Forever My Soldier (Love Conquers Life Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

to get together to wrap the kids gifts and get them disbursed to the appropriate families.
    “I’ve told the families we would drop them off during the day while the kids are in school so they’ll have time to hide them if they would like to surprise them.”
    “That was a good idea, Carter. I hadn’t thought about that. Why don’t we pick a day and we can all do it together,” Bella says as she puts her last card down to show she has a great hand. Carter groans.
    “I was thinking we would deliver on the twenty-third. That way we’ll have as much time as possible to collect, and they don’t have to hide them too long.”
    We all agree that sounds like a good plan, and Carter tells us he’ll notify the families this week to confirm the deliveries. This gives us a little less than a month to collect the gifts, wrap, and then deliver them.
    Once we’ve lost our game, Carter walks off to use the bathroom and there is an awkward silence at the table. I know they both want to ask me how I’m doing, but neither of them can bring it up. “I’m fine, guys. Carter has been handling me with kid gloves all day. I want to go to the wake and pay my respects to his father and be done with this.”
    “Okay. You know we’re here for you if you need anything, right?” Bella says.
    “I know and I appreciate it, but to be honest he has taken over enough of my life. I’m done and ready to move on.”
    Carter walks back into the room. “Are you ready, baby? It’s snowing pretty hard, and I want to get home. The roads are probably getting bad.”
    “I am.” I stand up and hug Bella while Derek pulls our coats from the closet. As we walk back through the house, I ask Derek for a stack of tickets for us to sell. He jots down our ticket numbers and hands us a huge stack.
    “There are fifty tickets there. Let me know if you need more. We can hold up to three hundred people in the room, but I only printed two hundred tickets.”
    “We’ll let you know.” I give him a quick hug.
    Carter shakes his hand and, as we walk out the door, says, “See you at work on Monday.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
     
    Patty
     
    Carter has gone to the gym, so I’ve decided to take some time to work on the book. I’ll have to get ready for my mother’s arrival soon. I’m not even sure if Richard is coming, since she never specified. I hope for her sake they’re able to work things out. I’m not sure what she’ll do if he decides to leave her.
    I shake off my thoughts and go back to my book. I’m almost done writing. My next step is to go through and approve or reject all of the edits my betas have suggested. As I finish the chapter, I receive a popup message indicating that I have a new email. I look and see it’s from my agent. She’s asking if I’m okay. I roll my eyes and send her off a quick response, telling her I’m fine and that I’ve finished the next chapter in the book. I let her know that I’m almost done and as soon as I finish cleaning it up, I’ll send it over to her.
    I get an instant response from her telling me she’s glad I’m doing well and that the publisher is watching for an email from her with the book. I again roll my eyes because she’s once again pressuring me. I’m about to respond when I decide she isn’t worth it. Instead I return to my book to read what I’ve written and start fixing any mistakes I’ve made. This is when I tend to laugh at myself because I often find silly mistakes. I guess my fingers move faster than my brain can process.
    Once I’ve finished reading, I start on the final chapter of the book. I’m in my groove typing away when Carter comes back into the house with the groceries I asked him to pick up when he was done at the gym. I can’t stop, though. I have to finish my thought or I will lose it.
    “Hey, baby.”
    “One minute. Don’t talk to me yet,” I say as I continue typing. He freezes in his spot with a silly grin on his face. I finally look