Waiting for You Read Online Free PDF Page B

stoically gone it alone. Maybe now was as good of a time as any to reinvent who Karise McAlister was, though. Stoically going it alone really hadn’t gotten her very far to date.
    As it turned out, she really didn’t have that much she called her own. While Karise set about packing her clothes into her barely used luggage, Devon ran to buy some boxes. She was happy to discover William wasn’t there. She didn’t know if she could have handled another talk about them. He’d left her a curt note on the table instructing her to leave her keys when she left and that he’d already taken the liberty of telling his father she wouldn’t be at work on Monday. If she’d leave an address for him, he would forward her things from the office.
    While Karise couldn’t blame him for being angry, it all felt so abrupt. She wouldn’t have minded saying goodbye to her friends and clients at work. She didn’t even want to think about what they’d be told, what they’d think of her when William was finished telling his tale of woe. It bothered her knowing she was the bad guy in this particular story. She dropped the note back on the table and wandered through the apartment, taking it all in one last time and struggling to comprehend that less than 24 hours before, she’d been trying to convince William to stay home from the showing so they could make love. Maybe it was a good thing he’d refused. Maybe if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have gotten the wakeup call in time.
    Autopilot got her through the process of packing. She found it troublesome that her worldly possessions fit into two suitcases and three boxes. The rest of the apartment belonged to William, or were items they’d purchased together that he’d chosen. At Devon’s hotel, she left most of her belongings in his rental and took just one carryon to the room with her. Of course he had rented a suite, so there was plenty of space for her in his room. He offered her one of her own, but it seemed like a waste of money, and she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be alone at the moment.
    Once they were settled, he ordered them dinner while she left a voicemail for the wedding planner. They stumbled across a cheesy ‘80s movie marathon on TV, which they watched in their pajamas while sharing a pepperoni pizza. Neither spoke of their troubles. They just were. Karise decided that maybe having a big brother wasn’t so terrible.
    When the phone rang, it startled Karise. Both checked to see if it was theirs; Devon won. He took the call in the other room so he wouldn’t disrupt the movie. Karise thought his conversation could only help the film – it was pretty terrible. Twenty minutes later, he reclaimed his spot on the couch.
    “Alex says hi.”
    “How is she?”
    “Tired. The twins are in full-scale toddler mode.” Devon smiled; Karise thought she could see the flicker of a memory in his eyes. “Those are some cute kids, though.”
    “I can’t say I know Alex very well, but it’s really hard to picture her with twins.”
    “She struggles to picture herself with twins, too.”
    Karise laughed. “Is she happy?”
    Devon answered without pause. “Deliriously so, I think. If you ever make it to the South Pacific , you should visit them. Their home is incredible.”
    “Doesn’t she live in a palace now?” Karise remembered reading about the McAlister heiress marrying into royalty from some obscure island nobody had ever heard of. She’d been invited to the wedding but hadn’t felt comfortable going, so she’d politely declined and sent a gift instead. She’d belabored over what to send for weeks, though. What do you get royalty that they don’t already have?
    “Yes, and it’s an incredible palace.”
    “Says the man who lives on a rose plantation.”
    He shrugged innocently. “I guess McAlisters don’t go halfway.”
    “No, you don’t.”
    “You’re a McAlister, too, you know,” he reminded her.
    “Not by blood.”
    “Why do you still do this?” Devon