Read Dark Love (The Two Sides of Me Book 3) for Free Online

and I hold his hand. Lazily, I rotate between circling the tip of my finger on his palm and lacing my fingers with his. I give his hand an occasional squeeze. My imagination starts running amuck, and I swear I feel him try to move his fingers. Then the realist in me brushes it off as wishful thinking.
    Shit, I want him back so bad now, my mind is playing tricks on me. It will be Christmas in a couple of hours; I’m sleeping here with him tonight. “I want to wake up in your arms on our first Christmas together as a married couple, actually our first Christmas as any kind of couple,” I tell him and snuggle down into the crook of his arm to sleep with my hand still holding his.
    A couple hours later, I’m awakened by the alarm of Evan’s IV beeping. I release my grip to reach for his call light and cringe at the stiffness in my hand. Before I can press the button, a nurse bustles in and quiets the pump. I smile at her, but I’m met with askance and instantly I miss the kind eyes and tender bedside manner of nurse Mona I hope Christmas is her scheduled holiday, having her here would make things so much nicer. I roll out from under Evan’s arm and leave his warm side to appease the nurse and to get officially ready for bed. Remembering my family is at the house I text my mom a quick note saying goodnight and that I’m excited to see them all tomorrow, or today actually, as its past midnight. She is probably still awake; her internal clock must be completely off from traveling so far and sleeping on the plane as I’m sure she did. My mother suffers the worst motion sickness of anyone I’ve ever known. She would have had to be medicated for the flight. I’m right, she texts back immediately. I’m so excited to hear from her that I skip my bedtime ritual and crawl into the cot with my phone while nurse cranky pants finishes up with Evan. I’m getting back in bed with him when she leaves; I couldn’t care less what she thinks.
    I can’t sleep in this mansion, it’s spooky here Mia, how do you stand it?!
    My mother’s text doesn’t surprise me; she’s kind of a wuss when it comes to scary movies, haunted houses, or anything supernatural. I’ll admit, Evan’s house is freaky at night with all of the shadows and old world décor. I should have warned her.
    Sorry, I noticed it too when I went to the kitchen in the dark for water, I didn’t think to tell you. I’m so happy you’re here, can’t wait to see you all tomorrow!
    The last thing I want to think about is that damn night I made the monumental mistake of going after a simple bottle of water. We wouldn’t be in this situation if I had just taken my ass to bed! My phone pings when mom responds.
    I am too honey, it feels like you have been gone forever. Your dad is scolding me for keeping you up, I’ll see you in the morning and I expect a full report on everything that’s been going on while you’ve been away, oh dad says hi and he loves you too.
    God, I miss my mom and her meddling ways. I just wish I had something good to “report”. As it is , I’m going to have to make a bunch of shit up. In fact, I had better get my story straight before morning, so she doesn’t catch me in a lie. I shoot her a quick “I love you both.” text and cross the room to close the door so I can change.
    Once in my cotton sleeping pants and tank top, I brush my teeth without paste, so I don’t have to go down the hall to the bathroom at this hour. If I have to pee before the sun comes up, I’ll just have to hold it. That’s a skill I perfected long ago from working twelve-hour shifts on my feet as a nurse. Lucky for me, I have a king-sized bladder.
    Perching on the edge of Evan’s bed, something makes me hesitate when I go to swallow my sleeping pills for the night. A sensation or vibration hangs in the air; maybe it’s the excitement of being reunited with my family tomorrow? I sit with one prescription bottle in each hand; sudden trepidation filling me,