Wednesday Read Online Free PDF

beauty. 
    “You aren’t on your own anymore,”
she continues. “You have me. And one condition of living under my roof is that
you take some time to yourself. We start today. Let’s call it Wild Wednesday.”
    I shake my head. My mother, always
making an event of everything.
     “I want Wild Wednesday too,” Cade
pipes up.
    “Then you shall have it,” Mom tells
him. “It’ll be our evening to do anything you want.”
    “Park?” Cade asks.
    “Yes, the park. We’ll have a picnic
down there for dinner. As for you – ” Her demeanor turns a
bit more serious. “You are free to go do something for yourself.”
    “Mom, I can’t do that to you.
You’ve already done so much for us.”
    “We’re not arguing about this.
You’ll be better for everyone if you have a little breathing room. Plus, it
gives me a chance to catch up on all the Grandma time I missed. I’m not taking
no for an answer.”
    I know she wouldn’t. Still, I have
no idea what to do. An evening to myself? What a completely foreign concept. 
    ***
     
    Mom wasn’t kidding. At six o’clock,
she kicks me out. I say my goodbyes, grab my purse and sweatshirt, and take the
car down to the beach. 
    It’s a nice warm evening so I
decide to go for a run, something I haven’t done in years. Once I get down to
the beach, I soak it all in. The smell of the salt water and the sound of the
crashing waves. Until this very moment, I had no idea how much I missed it.
    I slip my shoes off and slide my
keys inside them and then I take off. I know I’d last longer with my sneakers
on, but I crave the sand in my toes.  I always have.
    Starting out at a turtle’s pace, I
try to fall into a rhythm. It takes me a good half mile to get my breathing
down and it isn’t easy. My throat burns and I’m taking in too much air. Chasing
after Cade has kept me slim, but my cardio fitness is completely lacking. And
the extra resistance from fighting the sand has my calves on fire.  
    Focusing on each breath, I slow my
panting. Inhale. Exhale.
    Soon, I’m able to take in the
sights. The patterns of the seagulls in flight. The ships in the distance, the…
    “Agh,” I scream as a sharp pain
shoots across the bottom of my foot.
    Falling to the sand, I clamp a hand
around my ankle and pull my foot up to assess the damage. My stomach turns when
I see a huge piece of green glass lodged in the ball of my foot.
    Gently, I work to get a grip on the
glass. I can’t. My insides are rolling, I’m getting light- headed, and feel
like I might pass out. I’ve never been good at this sort of thing.
    And you’re going to school to be a
nurse. Nice one, Aria.
    Punching the sand, I try to get a
grip.  “Motherfucker,” I finally scream at the top of my lungs. And it feels so
good, I let it fly. “Shit, fuck, shit.”
    How the hell am I going to get back
to my car?
    “Not the greeting I was hoping
for,” a deep voice says from above.
    Tristan. That is just perfect.
    Then I realize how close I am to
the beach house. Strange.
    “So what kind of mess did you get
yourself into now?” he asks, condescending as shit.
    Man, if I could get this glass out
of my foot I know exactly where I’d put it.
    “Not my fault,” I growl, trying to
focus as the world begins to sway.
    Don’t pass out, don’t pass out.
    “Some asshole left a broken bottle
on the beach,” I add.
    “Oh, Aria.” He sighs. “This is why
you don’t run on the beach barefoot.”
    It’s something he used to tell me
all the time in high school. Though he was nicer about it then. Can’t believe
I’d forgotten that, how he always used to look after me. 
    Tristan pulls his eyebrows together
and bends down to take a look. When his hand touches my leg, I jump.
    “Geez,” he says, wrapping an arm
around my shoulder. “Hurts that bad, huh?”
    He has no idea. Though it isn’t my
foot that has me on edge. I relax a little so he can take a look. Then before I
know what he’s doing, I’m in the air. In his