone for that matter.”
    “Excuses, excuses! Stop pushing people away because you think you don’t fit in. You did the same thing to me eight years ago. You know how long I waited for your call that never came? I even tried calling you a couple times after that to see if you were going to the rink. You never answered.”
    “Jeremy, it’s not that I didn’t want to hang out with you. I did actually think you were funny, but you just don’t understand how my parents dictated my life back then. My God, they still do!”
    “Emily, listen to me. I may not know you all that well, but I can see underneath all the fake smiles and frilly costumes there is a funny, beautiful person just waiting to live her life. What’s holding you back?”
    She pushes off her car to face me. “I don’t know what you want from me, Jeremy. I can’t even offer anyone a normal friendship. I have one day off a week, and this isn’t even the busy time of year for me.”
    Something inside me keeps telling me to fight for this girl. “Quit. Just say the hell with it! Do what makes you happy for once. From the first time I knocked you on your ass when you were eleven at the Forum, I knew you didn’t belong in