Professor Cline Revealed by J. M. La Rocca Read Free Book Online Page A

time to call my sister.
    I got up from the couch and grabbed my purse I’d placed on the foyer table to get my phone. As soon as she answered, I was a blubbering mess and couldn’t stop the tears as I explained everything. She met me at the apartment twenty minutes later and helped me pack up my things, which was mostly just clothes. We’d bought a lot of things together, but it was all purchased with Tim’s money so none of it was technically mine anyway.
    Becky and Victoria met us at my sister’s and we spent the day lounging around her apartment. Victoria declared it ex-bashing day, but I vetoed that idea. I didn’t want to think about Tim or anything boy-related. Melanie’s roommate Quinn suggested we watch some action movies and get junk food. It sounded like a good enough idea to me, so that was what we did for the rest of the day.
    However, as soon as everyone left and Melanie and Quinn went to bed, I was alone with my thoughts. How life could change in a matter of minutes, how one minute you could be happy and then the next heartbroken.
     
    ~*~
     
    I woke up Monday morning on my sister’s couch. My head throbbed and my mouth had grown a field of cotton overnight.  A part of me wished it was from a hangover, but it wasn’t. I had cried too much the day before. I’d said I wouldn’t cry, but I couldn’t hold back the hurt. When you didn’t know the entire truth of what was going on, it didn’t hurt so badly. But when the truth spilled its guts all over the floor at your feet, it was like a fucking knife wound to the heart.
    Having no time to whine about my head, I sauntered to the bathroom and hopped into the shower. I knew Quinn, my sister’s roommate, would be up in a matter of minutes so I didn’t take my time like I wanted to. I wanted to wash away the last day as if it didn’t exist or drown myself in misery, but it wasn’t in the cards for the day.  I never considered myself to be one of those women who moped for days or weeks over a breakup, and I didn’t want to start being that person.
    When I was done with my shower, my skin red from the hot water I’d let pour over my body, I got dressed. I made myself at home in the kitchen and brewed a pot of coffee. It was just after seven, so I had no time to stop and get coffee on the way to class. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was supposed to go, so I wanted to be there early enough to find the room.
    I’d just poured the nourishing liquid into a mug when Melanie walked into the kitchen in a white robe, her wet auburn hair hanging down to her shoulders. Most people didn’t realize we were sisters because we looked nothing alike except for the color of our hair. She was tall and thin with brown eyes, taking after our dad, where I was petite and curvy with hazel eyes like our mom.
    “Good morning,” she said with a soft smile.
    “Morning.” I smiled back.
    She walked to the counter and opened the cabinet over the coffee pot to get a mug. “I hope you slept okay on that couch,” she offered while she poured. “We’ll get a blowup bed and we can fit it in my room so you don’t have to sleep there.”
    I shook my head. “Don’t do all that. The couch is fine. I just need to see if I can find a place I can afford and I’ll be out of your hair.” I was talking out of my ass. I didn’t make enough to afford a place on my own. “Or maybe I can find a roommate. I make really good tips at Costello’s.”
    “Whatever. Em, I’m not going to make you sleep on the couch and there is no rush for you to leave. If you can find something, that’s great, but if not, that’s okay, too. Just pitch in on rent and utilities and we’ll be good.”
    I set my mug down and reached over to give her a hug. “You’re too good to me, Mel,” I said as my eyes brimmed with tears.
    She pulled back and looked at me. “I couldn’t let my family live on the street, Em. Now, enough of that,” she commanded, pointing to my eyes. “There is no more crying