The Infinite Moment of Us Read Online Free PDF Page B

actually want to
    go. I feel bad saying that.”
    “Don’t. It’s your life, not theirs.”
    “Right,” she said. She nodded. “It is, isn’t it?”
    Her determination, combined with her sweetness, dis-
    armed him.
    “And seriously, doesn’t Project Unity sound awesome?”
    she said. “Tessa doesn’t understand why I’d want to live in
    a developing country, but I’m excited. Going someplace
    totally new, where you can start fresh and do good things
    and be whoever you want—doesn’t that sound amazing?”
    Wren sounded amazing, talking about it. Wren was
    amazing.
    Charlie’s thoughts went to Starrla Pettit, who was the
    only other girl in his life, the only girl who served as a
    point of reference. Except Charlie didn’t want Starrla to
    be his point of reference, and she wasn’t in his life, not in
    that way. Except, she was Charlie’s—what? What was Starrla to him, exactly?
    Ah, shit. Charlie had no idea what he and Starrla were
    to each other.
    But Starrla worked part-time at Rite Aid, and, starting
    next week, she was going to be bumped up to full-time,
    with benefits and a regular schedule. Charlie was glad for
    her. He hoped it worked out. He hoped she didn’t screw
    it up.
    Working at Rite Aid—hell, there was nothing wrong
    with that. If anything, he felt bad that Starrla didn’t have
    the luxury of considering anything else, even if it was
    unlikely she ever would.
    Wren wanted to do more, though. Wren wanted to save
    the world.
    “Forget it,” she said before he got around to responding.
    “You probably think putting off college is impractical, and
    that going to Guatemala is . . .” She sighed. “You think I’m
    crazy, huh?”
    “No,” Charlie said. “I think—” His voice sounded rag-
    ged. He shook his head, knowing he was trying too hard
    but unable to stop himself. “I think you’re wonderful.”

    c h a p t e r t h r e e
    On Friday morning, Tessa invited Wren to go
    with her to a shooting range. To shoot things, with guns.
    With Tessa and her new crush, P.G. Barbee.
    Wren’s knee-jerk reaction was to tell Tessa absolutely
    not, because Wren hated guns. She hated their ugliness,
    and she hated what they did. Also, she didn’t like P.G.
    Then again, she’d said no to so many things over the
    years, often based on someone else’s opinion. Wasn’t she
    supposed to be experiencing new things and coming to her
    own conclusions? Wasn’t that what signing up for Project
    Unity was all about?

    “C’mon,” Tessa wheedled over the phone. “Who knows?
    Maybe you’ll meet a cute guy.”
    “At a shooting range?”
    “Why not?”
    Wren highly doubted she’d meet an appealing guy at
    a shooting range. Besides, she was already interested in a
    guy, although she wasn’t ready to tell Tessa.
    She thought about Charlie Parker, who’d showed up
    randomly—or perhaps not so randomly?—in the ER yes-
    terday. She didn’t think he’d cut his thumb on purpose, or
    even known he would see her at Grady. But his hand had
    been warm in hers as she stitched him up, and he’d smelled
    like pine trees, and being with him hadn’t felt random at
    all.
    His eyes were the same shade of auburn as his tousled
    hair. She’d lost herself in them, because who had auburn
    eyes?
    “So?” Tessa demanded.
    “Huh?”
    “The shooting range. What do you say?”
    “Oh. Um, sure.”
    “But it’ll be so— Wait. What?”
    “It’s something new thing to try. I want to try new things.
    Unless you think that’s dumb?”
    “No!” Tessa said quickly. “Wren! Yay! We are going to
    have so much fun!”

    Wren wasn’t sure, but she was willing to give it a chance.

    “After you, ladies,” P.G. said, using his body to hold open
    the door to the Sure Shot Shooting Range. In each hand he
    held a gun case. One contained multiple small pistols. The
    other case held a huge revolver, which took bullets bigger
    than Wren’s thumb. Bigger than anyone’s thumb.
    The guns still made Wren feel queasy,