What She Wanted by Julie Anne Lindsey Read Free Book Online

support his positions. Most started with, “Real men…” and ended with lots of ways “real men” lived. All the quotes involved physical labor, shouldering burdens, or not accepting charity.
    I flipped through the other pictures, feeling more emotionally stable. I started with the stack of Mom with friends. Ball players, coed groups, concerts. I flipped the photos over. “I thought people used to write on the backs of pictures.”
    “I think they only wrote on the backs when they gave them away, like graduation pictures for extended family. My mom wrote on all those.”
    I tipped the box over. “What’s left?” A couple of paperbacks and a journal covered in glitter and doodles flopped onto one of Heidi’s piles of bills.
    “Hey! Watch it.”
    “Sorry.” I lifted the worn-out journal and stacked the books. Folded notes and newspaper clippings stuck out from between the journal pages, but a tiny heart-shaped lock held it shut.
    “A journal!” Heidi did a little fist pump. “You can learn about her in her own words. That’s perfect. Open it.”
    “It’s locked.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “So, break the lock. It’s not like Fort Knox or anything. I’ve had pimples bigger than that thing.”
    I rubbed my hand over the cover. “I don’t know. It feels like an invasion of privacy. I mean, she locked it for a reason, right?” I pulled the loose pieces free and smoothed them over the tabletop. “Man, she kept everything.”
    “I can think of one reason she locked it, and he’s in surgery at the moment.”
    “Right. I have to go to the hospital and see how it went. How long does heart surgery take?”
    “All day?”
    “Really?” I straightened the groups of Mom’s things on the table. “We can leave all this here, I guess. No one will be around to complain about the mess.” I pried the covers a few millimeters apart and shook the journal. A strip from a photo booth fell out. Mom and a guy were squeezed into a little space. She had a letterman’s coat wrapped over her shoulders and a basketball-sized belly beneath her hands. The boy planted a kiss on the basketball while Mom watched. I’d never seen anyone look at another person like that.
    “What’d you find?” Heidi asked.
    I dropped the photo set onto the pile. “Nothing.”
    The doorbell rang, and I jumped to my feet, eager to get away from the pictures of a man who’d abandoned me twice.
    Heidi followed me through the living room. “You need to start a sheet and keep track of all the meals people bring over so we can send thank you cards.”
    “I know,” I groaned. Been here. Done this .
    I opened the door and blinked against the raging summer sunlight.
    “Hi.” Joshua gripped his ball cap to his chest like a child preparing for his scolding. “Your boyfriend wouldn’t let me talk to you when I got to the hospital last night. He said to give you some time, but I really need to talk. Can I come in?”
    I made a strangled sound and shook my head. “No.” I fought the whisper off my tongue.
    Heidi arrived on my heels. “What’s wrong?”
    I lifted a finger waist-high and pointed it at Joshua.
    She looked from me to the man at the door.
    I couldn’t manage a proper introduction. I couldn’t stop remembering how it felt to watch him drive away when I needed him most.
    “Joshua?” Heidi asked.
    “Yes. That’s right.” His hopeful smile was a dagger to my heart. What could he possibly hope for? What good did he think stalking me would do? Especially at a time like this?
    “Oh, sweetie.” Heidi snapped into defender mode and shoved her body between mine and the closed screen door. She braced her palms against the frame on either side of her head. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, sir, but it really doesn’t matter what you need. She’ll look you up, if she ever wants to talk.”
    I peeked over her shoulder like the coward I suddenly was, memorizing his face. Who knew if I’d see him again? His hair was bushier