Read My Secret Boyfriend for Free Online

person his own age. It was up to her to help him make friends. But all her friends thought he was her boyfriend. And if she told the truth, he would probably hate her for it. At the very least, he’d think she was an absolute jerk. She shook her head. What a mess!
    Jordan swore she’d make it up to him somehow for the foolish stories she’d told about him. One way or another, she’d help him every way she could to adjust to his new life. And she’d be certain that he never
ever
discovered the fantastic fibs she’d spread around school about him and their “big” summer romance. She owed Ryan Elliot that much.

Eight

    “D o you jog?”
    Ryan’s question estion startled Jordan. She lay curled up on the sofa, reading the Saturday morning funnies, still wrapped in a terry-cloth bathrobe and oversized, fuzzy pink slippers. Ryan was dressed in a gray sweat-suit. A white headband held a thatch of blond hair off his forehead. “Are you kidding?” she joked. “My idea of exercise is getting the morning paper from the end of the walk. Besides, it’s forty degrees out there.”
    “Oh, I was just wondering . . .”
    Then she noticed his downcast expression. Suddenly, it hit her that he probably jogged often and that he didn’t know a thing about her neighborhood. “Uh—wait a minute. Maybe I could be persuaded to take a few laps with you. I could show you the way to the park.”
    Ryan smiled slightly, showing his dimples.
    “Thanks. I’d like that,” he said.
    She quickly changed into a baggy pink sweatshirt, jeans, heavy socks, and a ski cap.
    Outside, an overcast sky and chilly breeze made her shiver. Why had she ever agreed to this insanity? Ryan said, “You look sort of athletic, that’s why I asked if you jog.” Little puffs of vapor came out with his words.
    Jordan laughed out loud. “Tell that to my gym teacher. She says I run like a klutz. I even trip over my own shadow.”
    “Then I won’t push too hard. We’ll take it nice and easy.”
    “The park’s two blocks up and two blocks to the right.”
    “Let’s go.” He started off running and she bolted after him, the wind stinging her eyes and numbing her nose. After less than a block, Jordan could scarcely breathe. Her lungs felt as if they were on fire, and her legs were rubbery. Ryan turned and jogged backward, grinning at her. “Feels great, huh?”
    “Yeah, if you . . . Like ice blocks . . . for hands and . . . feet,” Jordan said, out of breath.
    By the time the park came into view, Jordan was sure she would drop dead. At the edge of the park, Ryan paused and Jordan leaned over, resting her palms on her knees, gulping in mouthfuls of air. “Is this your park?” Ryan sounded disappointed.
    She scanned the area. A softball diamond stood at one end, and there was a playground at the other. “This is it. What’s wrong?”
    “It’s just kind of”—he searched for a word—“empty. I mean, back in Virginia there are so many trees.”
    Jordan knew what he meant. The park
did
look lonesome and bare. “I guess if you’re used lots of trees, it is sort of . . . barren.”
    He started running again, heading toward the concrete playground. Jordan followed him. When he reached one of the benches, he stopped to rest and motioned for Jordan to sit down. “Do you like living here?” he asked.
    She shrugged. “I don’t ever remember living anywhere else. Dallas is home.”
    “You mean you don’t remember dumping spaghetti on my head?” His eyes twinkled.
    “And baby Ryan, why would you smear ice cream all over my face?” She picked up his teasing tone. “A nice kid like me. And how dare you not share your rubber duck!”
    “I don’t share my rubber duck with anybody.” He chuckled for the first time since he had arrived. “How long do you think our mothers are going to keep dragging out those old memories?”
    Jordan wrinkled her nose. “Probably forever. My mother loves to talk about the times we were babies together and living