Healed by Rebecca Brooke Read Free Book Online Page A

therapist.”
    “Oh, honey.” I patted his leg. “She’ll be all right. Just give her time to adjust. It’s not like this happened on the field. She also has to deal with the fact that someone she knew hurt her. That’s a lot to take in.”
    “I know, it’s just hard to watch her in so much pain. I’m hoping the next few days with her mom will help.”
    With a small smile, I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and squeezed. “It will. You know we’ll keep coming over to help as much as we can.
    “Thanks, Em.” His face pulled up into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
    “April after graduation,” I heard Andrew saying. That got my attention. Apparently, conversation had turned to our wedding.
    “I still can’t believe you guys are engaged.” Josh laughed, showing a little of his former self.
    I leaned over to whisper in his ear. “To be honest, neither can I.”
    His brows drew together as he watched me. “I don’t understand. I thought you were happy?”
    “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am. I just never thought he’d get up enough courage to ask!”
    That sent Josh into fits of laughter. And just like that, things seemed a little more normal in the room, the tension surrounding Josh easing. That’s when I turned back to the conversation going on in the rest of the room.
    “Why wait ’til April?” Caleb asked.
    “Because it’ll give us time to get through your wedding and still have time to plan our own,” I answered.
    Angie’s head snapped around. “You don’t have to worry about planning your wedding around ours. You guys shouldn’t have to wait so long to get married.”
    “Angie’s right,” Caleb chimed in. “Don’t wait ’til after we get married to start planning yours.”
    “Thanks, man,” Andrew said, walking over to sit down next to me. His eyes shot a brief glance down at me as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “I think there’s more to it than that.”
    Typical. There wasn’t, not really. Angie’s eyes moved to mine, reading me. We’d been roommates since freshman year, and had hit it off from day one. There wasn’t anything I didn’t know about her, including the fact that her dad was a verbally abusive asshole who was now behind bars. In the same way, there wasn’t anything she didn’t already know about me. She could read me better than Andrew, most of the time. It was no longer a casual gaze, but a piercing look and I knew there was nothing I could say to make her drop it.
    “Is your dad still giving you a hard time about wanting to move in with Andrew for senior year?”
    She knew exactly what the problem was. We’d been through it before. The first semester of sophomore year I’d wanted to move off campus, but my father was having none of it. His belief was that campus was there for a reason, and as a student, I should take any advantage of any amenities offered by the school. But not living with Andrew was starting to get annoying.
    “Yeah.” I let out a sigh. “He’s worried that my grades will drop because I’m spending all of my time with Andrew.”
    Looking around the room, I realized that everyone but Morgan already lived on their own. Some had the help of their parents for some things, but my parents still paid for everything, and while that was partly my fault for letting them, it didn’t make me feel any better that they did that for me—or the fact that they got to choose whether or not I lived on campus.
    Looking down at my hands, I confessed my fear to my friends. “He makes it so hard. He’s my dad and technically they’re paying for all of this, so I kind of feel bad going against his wishes. On the other hand, I think of how much more studying I could get done if I didn’t have to travel between two different places.
    “Oh, sweetie,” Angie said as she came over and sat next to me. ”Why don’t you just talk to him? That was two years ago. Now you’re engaged to be married. It’s not like you want