Envious Read Online Free PDF Page B

Theory and questioning his sanity when someone tapped on the door. Frowning, he saw Lee standing on the other side of the door. Lee usually just walked in. Perhaps he’d locked the door. Anything was possible in his state of mind.
    “Hey, what’s up?” Chris asked, opening the door and standing back so Lee could enter.
    “I was just about to ask you the same question. What the hell, man? Don’t you think you should have talked to me before you offered to finance my wife’s new business?”
    Chris couldn’t defend his actions. Lee was right; he should have talked to him before he made the commitment. Seeing how hopeless Katie had looked made him want to do whatever it took to put a smile back on her beautiful face. Which told him he was already in way too deep. “I’m sorry, you’re right. It just kinda happened. I didn’t really think about the consequences. If you want me to back out…” He didn’t know if he could. He’d rather walk over hot coals than break a promise to Katie.
    “No, I don’t want that.” Lee paced over the newly re-finished hardwood floors in Chris’s historic home. “In fact, a diversion may be exactly what Katie needs right now.”
    “A diversion from what?” Chris reached for the remote to turn off the TV. Whatever Lee was about to tell him, he sensed it would warrant his undivided attention.
    “I told her our marriage is over, that I want out.”
    “Shit,” Chris whispered, sinking down on the arm of the couch as he tried to get a handle on his emotions. Katie and Lee had supported him through his divorce, and of course he would do the same for them. But it wouldn’t be easy to keep his feelings for Katie in check, especially if they were working together on a new project. He and Lee had been close since middle school, with the only breakdown in their friendship occurring during the years Lee surrendered to drugs and alcohol. Chris’s first thought should be how his friend was coping, not his friend’s wife. “How is she handling this?”
    “She’ll be okay once she gets over the shock,” Lee said, sounding confident. “The first few months were the worst for you, right?” Chris couldn’t respond, so he merely nodded. “That’s why I want Katie to have a healthy distraction. Something that will allow her to think about building a new life that doesn’t include me.”
    Chris couldn’t believe his friend was saying those things. Didn’t he realize he was a fool to give up on Katie? Did he dare tell him and give him reason to question his decision? His loyalty to Lee out-muscled his desire to get the girl. “Are you sure this is what you want? Katie’s an incredible girl. Maybe y’all just need a little time apart. Could be you’ll miss each other and decide you want to give it another shot.”
    Lee smiled. “You’re a good friend, you know that?”
    Chris didn’t feel like a good friend. He felt like a fraud. “Whatever you say.”
    “Katie’s probably gonna want to back out of this business now. You can’t let her do that.”
    “It’s not like I can force her to do something she’s not ready to do.” Backing out didn’t seem like a bad idea. Divorce could be hell on the heart. Katie would need time to heal before she could think about moving on with her life.
    “Listen to me,” Lee said, stopping in his tracks as he planted his hands on his hips. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a recovering addict. When you feel like all hope is lost, that’s when you’re at risk of falling back into old habits.”
    Chris hadn’t known Katie during that time in her life, and he was happy he hadn’t. It would have killed him to see her poisoning her body with that garbage. “So what can I do to help her?”
    “Give her something positive to focus on.”
    “Like this business?”
    “Yeah. Let her know that just because one chapter of her life is ending doesn’t mean she can’t start a new one… with you.”
    Chris frowned at Lee’s choice of