Inside Out by Ashley Ladd Read Free Book Online Page B

behind him, she could see that he delved in his trunk and pulled out his computer. She wasn’t surprised.
    “Here she is. My baby.” He circumvented her and laid his laptop on the kitchen table. Then he cleared his throat. “It’s been overheating all week. Last night, it blue-screened.”
    Blue-screened—like their love . The unwelcome thought was like a shower of cold water. Even if their breakup had been her fault, she was disappointed.
    She gave the laptop a cursory glance as she stifled a sigh. “If it needs a motherboard, you might be better off getting a new one. I’m umpiring all this week and I have several other jobs waiting, so it might be next week before I can look at it.”
    When he looked crestfallen, she relented, “I’ll try to squeeze it in.” After all, he’d done a lot for her. Even if the petition didn’t work, his willingness to help her warmed her heart. She hoped he’d gone to so much trouble because he still cared for her, not merely to get his computer fixed.
    Trey nodded and stuck his hands deep in his pockets. He looked at the machine ruefully as he rocked back and forth on his heels. Then his lips kinked. “Let me know the damage.”
    She waved off his offer of recompense. “You’ve already settled the debt.”
    She realised she was still clinging to the flowers. Rather, she was hiding behind them and crushing the poor things. Feeling sorry for them, she turned and went in search of a vase. Not finding one, she filled a plastic yellow pitcher with water from the kitchen tap and arranged the flowers in it.
    As she was carrying it to the dining room table, another knock shook the door. She and Trey glanced at one another. Erica shrugged, deposited the makeshift vase and went to answer it. When she opened the door, her mother and younger sister poured in with their normal bustle.
    Her mother, Connie, was a frustrated wedding planner who couldn’t understand why she was paid to plan weddings for every other family in their community except her own. Now that her youngest child was almost out of high school, she was making plans to expand her business and go into it full time. Still, her number one goal was to marry off her children in the largest, grandest wedding in all of South Florida, at least in all of northern Broward County.
    Her sister, Amber, was a college student at Lynn University in Boca Raton. She usually worked weekends to save as much money as she could. Living at home, getting roped into helping her mother bake wedding cakes and make bows and other wedding favours wasn’t her thing. She wanted to become a missionary and save the destitute poor in Africa or the jungles of South America. First, she longed to live the carefree dorm life and party all night away from their parents’ watchful eyes. Today, she wore a skimpy emerald green camisole and a black skirt.
    “Hello, dear.” Her mother pushed an aromatic cake, which was covered with brown and purple polka dot fondant, into her arms. “I was trying out a new wedding cake recipe for the Carter wedding and made too much for us to eat it all. Your poor father says he can’t lose weight being married to me and might have to get his own place if he’s to have a fighting chance.”
    Erica tsked . “You’re so terrible to that man, baking and cooking for him, waiting on him hand and foot. I don’t know why he’s put up with you all these years.”
    Connie put the cake beside the flowers then swatted at her. “You’re a big tease, just like your father.”
    Amber shoved her laptop under Erica’s nose. “Pretty please will you fix my baby? I need it yesterday. I have a webinar tonight.”
    ”Tonight? You’re dreaming, little sister.”
    “Then can I borrow one? Please?” She fluttered her lashes and put her hands together in supplication. When Erica didn’t respond, she added, “Pretty please!”
    She didn’t trust her family, especially her siblings, with her computers. They were the Bermuda Triangle of