Totlandia: Spring Read Online Free PDF

he’ll forget to ask for any of my money.”
    Go to hell, Jade thought.
    She shot him the bird as she headed up the stairs.
    But because she knew Brady was still watching her as she climbed the staircase with Oliver, she made sure to keep her shoulders back and hold her head high.
    She also knew he got her message, loud and clear.
     
    ***
     
    She still suspects something, Brady thought. And if she finds out she’s right, she’ll hurt Ally with what she knows.
    He could feel the color leaving his face.
    I can’t let her do that. No way in hell.
    Since their kiss on New Year’s Eve, Brady called Ally’s cell at least a half dozen times, but she never picked up. She may have admitted to him that she loved him, but she was still conflicted over her feelings.
    He knew she truly liked Jade and didn’t want to hurt her friend.
    If Jade was the reason Ally got ousted from the club, she’d blame him. And she’d have every right to do so.
    All the pieces of his grand scheme for Oliver had fallen into place. His son had been accepted to PHM&T. Bettina had taken Jade under her wing. Jade was finally acting like a real mother to her son…
    For now, he warned himself. And only as long as I pretend I’m interested in her.
    He could talk with Ally. He could laugh with her. In his opinion, she got everything about him: why he had been driven to make a success of himself, and then sell his company in order to focus on raising his child.
    Because she had done exactly the same thing.
    Jade never understood him. God love the girl but, in his opinion, she was clueless. This would never change.
    At that moment, he made a vow to himself. I can’t let her stand in the way of my happiness.
    Sure, he’d have dinner with the Crosses, play up to Bettina, and string Art along.
    Oliver’s happiness didn’t have to happen at his and Ally’s expense no matter what cards Jade thought she had up her sleeve.
    She rarely wore sleeves anyway.
    Hell, she rarely wore a bra.
    At least that was one thing he admired about her.

     
    10:05 a.m.
    “Oh! You’re back!” Barry Simon kissed his best friend, Ally Thornton, but the concern in his eyes undermined the surprised smile on his face.
    “Yep, as promised, Friday morning. Sorry I’m late. The traffic coming up from Carmel was heavier than I anticipated.” Ally looked beyond him into his living room. “Thanks so much for looking after Zoe these past couple of days. I really needed the time to think things through.”
    “What’s a baby sperm donor-slash- daddy-slash- lawyer-slash- guardian-slash- BFF for, anyway?” He shrugged. “And besides, if you’ve finally come to your senses about this crush you’ve got on that married dude, it was worth it.”
    “Oh.” Ally’s smile faded. “About that. I’m sorta still on the fence.”
    Ally couldn’t lie to Barry. The elation she’d felt when she kissed Brady at Bettina’s New Year’s Eve party had yet to fade. The two-day getaway to Carmel was supposed to clear her head on the issue, but it had the opposite effect. She was more confused than ever as to what she should do next.
    Just minutes before the kiss, she’d made the perfect case to Brady as to why they shouldn’t be anything other than friends. For example, the PHM&T applications committee presumed she was already married—to Barry, in fact. They also thought Brady was still married to his ex, Jade.
    Front and center in her argument was her own relationship with Brady’s ex. The challenging tasks given to her and the probationary members of PHM&T’s Onesies group hadn’t pitted them against each other. Instead, it brought them closer. She knew Jade was fighting hard to stay in her son’s life, and she admired her for that.
    And now that she knew the true circumstances of Jade and Brady’s relationship, it was clear to Ally that Jade was doing everything she could to win back Brady’s love.
    But Brady wanted Ally. He had countered all of Ally’s arguments—including her