My Secret Boyfriend Read Online Free PDF Page B

face away quickly.
    What a weird turn of events to have brought him back into her life. Too bad it had to be this way, instead of the way she’d told all her friends. But it
was
this way. Like it or not, Ryan Elliot was living in her house.

    ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

    Jordan took a phone call from Laurie in her mother’s bedroom late that same afternoon.
    “So how’s it going?” Laurie burbled.
    “How’s what going?” Jordan asked.
    “You know—the reunion between you and Ryan. Is the magic still there from this summer?”
    “Good grief, Laurie,” Jordan snapped. “He’s only just arrived. We’ve barely had time to talk.”
    “Well, don’t bite my head off,” Laurie pouted. “I was just wondering.”
    Jordan sighed. Was she ever going to be able to get out of the lies she’d told? “Look, I didn’t mean to sound so snippy, but Ryan and I aren’t . . . I mean, we’re just different from you and Wade.”
    “I can tell that. Look, I’ll wait until school starts to meet him. That way you two can have plenty of time to get to know each other again. Maybe by next Monday that old magic will be back.”
    A sinking sensation settled in Jordan’s stomach.
School
. “Sure. Maybe I’ll introduce you and Ryan at school. And thanks for understanding.” She hung up, relieved. She wouldn’t have to think about her problem with Ryan and her friends for another week. In the meantime, she’d do whatever she could to get to know him, because Monday would be here before she knew it.

    ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

    The chatter around the dinner table that night was lively as the two mothers rehashed old memories. “Remember how they used to sit in their high chairs together and throw food at each other?” Mrs. Starling laughed as she passed around a platter of fried chicken.
    “And remember the time that Jordan turned her bowl of spaghetti on top of Ryan’s head?” Mrs. Elliot added.
    “Or how about the time he grabbed her icecream cone and smeared it all over her face?”
    Jordan groaned, and Ryan just shrugged.
    “And remember how they held World War III in the bathtub every night over Ryan’s rubber duck?” Mrs. Ryan asked, laughing.
    “How can I forget?” Mrs. Starling chuckled. “I even went out and bought Jordan her own toy duck, but only Ryan’s would do.”
    At the mention of their baths together, Jordan felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. Ryan rolled his eyes and glanced away.
    “And do you remember Ryan’s first haircut?” Mrs. Elliot continued. “The barber cut off all his blond curls, and Jordan started wailing and picking up the hunks of hair, saying, ‘Put back!’”
    Mrs. Starling nodded. “I don’t know who was crying harder, Beth. You or Jordan.”
    “Well, it was his very first haircut,” Mrs. Elliot said defensively.
    “Look what I found,” Jamey interrupted, carrying an old photo album toward the table.
    To her horror, Jordan saw that it was opened to scenes of herself and Ryan playing in a wading pool, stark naked. Jordan almost screamed. But Ryan gently took the album and shut it without bothering to glance down. He said, “Later, sport. I think your sister and I are bored with these stories. Didn’t you tell me you had a snake?”
    “You bet! Follow me.”
    Jordan watched the two of them leave the kitchen. She was grateful to Ryan for changing the subject. He must have been just as embarrassed as she was!
    Jordan went to her room and thought about the information she’d learned about Ryan. Naturally, she didn’t remember any of the incidents their mothers had shared, but it sounded as if they’d spent a great deal of time together as babies. Fighting over a rubber duck! It did sound pretty funny.
    “It isn’t fair,” she said aloud to her reflection in the mirror. It simply wasn’t fair that Ryan’s parents had broken up, and he’d been moved halfway across the country. Kids didn’t have rights when it came to their parents. Except for her, Ryan didn’t know a single