Read Inside Out for Free Online

though she’d been invited many times. Had watched Brody fall in love, had watched Elise become part of his life, of his family, and when Elise noticed Ella, Elise had simply been Elise. She’d reached out and in doing so had become her closest friend. Elise and Erin, she’d let in, had felt understood in a way she rarely felt with others.
    As if she’d been summoned, Elise’s text buzzed across the screen of Ella’s phone. Call me if you’re awake!
    Yes, a phone conversation with Elise would be a good thing. She dialed in the number, and Brody answered, making her smile.
    “Hey there, Ella. You looking for my missus?”
    “Yes, please.”
    “While I watch my lovely lady hop around and jiggle, I’m going to continue to keep you long enough to ask how your hip is doing.” He’d nearly finished the tattoo she’d been getting in bits and pieces over the last year and a half. Each new achievement, and he’d add another piece. For a time it had been her secret. Only Brody knew about it. But after a while, she’d told Erin and then Elise. He’d just completed the last major part a few days before, roots and some drifting blossoms at her hip.
    Her first tattoo had been small, a silly little four-leaf clover he’d done on her inner arm, near the elbow. Something about it had filled a need inside, the need to mark her progress in an indelible way. It’s how she’d truly gotten to know Brody. He’d always been her boss’s older brother, friendly, but it never went very deep. He was good at his job, good at listening, and over time she’d poured out her story to him.
    She understood, totally, why Elise adored him, why her daughter, Rennie, now their daughter, lit up every time Brody came into a room. There were very few men in the universe who could hold a candle to him.
    “Good. Soreness is mostly gone, and now it itches.”
    “Coming along then. If you need me to, I’ll check it for you.”
    “Aw, thanks. But I think you might have more things on your mind than looking at a healing tattoo. You ready for the engagement party on Saturday?”
    “I’ve been ready to marry Elise for a long time now. I’m just annoyed I have to wait another few months.”
    She heard the smile in his voice and smiled herself. They were good together, a family. Unconventional, just like all the Browns were. But it worked, and it was genuine. They gave her hope that once she put dating back on the menu, she might find something like what they had too.
    “Stop hogging her.” Elise got on the line, and Ella heard the noisy kiss her friend gave her very sexy fiancé. “I hear Raven is asking to photograph it for that tattoo magazine she works with down in L.A.”
    As if she’d bare her back from hip to shoulder for strangers to gape over! Raven could do that, Erin, bold, brash women like them. In any case, things were complicated between Raven, one of Brody’s exes, and Elise in the best of times. Therefore in the time-honored tradition of girlfriends everywhere, Ella kept her distance when Raven was involved. She actually liked Raven because the woman was totally herself. There was pretty much no bull when you dealt with her; she said exactly what she thought, when she thought it. Which was uncomfortable sometimes, but once Ella had gotten used to it, it made her easy to be around. Well, since she’d finally backed off and accepted and respected Elise’s place in Brody’s life.
    “Ha. Yeah, not so much. I will be really happy when it’s finished though. What’s up?” she asked.
    “Just wanted to check in. You looked tired today. I wanted to be sure you were okay. I would have called, but I didn’t know if you were still with your parents at dinner.”
    “I’m good,” she said to Elise and meant it. “I’m making a mental promise to try harder with them. I have a fridge full of leftovers, and now I’m here drinking some tea and trying to wind down for bed.”
    “Good. Okay, just FYI, we’re all going out dancing