Fate Intended (The Coulter Men Series Book 3) Read Free

twenty-three in June. I spent three years in school, and I have many hours to my credit, but no degree. I was never a very serious student. But being in school seemed like the adult thing to do.”
    “I understand,” Trip said casually, then grinned and added, “No, that’s a lie. I was always a serious student. Never partied…too busy studying.”
    “Oh, I never partied.” Jane shook her head. “Poppa would have brought me home fast. I just didn’t study. I suppose if I’d realized I would have to get a job later, I might have made better decisions. Funny how little I thought of ever having to work when I was a girl. I suppose I was a bit of a spoiled dreamer. Always a dreamer. Always a fool.”
    “No, not a fool. Being a dreamer is a good thing. I think that’s part of the world’s problem…. Adults don’t dream enough. It’s like as a kid, you plan to be…to do…whatever it is you love. Because, as a kid, you don’t care about whether or not the money is good, or even if the idea makes sense…. You just know, you’re going to do it. But then, everyone tells you to grow up. Be sensible. And you do. You work…every day…doing what’s safe…then you realize: damn, life’s half over and I’m stuck.”
    “You are stuck?”
    “Hypothetically speaking. But let’s say I was stuck, but then, I got the chance to do what I want to do. Like it fell in my lap. I call that fate.”
    “You believe in fate?” Jane asked softly.
    “I guess. I mean, hell, I never dreamed my day would go the way it has, that I would follow you to the basement laundry and tell you crap that I couldn’t, in a million years, explain to Olivia. Which is really weird; but it feels natural.”
    Jane swallowed. Her heart screeched, YES! YES! I knew it. Fate made you for me! Again, her lips made no sound, but she did manage a nod.
    “So, you don’t think I’m crazy?”
    “Oh, no. I think….” Jane moistened her lips and swallowed the heart that was trying to plant itself on her sleeve. “I believe you must live to be happy.”
    “Yeah,” Trip echoed. “Got to do what feels right. What is right for the soul.”
    “Exactly,” Jane agreed.
    “I’m not sure if Olivia sees life that way.”
    Jane wasn’t surprised. Olivia was an evil harlot. The only thing she knew about life was how to suck it from someone else’s soul. Titling her head to the right, Jane offered a little smile and an, “Oh?” She was shooting for a look of innocent curiosity—he wasn’t ready to know the hard truths.
    “No, we definitely see things differently.” Trip shook his head slowly as if he was piecing the puzzle together. “As a matter of fact, that’s what we’re fighting about.”
    “About life?”
    “Sort of. You see, this summer, I spent a couple of weeks fishing with my brothers, and I realized: both of them are happy. I mean really happy. They love their wives, love their jobs. I mean if you gave them a magic wand, they’d change nothing. They’ve got it all. It got me thinking, am I happy? Well, I’m not unhappy, but I have to admit, to myself at least, that I’m not…”
    “Excited?”
    “Yes. Excited. Nothing in my life makes me eager to start a day.”
    “And you want that?”
    “Yeah, so I quit my job and started a new one. The pay’s half, I’ll have to be totally retrained, and it involves a lot of overseas travel.”
    Trip leaned against the wall, so close his arm brushed against hers. She shoved her hands in her tunic pockets and willed herself not to pass out. All of this was almost too much for her hopeful heart to handle. She knew they shared a connection, and now...here he was…pouring his heart out to her, because she understood him. And no one else did. It took all of her might to say without an eager quiver in her voice, “These changes? They will make you happy?”
    “I think so. I mean I haven’t felt this good in years, you know? You’d think me being happy would make Olivia happy, but she’s