All I Want Read Free Page A

it.
    He’d wear her down; he was positive. He had too much of his mother in him to give up.
     
    ***
     
    Carly looked over at Brynn on her couch. The two of them were just relaxing before they had to meet the rest of the bridal party at the spa. “Are you getting excited?” Carly asked.
    “I am. I can’t believe I’m getting married tomorrow,” Brynn said, almost bouncing with nervous energy. Brynn was never one for sitting still. Then again, neither was Carly.
    “I know, right? I thought for sure I’d be married before you,” Carly said, laughing out loud, but fighting off the bitterness inside over still waiting for her turn. She was thrilled for Brynn but couldn’t help wondering if her own dreams would come true.
    The problem was Carly couldn’t seem to find someone she felt comfortable enough with to have a serious relationship. She had dated plenty, but the minute they started to fight over something and the guy raised his voice, she was done. It was stupid, she knew it, but it frightened her, so she did the single thing she could think of: she walked away. That was one of the reasons she never raised her voice to her students. Fear, nerves and memories kept her in a cycle of pushing the person away, waiting a bit longer to try again, then venturing out.
    “You should have been married by now,” Brynn said. “Waiting on some husband of yours and carrying a couple of kids in your arms. We both know you are such a little Suzy Homemaker.” Brynn stopped and laughed when Carly wrinkled her nose at her, then continued on. “What, do you have whips and chains in your closet that I don’t know about, scaring everyone away?”
    It was so far from the truth. No one really knew the whole truth—not in detail—not even Brynn, who knew so much about Carly’s life. It wasn’t something Carly ever talked about. And it was definitely something she wanted to forget about. Shove it away into the past, into the closet that she’d hidden in so many times as a child.
    “Hardly.” Carly snorted. “I’m just waiting for the perfect guy. You went and stole one of the remaining few in this area. It doesn’t seem fair to me since I’ve lived here most of my life and you didn’t.”
    Brynn snickered. “Alec isn’t your type and you know it.” It was true, Alec Harper was one of the good guys, but he was too big for Carly. Too manly for her—not that she would ever tell Brynn that. After getting to know the Harpers over the last year, Phil was more Carly’s type, but even then, he was still too big for Carly’s peace of mind.
    “Are you ready for Droopy?” Brynn asked her.
    Carly was still trying to figure out how she got roped into babysitting Alec and Brynn’s six-month-old English Bulldog puppy while they were on their honeymoon. “Tell me again why I’m watching him.”
    “Because Phil and Sophia aren’t home enough, and Sophia doesn’t need to be tripping over him at seven months pregnant. They’ve got their hands full right now. Kaitlin and Ryan have more than their hands full with the twins and Kaitlin returning to work part time. Isabel has the twins when Kaitlin is working, and besides, she cringes whenever we bring Droopy to the house. She’s terrified he’s going to ruin her floors.”
    “Really? Alec would fix the floors if that happened.”
    “True, except Isabel has always been fussy about her floors for some reason, but she still lets us bring Droopy over anyway. And finally, Ben and Presley work way too much. Droopy would be left alone too long.”
    “So that left me?” Carly said once again.
    “Yep. Sean wished he could, but he isn’t allowed to have pets in his townhouse. Besides, it’s just after work and nights, Droopy is used to being at the office all day. I told you, you just need to drop him off there. Phil and Sean will take care of him during the day, then you just pick him up before they close the office down. He’s easy, trust me, all he does is eat, sleep, and go