Wide Spaces (A Wide Awake Novella, Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

dream, not a cruel hoax my mind played on itself.
    She was real.
    She was here.
    She was mine.
    She trusted me.
    She wanted me.
    I closed my eyes and leaned over her, smelling her hair, knowing my pillow would smell that way after she was gone. That smell was imprinted in my senses. I'd know it anywhere.
    I leaned back a little to see her face, brushing her blonde hair back, unable to stop the smile at the way she breathed and slept so soundly in my bed next to me. Even though my comforter was from Target and not Macy's, she still slept so soundly.
    Christmas was tomorrow. I looked around my room. We had plans to go and bring a load of her stuff her e. My room wasn't too bad. It had a bathroom attached and two big windows. I'm sure she was going to make it a lot cozier than I ever had. And we had decided that Milo's room wasn't needed anymore, so that was going to be cleaned out after the new year to make room for…whatever. I grinned at the thought that there might be another little boy in that room in a few years. This house that was always my home…
    It was a shame we couldn't decorate for Emma's first Christmas here, but we kept everything the same for Mom so she wouldn't freak every time she couldn't remember.
    But Emma's parents ' house had enough decorations for an entire village, so that didn't really matter. Her brother and sister were coming the day after tomorrow, and we were all going to spend Christmas dinner together. And exchange gifts. It made me shiver with unease just thinking about that. I had no idea what to get people who already had everything, so that should be an interesting night.
    I ran my knuckles across Emma's cheekbone. The softness didn't surprise me. She lay on her side facing me, one of her legs tucked snuggly between mine. I had been with only a couple women. Girls, I should say. In my teen party-football-crazy-fun days. I chuckled to myself at how stupid we were back then. Thought we were kings of our own little worlds. I didn't really date a whole lot. I had one steady girlfriend my junior year for a few months, but it wasn't the serious kind. It was just the fun kind, the kind where you went out on the weekends to movies and parties and then made out in the car afterward. We never exchanged 'I love you's. It was just fun. Insignificant. Inconsequential. When it wasn't fun anymore, we both moved on. And the couple of girls I'd been with were either stupid party hookups or crushes who saw an opportunity. My teen self was just happy to have a normal life with normal friends. We got into normal trouble and acted like normal, hormonal teenage boys.
    There has never been a girl who made me want to bring her into my entire world, to live and breathe my air every day.
    And then my life shattered and I never thought I would ever, ever have or want that again. You're not even the same person after guilt has eaten away at you for so long. I was so consumed with my mom and all the things that needed to be done for her that when I found Emma at that party, I literally felt a crack in my armor. And then more salty guilt was poured into the wound when I found out that she'd been hurt...because of me. Because I should have helped her, stopped her. But Emma showed me how life can heal the cracks in our armor with people put in our path.
    They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I think Emma and I both are testaments to that.
    I lean ed in and kissed her lips because I couldn't leave the bed without doing it. Once, twice, and again as her lips puckered and she sighed in response. I slipped my legs away and off the bed before pulling the blanket over her, tucking her in. Her blonde hair framed her face and the pillow like the angel she was.
    Last night she had been no angel, however.
    I couldn't stop my grin. Last night had been particularly amazing and hard to keep a rein on. She was a wildfire and I was apparently surrounded by tinder. It's kind of funny how as teenage boys we tried to see