What Fools Believe Read Online Free Page A

STOMACH CHURNED from the quick upright movement. He wedged himself between the back and the arm of the couch, trying to get a hold on his surroundings. Muddled at first, the outlines of his living room sharpened as the doorbell buzzed again. Getting to his feet, he almost tumbled over but he caught the corner of the side table and knocked his phone to the floor. He scooped it up and cursed after seeing the time. He abandoned a brief and incoherent murder plot when he saw who was at the door.  
    “More torture,” he said.
    “You look horrible.” She shifted the reusable grocery bag from one hand to the other and touched his face. “Let me in.”
    He let her breeze in. Joshua staggered back to the living room and eased himself onto the sofa.
    “Here. Drink this,” Rebecca said.
    As he removed his arm from over his eyes, the sunlight in his apartment nearly blinded him. “Coffee?” he asked her.
    “Not exactly.”
    “I’m not in the mood for one of your holistic herbal cocktails.”  
    Rebecca kept the mug pointed at him like a pistol until he took it from her hand. She helped him up and sat at his side, watching him. Joshua tasted the elixir and whatever was floating around his stomach threatened to surge up his digestive track. “Rebecca. This is gross.”
    “You’re nearly forty and you still talk like that?” Joshua sulked. “How much did you have to drink?”
    He shrugged, took another sip then guzzled a little bit more, hoping to hasten the effects of the concoction then an image jolted him. His eyes drifted over to hers. “What happened last night?”
    She propped her chin up with her hand and asked, “You don’t remember?”  
    “Not. Everything. Did I say or do anything…”
    “You said a lot of things. You didn’t do anything,” she said in a soft voice, nudging the mug toward his mouth. Joshua stared at her as he swallowed. “Think you can manage a shower while I make us breakfast?”
    “I tried to take off your dress.”
    “Only after you succeeded in removing my panties.” His eyes snapped up. His head responded with a fresh helping of pain. “Go take a shower and don’t come back out until you’ve finished that.”  
    Many details eluded him, but as hot water rained down on his head what she told him about Spencer resurfaced as clear as glass. Feeling better, and worse, he walked into the bedroom with a towel stapled around his waist. Joshua breathed in deeply. Cinnamon. Vanilla. His stomach grumbled. He threw on a pair of boxer briefs and some jogging pants.  
    “Belgium Waffles,” she said.
    His favorite.  
    “My favorite,” he said.
    “Your favorite.”  
    Rebecca pointed to a plate with a huge waffle covered in syrup, whipped cream and chopped nuts. The plate beside it was identical. His eyes flickered up to hers. She smirked, rounded the counter and took a seat. She picked up her fork, stuck it in her mouth, cleaning the syrup and whipped cream combination from it. He gulped, staring at her mouth and remembering how good they use to taste.  
    “You had a rough day yesterday,” she said.  
    “True, but this was our thing,” he said shifting in his seat, facing the food. “Our Saturday morning tradition way back when we used to wake up naked together. Remember.”  
    “Shut up and eat your waffle.”
    Rebecca quietly sipped orange juice and read one of his newspapers. Joshua scratched a non-existent itch then cleared his throat. “About the brownstone.”
    “Oh. You know. I don’t know.” She winched, didn’t look up from her article. “It really is too big now that I’m practically divorced and I’m still trying to get accustomed to being on my own. You know, I haven’t lived alone since before college.”
    Joshua rolled his eyes. Stories about Rebecca’s domestic arrangements, past, present or future that didn’t include him, depressed him now. She turned and looked him in the eyes.
    “I appreciate the help though. Will your friend be all