Read Worst Week Ever (A Long Road to Love) for Free Online Page B

happiness, remembering her arrival
at Columbia. “Without my sister sucking up all my oxygen, for the first time in
my life, I could breathe.”
    “I envy you.
You can’t escape a dead person’s shadow. They follow you wherever you go.
‘Master Thomas was such a nice young boy, but oh, that horrible Trent!’”
    “How old were
you?”
    “Seven.”
    She understood
his pain. Having no words to soften it, she squeezed his hand.
    Trent released
a heavy sigh. “I’d thought, once proven innocent of fratricide, things would
turn for the better and I’d get more time with my parents.” He snorted. “Be
careful what you ask for. I wanted their attention, and boy, did I get it. They
decided to turn me into my older brother. Buzz-cut my hair. Made me wear his
clothes. The kids at prep school made fun of me when they saw me off campus wearing
clothes three years out of fashion. But did my parents care about my
humiliation?” He shook his head. “They just wanted their good son back.”
    His pain
resonated within her, echoing her own. Never had she imagined she and Trent
might have similar emotional wounds. “Parents can be unknowingly cruel when
they love one child more than the other.”
    Scooting
closer to her, he nodded. “In my case, I can at least understand why they
preferred my brother, but I’m clueless why yours didn’t think you the cat’s pajamas.”
    Carrie smiled
at his words. He never used phrases like that before she came to work for him.
In fact, she had to explain what cat’s pajamas meant, and upon learning, he
declared it a stupid phrase. Now, he’d found a use for it.
    “How could
anyone not love you?” he asked softly.
    Her heart
stirred with both pain from her past and gratitude he thought them wrong. “When
my sister enters a room, no one sees me. Not just my parents, but the teachers,
the girls — ”
    “And the boys?
They had to notice you.”
    God, she hated
rehashing this. “Not really. The first time a boy approached, I got flustered
and hopeful, but he just wanted to talk about my sister. What music did she
like? Did she have anyone special? Could I put in a good word for him?” Carrie
rolled her eyes. “The boys adored my sister.”
    “I’ve no
doubt, if she looks like you.”
    Carrie smiled
at yet another compliment. She almost checked her boss’ forehead for a fever.
“Clothes and hairstyle matter a great deal to teenagers.”
    “Don’t I know
it,” he grumbled.
    She covered
his hand, knowing the kids must have teased him unmercifully for wearing
outdated clothes and having an unfashionable haircut.
    “I never wore
makeup, and preferred baggy clothes. Then I could blame everyone’s preference
on superficial stuff rather than believing my sister truly outshined me.” She’d
never admitted this anyone. Why did she now?
    Trent gathered
her into his arms and pulled her tight against his chest. “I take back what I
said about hiring your sister. I’d never hire her. Not even if it meant I had
to do the work myself.”
    Carrie had
been about to push out of his hug, which clearly crossed the proper lines
between boss and employee, but she couldn’t. By sharing their pain, they’d
created a new line. They’d become trauma buddies…friends. She finally had a
friend who understood her pain at its deepest level. And she understood his. “Thank
you,” she whispered. Not for his promise never to hire her sister, but for
bonding with her, for making her feel that she no longer stood alone in the world.
    “We are coming
to an exit, sir,” Sam announced from the front. “Please buckle up. I will do my
best to get us through this in one piece and alive.” To add to the drama, the
door locks clicked in unison like a jail door closing.
    Trent had
somehow shifted all the way to center and instead of returning to his side, he
took the trouble to dig out the seatbelt. Once she declared them both secure,
the limo sped up.
    Trent opened
his mouth, no doubt to complain, but shut