His Reason, Her Choice Read Online Free PDF

wouldn’t gross her out so much she became ill. With that in mind after considering the welfare of her girls, she knew what she was going to do.

Chapter Seven
    J oy’s throat was dry. She stood with her daughters in the baggage claim section of the airport, waiting for Russ. “Maybe we should get out bags and go outside.”
    “Mommy, you sound weird,” Denita said. Leave it to her perceptive daughter to pick up on her nervousness.
    “Just tired. Shh, let me think.”
    “I think we should go outside,” Denita said. “That boy over there is crying, and he’s getting on my nerves. Plus he has a snotty nose, and it’s gross.”
    She spoke so loudly, the boy’s parents glanced their way. Joy was not in the mood to feel shamed so she stared back. The family gathered their noisy kid and shuffled farther away. Joy sighed.
    “Don’t be rude, Denita. You probably hurt their feelings.”
    “They hurt my feelings.”
    Joy pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. “Don’t backtalk.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Joy had just decided to walk outside when Russ strode through the automatic doors and scanned the area. He wore a red T-shirt, his favorite color, and blue jeans. His dark hair had been cut shorter than the last time she had seen him, and he hadn’t put on any weight. Not that he was skinny like Isaac. Russ’s average height, about five foot eleven, worked with his build. He was fit without being underweight, muscular without looking like he’d spent too much time in the gym. Most of all, the Georgia sun had tanned him a nice toasty bronze.
    He was still a white boy though, she thought, and felt like she needed to run to the bathroom. Not to throw up, but to pee from nerves. She was scared out of her mind and wondered what her face looked like. Try as she might, she couldn’t get a grip.
    Russ spotted her and grinned then headed over. The closer he drew, the more she realized he looked the same at twenty-seven as he did at twenty-two, the last time she saw him.
    “Hey, beautiful,” he said.
    She froze when he leaned in close, but he kissed her cheek.
    “Mommy, who is he?” Denita demanded. “Won’t Isaac get mad if he kisses you?”
    Confusion touched Russ’s expression, and she wished for just once Denita would stop flapping her lips.
    “I told you, Denita. This is Russ. We’re going to be staying with him for a while.”
    “Oh, I didn’t know he was—”
    Joy covered her mouth. Neither Denita nor Nicolette seemed to have a problem with people’s race, but Denita saw no reason not to refer to it if she liked. The child was not PC in the least.
    While Joy muffled Denita’s lips, Denita reached a hand out to Russ, and when he responded, she pumped it. Nicolette darted forward. “Me too, me too.” She grabbed Russ’s other hand and swung it around, not realizing they were doing handshakes.
    “Sorry,” Joy said.
    He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. We’re all new to this. It’s going to take some getting used to. Looks like fun.”
    Russ crouched in front of Denita and Nicolette. “Hey, girls. I think you’ll like my place. It’s a house, not an apartment. There’s a back yard and everything.”
    Nicolette’s eyes bugged. “Really?”
    “Really.”
    Denita grabbed her purple backpack from the floor in front of her. “Let’s go, Mommy. I need to see this.”
    Joy laughed.
    “Me too, me too,” Nicolette echoed again and clutched her pink backpack.
    As the girls charged ahead, Joy turned to Russ, who grabbed the rest of their luggage. “You don’t have to have anything to do with them.”
    He looked at her as he hefted several bags in one hand and linked the rest in the other. “You don’t want me to?”
    “I mean...” She stretched for a bag, but he moved it out of reach. “I can take care of them.”
    “We’ll be living in the same house, Joy. It’s best if I get to know them and they get to know me. Otherwise, they won’t feel comfortable. And frankly,