Love Remains Read Online Free PDF

would have done whatever she deemed necessary to avoidhim. Even if it meant locking herself in her house.
    Her head, chest, and throat hurt too much to think about this tonight. “Does Lindy know? About Bobby and me, I mean.”
    “No. She knows you two knew each other when he was stationed at White Sands, but she doesn’t know he’s the reason your father kicked you out of the house.”
    “Thank you for that.” It was probably the only thing Kiki had never shared with Lindy Patterson since they first met in high school more than sixty-five years ago.
    She snuggled into the featherbed mattress-topper and pulled the thick comforter around her. Moving the phone to her other ear, she reached for the mug of tea on the nightstand…and realized she’d left it on the dresser. The cold expanse of floor between the bed and the dresser, though just a few feet, looked like the miles Roald Amundsen had to trek across Antarctica to get to the South Pole. She glanced to her right. The water bottle still had enough left to take the heavy-duty decongestant that would knock her out for the next twelve or so hours. Thank goodness tomorrow was Saturday and she could work from home on her own schedule.
    Reaching for the bottle apparently loosened something in her lungs, triggering another coughing jag.
    “I really wish you would come stay here and let me take care of you.”
    Zarah curled up in a ball on her side, covering her mouth with one tissue, dabbing her watering eyes with another, the phone lying on her ear and cheek. She took shallow breaths until the spasm eased. “Thanks, but I’d rather die alone. Besides, if whatever I have is still contagious, I don’t want to pass it on to you and Pops. Especially Pops. He hasn’t fully recovered from that staph infection he got after surgery.”
    “Don’t let him hear you say that. You may not have noticed it, but he believes he’s a spring chicken again, now he’s got new knees.” Kiki hollered something at Pops in the background. “Are you certain youdon’t want me to come over and bring you home for the weekend? I’ll make your favorite: chicken and dumplings, with the dumplings baked separately and served on the side so that they aren’t the least little bit soggy.”
    Zarah laugh-coughed. “Don’t make me laugh. I love your chicken and dumplings, but I’m afraid even that isn’t enough to entice me. You know how I feel about being babied.” It had taken her a couple of years to say anything to Kiki about how much it bothered her to have someone make a fuss over her whenever she was sick. A retired pediatric nurse, Kiki hadn’t taken the news very well.
    “Well, you call me if you need me—even if it’s the middle of the night. I can be there in less than ten minutes.”
    “I’ll do that.” Moisture escaped Zarah’s eyes again, only this time it wasn’t an involuntary reaction to her coughing. She didn’t deserve to have anyone love her the way Kiki and Pops did. Which made her all the more thankful for them and the way they’d taken her in when she’d had nowhere else to go.
    “You try to get some sleep now. And don’t work too much this weekend.” How well Kiki knew her.
    “The sleep, I’ll guarantee. The work…I missed almost a week at the office, and I have my meetings with the Metro Council and the state senate committee coming up. I have to be prepared.”
    Kiki made a noise that came through the phone like an annoyed grunt. “There’s more to life than that job, Zarah.”
    “I know. There’s teaching and the singles’ group.” And between the three, she had almost no seconds in her day left unaccounted for. “I’ll try to rest as much as I can. Patrick said if I show up for church Sunday, he’ll sic you on me.”
    “Good for him. He’s such a nice boy. I don’t know why—”
    “Don’t start, Kiki. Patrick and I are just friends.” She’d always thought it was because they were so different—but since Bobby had walked into her