Anticipation Read Online Free PDF

friend’s book. “What are we reading?”
    “ Faro’s Daughter .”
    Blue squeezed Maggie’s hand again. Georgette Heyer was Maggie’s go-to author, and Faro’s Daughter was her all-time favorite comfort read. Testament to how worried Maggie must have been.
    “Sorry for ruining your birthday,” Blue said quietly.
    “You being okay is the best present ever, don’t worry.” Maggie slipped her hand free and stood. “I’ll go find a nurse and organize you some food.”
    Blue tried to wriggle higher in the bed while her friend was gone, an effort that left her dizzy with pain. Maybe lying still was a much, much better plan. Sitting was over-rated, anyway.
    “What did you do?” Maggie asked when she returned, a frown wrinkling her forehead.
    “How do you know I did anything?”
    “You’re whiter than the sheets, you idiot.”
    “I may have tried to sit up a little.”
    “Don’t do it again,” Maggie said sternly.
    “Okay, Nurse Ratched.”
    Maggie grabbed a spare pillow from somewhere beneath the bed and slipped her arm around Blue’s shoulders, easing her forward and tucking the pillow behind her.
    “You’re good at that,” Blue noted.
    “Lots of practice,” Maggie said dryly, and Blue remembered that her friend’s mother had been treated for breast cancer for years before finally being declared a survivor.
    Maggie pulled out her phone. “I promised Eddie I’d text him when you woke up. Give me a sec.”
    Blue watched as her friend’s fingers sped over the touch screen, thinking about the way Eddie had climbed onto the bed beside her and the flash of memory that had come to her.
    “Do you have any regrets, Maggs?” she asked impulsively.
    Maggie glanced up from her phone. “Are we talking big or small? Second piece of chocolate cake or Sliding Doors ?”
    “ Sliding Doors .”
    Maggie’s gaze grew unfocused as she thought about it for a moment. Then she shook her head. “No. Not really. Except maybe I wish I’d decided to get a tattoo earlier.”
    She grinned, and Blue knew she was thinking about meeting Rafel.
    “Why? Do you have a Sliding Doors regret?” Maggie asked.
    “No,” Blue lied, wishing she hadn’t asked the question in the first place.
    Maggie quirked an eyebrow, clearly curious. “Why did you ask, then?”
    “Just wondering if I should have felt something, had some kind of near-death experience. Maybe there’s something wrong with me,” Blue said lightly.
    Maggie’s gaze was searching and Blue had the distinct sense that her friend knew she was covering.
    The arrival of a nurse with a tray bearing a bowl of soup killed the conversation, much to Blue’s relief, and she managed to eat the whole bowl and two crackers before the doctor came to check on her, followed by yet another nurse to “freshen her up” with a sponge bath.
    After they’d all gone — the doctor, the nurse, Maggie — Blue stared at the ceiling and wondered at herself. What on earth had the “do you have any regrets?” gambit been about? Surely she hadn’t been on the verge of confessing her feelings for Eddie to Maggie?
    Everything in her wanted to reject the idea. She’d made her decision where Eddie was concerned a long, long time ago. She wasn’t only reconciled to it, she was happy with it. Content. Satisfied.
    Except she’d stared death in the eye, and the one thing she’d taken away from the experience was regret. Regret that she’d never been with Eddie. Regret that she would never know. That she’d never tried.
    She screwed her eyes tightly shut, wanting to avoid the truth bearing down on her but unable to do so. Had she been fooling herself all these years? Had she told herself she was happy being Eddie’s friend, when secretly she’d yearned to be his lover?
    Yes.
    No.
    Maybe.
    She couldn’t get a clear bead on the answer, and a headache was hovering. She could feel it like an approaching thunderstorm.
    You have a head injury. You’re probably allowed to be a little goofy in