Hopelessly Broken Read Online Free PDF Page B

He’d been lonely for years. Never before had he felt such an overwhelming urge to get close to someone. As luck would have it, that someone now needed his help. If he agreed to help her, he would have to keep his distance. Somehow.
    How?
    She crossed her arms over her body, basically enveloping herself in an embrace. It should be him holding her, his instincts told him. It should be him comforting her, telling her everything would be okay. And then, somehow, he should make it so.
    If only that were possible.
    “Aeron!” Logan shouted as he trotted through the house like a little wild colt. Cradling Cojack in his arms, he stopped in the center of the living room. His wide-eyed gaze jumped from him to Jennifer and back again. “What’s wrong? Why is Jenny crying?”
    “It’s okay, Logan.” Jenn dragged her hand under her red, watery eyes and sniffled. “I was just…I’m allergic to something in the house. It’s making my eyes water.”
    Logan wasn’t buying his sister’s explanation; Aeron could see that plainly on the boy’s face. “Hmmm.” His gaze found Aeron’s again. “Cojack is tired. He wants to rest.”
    “That’s fine ,” Aeron told him. “You know where his bed is.”
    Jenn stood. “We should get going. Thank you for talking to me about…the situation. I hope you’ll…” She paused, tracked Logan’s movement as he scampered back down the hall toward the spare bedroom where Cojack’s dog bed was kept. Quietly she said, “I hope you’ll keep this discussion to yourself.”
    “Of course I will. Logan is a great kid. I don’t want to see him unhappy. I wish…” I wasn’t such a sissy ass. “I wish there was something I could do to help.”
    “That’s okay. We’ll find another way. It’s just for a couple of weeks.”
    Logan came back empty handed. “Cojack’s sleeping like a baby.”
    “Thanks, buddy.”
    “Jenny, now that you know I walk Cojack, can I come back tomorrow?” Logan asked as he slid his little hand into his sister’s. Together they walked toward the front door.
    Her gaze flicked to Aeron’s, and something inside him snapped.
    God help me.
    “No,” Aeron said. “You can’t come back, Logan.”
    Logan whirled around, his eyes full of confusion. “Why, Aeron? Why can’t I come over and walk Cojack? Jenny? Is this your fault?”
    “Because we’re coming to stay with you for a couple of weeks,” Aeron blurted. “Me and Cojack.”
    Logan ’s face beamed. “You are?”
    Jennifer. Her face. No angel shined brighter than she did.
    His heart twisted. God help him, he was going to need all the strength he could get.
    He cleared his throat. “We are. We’re coming to stay with you and your sister for a while. I’m going to pack up some things, and we’ll be there in a few.”
    At the door, Jenn mouthed, with those perfect lips he could only dream of tasting, “Thank you.”
     
    Jenn was fighting tears all the way back to the house. She had never been so relieved.
    Aeron was going to help her. He was really going to do it!
    She’d been absolutely terrified asking him. And when he had told her no, she’d been even more petrified, thinking he might report her to the authorities. Aeron had been so firm, so resolved in his refusal. Something had changed his mind. What had it been?
    “Why is Aeron coming to stay with us, Jenny?” her brother asked again and again as they slipped and slid down the quiet, empty sidewalk.
    Their footsteps crunched in the crispy snow, the sound echoing off the shabby little 1920’s bungalows lining the narrow street. The air was bitter cold, cutting through her coat like a blade. She hunched her shoulders against the wind and tightened her grip on Logan’s hand. “Because…he’s having some repairs done on his house, and he can’t live there until the workers are finished.”
    “Oh. I’m glad. So does this mean you like him now, Jenny? You wouldn’t let a stranger live with us, no matter what. So he must be your