Love Is More Than Skin Deep (A Hidden Hearts Novel Book 4) Read Online Free

that. I just call them as I see them. What are you doing down there on the ground? You can’t be comfortable down there. Come join me at a table."
    Shelby looks up at me with the bleakest eyes I’ve seen in a while as she responds, “I don’t think I should do that. I’ve waited tables before and trust me: restaurants really prefer paying customers. It will be a while before I can afford to be a paying customer again.”
    I pull my pants legs up so that I can squat down and sit down beside her. She regards me with horror as she insists, “You can’t sit down here! You’ll ruin your suit.”
    “Since I really want to talk to you, and I’m really thirsty — how about we compromise? You can join me at the table and I’ll get you something to drink.”
    Shelby’s brow furrows as she considers my offer. “I almost hate to point this out, but that’s not really a compromise. You’re just being pushy.”
    “As it so happens, you’re right. Then again, so am I — if the ground isn’t a good place for me, it’s not a good place for you either. Come on, join me for a treat. I would feel guilty if I ate it all by myself. The last time I was in here, Jade was waxing poetically about the strawberry milkshakes over here, but I didn’t have time to stop. I was planning to change that today; don’t make me feel bad for my indulgence.”
    Shelby tilts her head as if in deep thought as she responds, “Strawberry? As in fresh strawberries?”
    I nod. “That’s my understanding.”
    “I guess if my life is going to go to hell in a hand basket, I might as well make the journey with a full stomach.”

    Shelby’s eyes open comically wide when I return to the table. She probably has cause. I may have accidentally ordered burgers and fries with the shakes.
    “What is all this?” she asks suspiciously, “You never said anything about buying dinner.”
    “I made that decision on the fly. It was actually cheaper to buy the combo meals than to buy the shakes separately. I, for one, am starving and I thought you might be too. This just seemed like the better strategy.”
    Shelby’s eyes gain a faraway glazed over look as she starts to tear up. “Strategy. What a funny word that is. It implies that we might be in control of something in our lives. I used to think that. I had all these grand plans about how I was going to live my life and make everyone’s lives around me better. Now, I may not live until Christmas. How about them apples? How does a person strategize for that?” she asks bitterly.  
    “I don’t think you strategize for any of it. This isn’t like a courtroom, this is just life,” I offer. “Sometimes what we thought was up is down and what we thought was down is up.”
    Shelby takes a couple bites of her hamburger before she answers me, “That’s all nice and philosophical and all, but here’s my reality: I managed to strategize myself right out of a place to live, a job and virtually everything else I own except for the clothes on my back.”
    My surprise must have shown on my face because she continues with a smirk. “Yeah, I’m a college graduate now I can make plans without a single thought to contingencies. Aren’t I just flippin’ brilliant? I don’t have a place to live, I don’t have a job, I don’t have a way to get to my medical appointments… I just turned twenty-eight — and now I’ve got an appointment with the Grim Reaper and there isn’t a single soul in my life left to care. If that isn’t a pathetically sad commentary on my life, I don’t know what is.”
    “Okay, I tend to be a little analytical about these problems, call it an occupational hazard. Let’s work this through backwards — you know like an equation.”  
    “I’m a math teacher,” she responds skeptically. “That makes me abundantly qualified to tell you that there’s no way to solve my life like an equation.”
    I smile at her as I reply, “As much as I highly respect brilliant women, just