Julia's Journey (A Coming Home Again Novel Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

in case my parents decide to
pop in for a visit. I want them comfortable. Now Miss Princess will get to
enjoy it, I suppose. I slap together a chicken sandwich that I pile with
spinach and tomatoes.
    “Why do you get a bedroom and I don’t?” she whines. Leave it
to her try to guilt trip me right off the bat. Typical Julia.
    I nod my head towards the bedroom. “You started out in there
last night until you blew chunks all over the bathroom.” I toss the sandwich
supplies back in the fridge without offering her anything. She’ll say no. At
least I have her holding a shake, which says a lot.
    “I did that?” Julia asks, unconvinced.
    “Yep.” I sit at the dining table with the custom leather bench
seat. I’m a tall dude and so I had it elevated to accommodate me. Designing
this getup was the highlight of this past year for me. That
and planning this trip. I glance over at my unexpected companion and try
to stifle a disappointed sigh. Julia Thorton was not
part of the plan. She is sitting on the bed cross- legged, staring at the bottle like it might be poisonous. “I had to park on the side of
the interstate to clean it up. You owe me for that.” I give her a pointed look.
    “Sorry.” She looks a bit guilty. Good.
    I shrug my shoulders. “I moved you out here so I could keep
a better eye on you while I drove.” I take a bite of the sandwich and chew,
trying to think about something other than the mess with the puke.
    “I guess I didn’t have to run those eight miles,” she
mumbles absently to herself.
    I look over at her, confused. She’s still studying the
stupid shake. “When exactly did you run eight miles?” I say this slowly, trying not to lose my cool.
    Julia cuts her eyes my way. “You slept the entire day away,
Stone. I’ve had plenty of time.”
    “It wouldn’t have hurt you to rest, too.” I point at the
bottle. “Don’t waste my shake. Drink it!” I bark. Ok. Just
lost my cool. She glares at me but goes to unscrew the cap, and the
tremor in her hand doesn’t escape my attention. I don’t see how she functions. Eight miles ? How
does her heart take it?
    This is the reason I swiped her last night. No. She didn’t
beg to come with me. She was incoherent and I was scared to leave her. I can’t
go to another friend’s funeral—especially Julia Thorton’s .
But she’s heading that way fast. So now this trip is going to have to include
her, whether we like it or not.
    I polish off the sandwich while eyeing her. She is taking
baby sips of the shake to appease me. I gather my empty plate and think how
pathetic it is that only a sandwich has me so stuffed. Shrugging that off, I
head over to the cabinet by the sink to ration out my daily vitamins for the
day.
    “What’s all that?”
    I glance over and find that Julia has polished off only a
quarter of the shake—not enough. “Vitamins,” I mutter.
    “That’s a lot of vitamins.”
    “Yeah.” I know she wants answers about the last two years, but I
don’t have any desire to relive any of it so that’s all she’s getting. I put my
body through hell and I just want to be over it and be whole again. I feel like
Satan had become my constant companion during this nightmare, and I want to be
completely rid of him.
    “Greyson Stone,” she says in a snappy tone to get my
attention.
    I continue to ignore her and pop the handful of pills in my
mouth and wash it down with a few gulps of water before heading out of the
door. She’s right on my heels. I walk over and pop open one of the side
compartments and fish out a camping chair. I’m about to close the door, but
figure I might as well grab Julia one too. She won’t be leaving me in peace.
    “Where you going?” she asks.
    “Over to the lake,” I answer and start moving in that
direction.
    “What for?” She continues with the nagging.
    “To watch it. Now lay off the questions before I’m tempted to drown you
in it.” I pull the chairs out of the storage bags and set them on the