As You Wish Read Online Free Page A

you’re both good for me. I need you guys to tell me to lighten up sometimes. I wish I’d gone shopping with you. I haven’t been to a mall in more than a year.”
    â€œI think getting some sleep was more important for you,” Katie said. “You honestly look a whole lot better.”
    â€œI feel better about everything, too. It really helped to talk with you and Sierra the other night. I think the most important thing I can do right now is to take each day as it comes and resolve each decision as it comes.”
    â€œThe Sunday school decision was the final phone book, wasn’t it?” Katie asked.
    â€œThe final phone book? What does that mean?”
    â€œIt’s my new theory. You know how I told you that one of my many fascinating summer jobs was delivering phone books door to door?”
    Christy nodded.
    â€œWell, I learned the very first day that I could only carry eight phone books at a time. If I tried to pick up one more, I ended up dropping all of them.”
    Christy didn’t see Katie’s point.
    â€œYou were already carrying a lot when Todd dropped the Sunday school question on you. Think about it. You had jet lag, you had decisions to make about your major, you were worried about finding a job, you were confused about whyyou didn’t feel ready to rush into a lifetime commitment with Todd, and then—bam!—the Sunday school decision was the final phone book.”
    â€œKind of like that saying about the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Christy said.
    â€œExactly. Only, the things you’re carrying aren’t little straws. They’re all heavy like phone books. You can carry a couple of them at a time, but when you hit your limit, it feels as if you’re going to drop all of them.”
    Christy leaned back and felt herself breathing more easily than she had for several weeks. “You just described perfectly what I was feeling.”
    Katie beamed like a proud sunflower. “No extra charge for the advice. I wondered if you were going to have a meltdown a couple of nights ago when we went to the store and you were about to cry because you couldn’t decide which laundry soap to buy. I’m glad to hear you say that you’re going to take each decision separately, one at a time.”
    â€œWhat about you?”
    â€œWhat about me?” Katie had gotten up to turn on her stereo and pulled a stick of gum from an old Muppet Babies lunch box she kept on the corner of her desk.
    â€œDidn’t you have an appointment with the counselor today?” Christy asked. “Or did you have to reschedule it?”
    â€œNo. I went into town to get breakfast with a bunch of people, and then I met with the counselor at ten. Sierra had an appointment with financial aid, and we went shopping after that.”
    â€œDid you end up changing any classes around?”
    â€œNo, I’m sticking with botany for my major. I told the counselor my goal in life was to create herbal teas, and he came close to laughing aloud.”
    â€œDidn’t you tell him about the herb garden you started on campus last semester and the experiments you did?”
    â€œNo, I’ll wait to tell him about that after I complete a successful experiment.”
    Christy grinned. She remembered an e-mail Katie had sent last spring with the hilarious account of her first attempt to serve herbal tea she had grown and mixed herself. The experiment resulted in two out of five students in her chemistry class breaking out in hives. The other three complained of stomach pains. Apparently Katie was the only one in the class who didn’t suffer any kind of reaction.
    â€œBy the way,” Katie said, “your aunt called this morning while you were dead to the world and wanted to take you to lunch. I told her you weren’t available today.”
    â€œVery kind of you, Katie. And true. Thanks.”
    â€œYou might not thank me when you hear