Just a Wish Away by Barbara Freethy Read Free Book Online

the Pentagon, I took a bus to Alexandria. I waited in front of your school until the bell rang. I wasn't sure what I was going to say when I saw you – if I saw you. I was just about to give up when you came out with someone -- some guy." His voice turned cold. "He had his arm around you, and he said something, and you laughed. Then he kissed you." Braden shrugged. "So I left." He raised his beer to his lips again.
    "Why didn't you say something?" she asked, amazed that he'd come to see her and she'd never known.
    "You were with someone else."
    "Well, why didn't you tell me you were coming? We could have set something up."
    "I wasn't sure I was going to come until the last second," he replied.
    She shook her head. "I don't understand, Braden. You told me earlier that you didn't call me back after your dad died because we weren't friends anymore."
    "We weren't friends, Alexa. You didn't call or keep in touch. You moved on. So I tried to do the same. But when the trip came up, I thought what the hell, might as well check in. See if there's any reason to talk again."
    "I wish you would have said something." Her stomach twisted into a knot of regret at the lost opportunity. "I know I broke my promise to you to keep in touch."
    "We don't have to go over this again."
    "We do, because you don't understand. My mother was a mess after the divorce. She cried all day and all night. Sometimes, she'd sit in her room and put her arms around her knees, and curl up into this tight, sad little ball, and she'd just rock back and forth and sob like her heart was literally breaking. And when she wasn't crying, she was furious. She moved me back east so that my father couldn't see me. She used me like a weapon, and I couldn't even blame her, because my father was so mean to her. I was the only one she had to lean on, and holding her up took every last bit of strength I had."
    Now that she'd started to explain, she couldn’t seem to stop. "I felt like I was drowning in her depression, Braden. And I had no one to turn to. All my friends were gone, and you seemed like a million miles away. I knew my mom was never going to let me go back to Sand Harbor, because she and my aunt stopped talking to each other. So every time you asked me when I was coming back, I was lying to you, pretending that it was going to happen. And it just got too hard. I felt … hopeless." She drew in a ragged breath. "It was a bad time in my life."
    He frowned. "I had no idea it was that rough. You should have said something."
    "I kept thinking I'd wait until I had good news, but good news never came, and then the silence had gone on too long, and I thought you'd probably forgotten about me. When your dad died, I wanted to talk to you so much, but when you didn't call me back, I realized you really were done." Which brought her back to the same surprise she'd felt a moment earlier. "I can't believe you came to see me the next year."
    "I didn't forget about you, Alexa. I tried, but I couldn't."
    "I didn't forget about you, either. That's why I came here after college." She paused. "We have really bad timing."
    "Yeah, we do." He paused. "I wish I'd know how bad your mom was."
    "No one knew. She swore me to secrecy, afraid I'd tell you, and you'd tell your mom, who'd tell my aunt… She didn't want my dad to know how much he'd hurt her, at least, most of the time. When she was trying to make a point or asking for more child support, then sometimes she'd let him in on her pain."
    "I guess that makes sense," he said slowly.
    "Nothing in divorce makes sense."
    "Well, that's true."
    His response reminded her that he'd had his own share of problems. She sat back in her chair, studying him for a moment. "What happened with your marriage?"
    He shook his head, a steel glint in his eyes. "My marriage is not up for discussion, Alexa."
    She didn't like his abrupt answer, but Braden had always been private, even as a kid.
    "What about you?" he asked.
    "I'm not married, if that's the