Sick Day Read Online Free PDF Page A

promise.”
    “Ouch.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “ Touché . But you’re wrong, you’ve hurt me plenty.”
    She ignored my comment and continued with the story, with Our Story . I loved hearing her version of it because these were details I hadn’t spent too much time memorizing. “They walk  Michigan Ave under the lights. And end up at her hotel.”
    “ Bow-chica-wow-wow .”
    “No,” she sighed, and I could tell she worked hard at suppressing her irritation with my childishness. “All they do is lie in bed. They talk all night, they laugh and smile and memorize every little detail about each other—their cheekbones, the lines around their eyes and lips, the mole on her neck, the scar underneath his chin, all of that sappy shit that people like to read about.”
    “Like we used to do,” I said, remembering our last night together in that hotel room, lying awake and fighting sleep, tracing her face with the back of my fingers before… “Do they kiss at least?”
    Hope shook her head, her attention elsewhere like I might have lost her to the fantasy of what three years ago could have been for us. “No, there’s not even an attempt. Because what these two people have is special, Cameron. It’s not physical. Although, they both have these really hot and steamy thoughts about going where they don’t go. And it’s not about that one night. In fact, with them it’s not about any given night. It’s about…”
    I faked a yawn as we reached the beach. I jumped into the sand, knowing right away that I would regret it. I hated the gritty sand in my shoes. “Bullshit. It’s always about the physical, Hope.”
    “I disagree,” she argued, her subtle frown suggesting that maybe she didn’t quite believe me. “And it’s definitely not about that for Oliver and Olivia. For them, it’s about…I don’t know, it’s about the moment . That’s all that matters to them because it’s all they’ll ever have. A moment.” Her voice hitched a notch and, when I glanced over at her, I scrutinized her face, searching for a hint as to where that fault line might lay.
    In my head, I replayed Hope’s words, each one of them because I had memorized them. As was the case with Oliver and Olivia, all that mattered to me was this moment.
    I wanted to believe that our love—this thing between Hope and I—was as strong as Oliver and Olivia’s, but I didn’t truly know that. I knew how I felt. But Hope? I figured she had given up on us long ago, walking away without so much as a glance back. It had been cold, but she was stronger than that, way better than to cling to an unlikely fairytale. Still, some part of me wanted to believe that the hint of emotion in her voice had come from that abandoned love, from that belief that we were exactly like the Oliver and Olivia that she had written about.
    “It’s a touching story,” she admitted, heaving a deep, cleansing breath. “I’ve read it hundreds of times.”
    I kept my mouth shut as she settled onto the sand next to me. We watched the water, the soft waves lapping against the sand where a couple of young kids were building mounds of goop that looked like something the cows back home could produce.
    Hope sighed. “You ever wonder why we ran into each other, Cameron? I mean, two months before I’m scheduled to pack up and move across the country again. It’s weird. Kind of like how I ran into you three years ago. Right before your wedding.”
    “Why aren’t you married?” I asked, instead of talking about myself. I had wondered that question a million times since we ran into one another the last time.
    She shrugged. “It’s not what Matt and I want.”
    I chuckled, still watching those young kids playing together. They were clearly brother (older) and sister (younger). Their mother was reading a book with a white cover and some strange symbol on the front. While the boy added to his pile of fake cow shit, the sister filled a pail of water and threw it at the