He's Her by Mimi Barbour Read Free Book Online Page B

happier than she could remember ever experiencing before, and she was speechless. When she was a child, her granddad had been an easygoing companion, but the passing years had brought a change in the old fellow. Tonight she had a glimpse of her old playmate, and she loved the switch.
    Rhett interrupted her reflections. “He didn’t let me down. He came through like I prayed he would, although I have to admit he scared me by letting you get away before he made his peace.”
    “You knew this would happen? How could you know?”
    “Carrie, you’re too busy either pacifying people or putting up barriers to protect yourself, and you don’t see them. If you learn to read people clearly, most times you can understand their hearts, whether they’re true gold or a painted metal. Your grandfather watched you with the same intentness he did your grandmother. A woman who has given out so much love over the years had to have been filled up from someone. He was the most obvious.”
    “You’re a genius. I’m sorry for what I said earlier. Knowing how much he cares has made me enormously happy.”
    “I know. I can feel it. And it’s a feeling I’ve personally never experienced before. Through you, I now know what a child feels when his parents truly love him. I thank you for sharing this with me.”
    “Your parents never made you feel this way, did they? Any time we’ve brought up your family, you’ve shied away from the subject. Except for your brother, that is. I get a strong sense that you care for him more than the others.”
    “My father, whom I buried a few days ago, was an actor who came alive only on the stage. He lived for his parts and merely existed in an alcoholic bubble when he wasn’t working. My mother died when I was five, and a few years later he remarried a woman who gave him two more children, my half-brother and sister.”
    “Your father must have named you?”
    “Yes, he did, the self-centered fool.”
    “What was your stepmother like?”
    “A scheming bimbo who caught him on the rebound. She hated me because I’m the spitting image of my mother, who was the love of my old man’s life. That stepbitch made life hell for me, and I retaliated by hating everything to do with her and hers. My irritating little brother had other ideas. He followed me around like a puppy. I didn’t want to give a damn, but he’s such a sweet guy, too nice to hurt. He came to me a few months back, wanting to work in the casino. Against my better judgment, I gave him a job, and things seem to be panning out so far. As long as he doesn’t crowd me, we get along.”
    “I know you aren’t married or you’d have spoken of a wife before now, but don’t you have girlfriends who miss you?”
    “Hundreds...”
    “But no one you care about. I’m right, aren’t I?”
    “Why do women always have to be right?”
    “Why do men always have to be so irritating?”
    She glanced down at her watch and jumped to her feet. “Rhett, look at the time! It’s late. We have to go to the hospital now or they won’t let me in.”
    “No! You’re beat. Go downstairs and make peace with your, ah, Poppets. Your grandmother must be biting her fingers raw, waiting to see if he smoothed your ruffled feathers. Spend the evening with them. We can see about me in the morning.”
    “You darling man! Thank you. I am rather tired. You know what? You’re really very thoughtful.”
    “Honey, only since I met you.”
    Carrie knew he could feel her yearning for him, caring for him. She was glad. She’d never had a special boyfriend. She’d gone to an all-girls school, and her college days had sped by in a hectic whirlwind. She’d lived at home, worked two jobs to help with the costs, and stayed up half the nights catching up on her homework. There wasn’t time for fun. Middle-aged at twenty-five was pretty much how she felt. She’d missed out on so much.
    Rhett was her first real experience of caring for a man other than her granddad. She