An Unexpected Love Story (Love Story Book Two) Read Online Free PDF Page A

right now was more comforting than I would have imagined. “You know that all that crap she said was BS, right? You are none of those things.”
    I guess, in the end, that’s what it all came down to. I’d been called those names so many times over the years, by so many people. From the girls who were jealous to the boys I rejected, it had been a pretty constant refrain from about junior high on.
    “I’m no saint,” I said to Paul. “You said it yourself this afternoon, you know?”
    “Who wants to be a saint? There’s plenty of middle ground, Brooke. You know that. You’re allowed to have fun in your life without being judged.”
    I knew he was right, knew I was crazy for letting someone like Justine have any effect over my own self-image. And most of the time, I actually believed what he was telling me; there was nothing wrong with me, I had done nothing wrong.
    But on the other hand, when you hear something enough, there’s a part of you that just can’t help but start believing it.
    And that is why I did the one thing guaranteed to make me feel better that night, and much, much worse in the morning. I leaned over to Paul—the friend who was always so nice to me, who was always there when I needed him—and kissed him.

    Chapter Four
    I came to work the next day quite sure my brain was trying to escape from my skull, so heavy was the pounding of my hangover headache. I had left Paul’s apartment before the sun had risen, and I was terrified of seeing him at work. But he breezed in at his normal start time, totally casual and unconcerned. His reaction should have made me feel better about things, but I found my brain uncooperative, completely unwilling to focus on any one task. I tried unsuccessfully to work on my payroll for most of the morning before finally giving up and deciding to call Emily.
    She answered on the first ring. “I did something stupid last night,” I said, the moment she answered the phone
    “Hello to you, too,” Emily said, yawning loudly. “Was it some thing stupid, or some one stupid?” I laughed into my cell phone and settled back into my desk chair.
    “You know me so well,” I said, looking around my quiet office. The inn was practically deserted this morning, with the exception of the restaurant staff. The perfect time for a heart to heart with my best friend.
    “So who was it this time?” she asked, and I felt my stomach dip. I knew she was just joking, but the implication of her words brought up too many issues from last night.
    “You’re going to yell at me,” I said.
    “When have I ever yelled at you?” she asked. “Brooke, you can tell me. The only way I’d give you a hard time is if it’s Paul Harting again,” she continued, laughing. When I didn’t say anything, she groaned. “Oh, Brooke. You told me you weren’t going to hook up with him anymore, after things got so weird the last time.”
    I closed my eyes. She was right. The last time I’d spent the night with Paul, he had decided that we should get married. “You keep coming back to me in the end, Brooke,” he had said. “Let’s just make it official.” At that point I had promised him, and Emily, that it was the last time I’d be making that mistake.
    “So what happened?” Emily asked after a moment’s silence.
    “There was this whole thing at the bar,” I said, shuddering a bit at the memory of it. Stupid Justine.
    “See, I keep telling you that you need to stop frequenting Hardy’s,” she said. “Nothing but trouble ever comes from that place. You know this, Brooke.”
    “Where the hell else am I supposed to hang out?” I asked. “You know that my options aren’t entirely endless up here.”
    “You could move down this way,” she said eagerly. “There’s lots of fun stuff to do.” Emily was forever trying to get me move down to southeast Michigan. After college, she had moved to a suburb of Detroit and seemed blissfully happy about it. It wasn’t exactly the big city, but it