One Week with her (Ex) Stepbrother (Eden Manor #2) Read Online Free Page B

the house in working order. Then she got married in Vegas after one
drunken night.” She sighed again, wondering what it would feel like to have
such an eventful life.
    “Why
does it bother you?” Zach’s voice was strangely quiet.
    “It
doesn’t. I really like Kelly. It’s just that so much has happened to her. And
look at Vanessa. She was a widow when she was twenty-five, and she taught
herself how to do his business. She’s just lived…so much.”
    “I
know you wouldn’t want to have to deal with having a husband die. Your mother
died when you were a kid. You know what it’s like.”
    “Of
course I know. Of course I wouldn’t want that. It’s just that things seem to
happen to other people. They do things. They move to New York. They get married
and have kids. They go through different stages of life. And I’m just…”
    Zach
turned her head so she was facing him, and he held her gaze steadily. “You’re
just what?”
    “Nothing
ever happens to me. I’m still living here, working for Dad, doing the same
thing I’ve always done.”
    “What’s
wrong with that?”
    “Nothing.
It’s just that…I always feel like I’m waiting for life to happen to me, and it
just never does.”
    His
forehead wrinkled. “You don’t have to stay here, you know. You can move and do
something else.”
    “I
know I can. But I don’t want to. I love it here. I love all my friends. I love
this area and this community. I don’t want to move.”
    “Well,
your real estate business has been doing well. You’ll eventually be able to do
it full time.”
    “I
know. It’s not even that.”
    “Then
what is it?” It sounded like he really wanted to know, like it bothered him
that he was having trouble wrapping his mind around what she was saying.
    “You
know that pile of rocks in my backyard?” she asked, trying to think of some way
to explain.
    “The
stones that came from your aunt’s old well?”
    “Yeah.”
Two years ago, Missy’s Aunt Ginny had died and left Missy her house. It was an
old farmhouse and way too big for Missy on her own, but real estate prices were
so low right now that it had made more financial sense for her to live in it
rather than sell it.
    “I
offered to haul them away for you,” Zach murmured.
    “I
know. All this time, I’ve been wanting to do something with them, but it just never
felt like it was the right time. Like…like life hadn’t settled around me enough
to make it worth the effort.”
    “What
did you want to do with them?”
    “I
wanted to make some sort of wall, like a mini secret garden.”
    “There
aren’t enough for—”
    “I
know. It can’t be a real walled garden. I just had this idea…” She exhaled
deeply and gave him a sheepish look. “Anyway, the point was I’ve been waiting
for the right time—when things are settled, when I really know what my life is
going to look like. But the right time never seems to come. I know it’s silly,
but I just sometimes feel like…life forgot to stop at my door.”
    He
chuckled at her choice of words, and he was still smiling when he cupped her
cheek with one hand. “You’re living life, Missy. You have more friends than
anyone I know. Everyone loves you. I can’t get through a day without someone
saying how amazing you are or how you helped them out with something. Your dad
wouldn’t make it without you.” He paused. “Neither would I.”
    She
shivered at the break in his voice. She parted her lips, but no words came out.
    “You
don’t have to leave or be someone different to really live. I wouldn’t want you
to be anyone different.”
    It
felt like her whole body was shuddering. “Really?”
    “Of
course not. Why would I want you to change? There’s never been anyone like
you.”
    She
barely managed to suppress a shaky gasp. She couldn’t look away from his
intense eyes, and she even leaned toward him a little. His hand was still
pressed against her cheek. “Thanks.”
    The
sound of a car on the driveway