Loving Mr. Daniels Read Online Free PDF

ever since we’d found out that Gabby was sick. But there was no need for Henry to know about that.
    He changed the subject…again. “We’re really happy that you’re coming to stay with us,” he said.
    My head whipped toward him and my eyes discovered his until he looked back to the road. I remained as still as a tombstone, needing answers. “Who’s we ?”
    “Rebecca…”
    Rebecca? Who’s Rebecca?
    “…and her kids,” he muttered, clearing his throat in an unpleasant manner.
    My shoulders rolled back and my eyes broadened. “How long have they lived with you?”
    “For a little while.” His voice was mellifluous, begging me not to question the subject more in depth.
    I didn’t care what he wanted. Also, I knew whenever his voice was smooth like it was that he was definitely lying.
    “I mean, did they live with you before you called us for our birthday this year—three days late?” His silence answered my question. “What about last year? Did they live with you when you forgot to call for our birthday altogether?”
    A discomfited mouth replied to me. “ Shit , Ashlyn. What does it matter anyway? That’s in the past.”
    “Yeah, and now it seems to be in my present.” I turned back in my seat, facing forward.
    “Just a few months…” he whispered. “I’ve only lived with them for a few months.” After quite a few minutes of silence, he tried again to converse with me. “So what type of things are you into now?”
    Feeling tired from the long train ride—and from my current state of life—I sighed, chipping at the tiny amount of black nail polish left from Gabby’s funeral. “Henry, we don’t have to do this. We don’t have to try to make up for lost time. After all, it’s lost. Ya know?”
    He didn’t say much after that.
    A loose thread hung from the bottom of my coat. I tugged on it and smiled to myself. Gabby would’ve told me not to do that to the string, how it would completely ruin the whole coat. Within a second, a poignant wave of grief swept over me. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath of the hot air.
    It’d been almost three weeks since I’d lost her, and there hadn’t been a day that I hadn’t cried. I’d cried so much I’d been impressed when the tears kept forming.
    People always said it would get easier after losing someone. People said that, over time, it would get better. But I couldn’t comprehend how that could be true. As each day passed, it just became harder. The world only grew darker. The pain merely deepened.
    My head crooked toward my passenger’s side window, and when I opened my eyes, I wiped away the single tear that was moisturizing my right cheek. My bottom lip quivered with restrained misery. I didn’t want to cry in front of Henry—or anyone at that. I much preferred crying alone in the shadows.
    I wished Gabby were still alive.
    And I wished I didn’t feel so dead.

    Henry’s truck pulled into the gravel driveway of his home—my temporary place of residence. I was quick to note the two other cars in the driveway, a newer-looking nice black Nissan Altima and an older blue Ford Focus.
    The house was huge compared to the two-bedroom apartment I’d lived in all of my life. The front bushes were perfectly trimmed and an American flag waved back and forth in the light breeze.
    I kid you not—there was a white picket fence. A white picket fence !
    There were three windows on the second level of the house, and in one of them, I saw a guy with headphones, peeking through his curtains. When our eyes locked, he disappeared in haste.
    Ohmygosh. Henry really did live with other people. As he climbed out of the truck, I slid across the driver’s seat and stepped out. Before I could smooth out my coat, a woman—Rebecca, I assumed—was standing in front of me. Hugging me.
    Why in the hell was this stranger touching me?
    “Oh, Ashlyn! We’re so glad you’re here!” She squeezed me as my arms stayed glued to my sides. “God is good,