Free Ramsey: A Military Bad Boy Secret Baby Pregnancy Romance (The Bradford Brothers Book 3) by Juliana Conners Page B

seen you this happy since… well I don’t even know when.”
    “Well, don’t get your hopes up,” I tell her. “It was just a fling.”
    “Uh huh.”
    She arches her eyebrows and nods sarcastically.
    “I’m serious. It didn’t mean anything, and even if we wanted it to, it couldn’t. He’s… enlisted. And he’s deploying very soon.”
    “Awww, man.”
    Susan seems genuinely disappointed.
    “You don’t even know him!” I protest.
    “I know, but I wanted to live vicariously through you.”
    “Susan, you can still…”
    I pause. I don’t want to go into unpleasant topics right now, so soon after returning. My brother died nearly a year ago, before Mason was even born.
    I was going to say, “find love, find happiness again,” but we’ve been through all of this before. Susan is still young, and attractive when she takes care of herself, which she hasn’t done since my brother died.
    I want Susan to eventually move on and be happy, but she seems to think that her life ended when my brother’s did. I’m always urging her to date, or at least set up a Match.com profile, to go to classes or get a job or do something that will take her out of the four walls of this house.
    But she says she has no interest in dating. She met and married her true love and there can never be anyone else for her. And she seems to lack interest in any kind of career or even job. She was a stay at home mom, and her whole world seemed to revolve around my brother.
    It’s another reason I don’t want to get too attached to anyone. I would hate to have to rely on anyone like that. But of course I never tell Susan this. She and I are just two totally different people. I love her, but I don’t always understand or agree with her choices.
    “…live vicariously through me,” I finish, changing my mind as to what I was going to say.
    “Well, then, out with it!” she says. “Spill the beans! Give me some gossip. All I had for entertainment during your absence were bad reality TV shows.”
    “All right, but you can’t tell anyone. You must be sworn to secrecy. Both he and I could get in trouble.”
    “Monica! Who am I going to tell? The only people I talk to aren’t even in school yet! And one of them can’t even talk, himself.”
    I laugh.
    “Well, his name’s Ramsey…”
    I fill her in on our Just For One Night pact, that turned into a Just For One Night and One Morning pact, and then a Just for One Weekend pact. I tell her about all the fun we had together and how sweet he was.
    “That’s awesome, Monica! I’m so happy for you.”
    “Yeah, it was a fun couple of nights, but it’s over now.”
    “Yeah right,” she says. “I wouldn’t be so sure…”
    “I told you, Susan. We had a pact. We promised. No commitment. No relationship. You know I’m not the type, and he certainly isn’t…”
    “You’re almost making me laugh, with this talk about some silly ‘pact,’” Susan says.
    I pout, my feelings hurt.
    “Don’t laugh at me!”
    “It’s just such a silly concept. And you don’t seem to be realizing the irony.”
    I stare at her, not comprehending what she means.
    “Maybe you two felt compelled to make a pact because you knew from the beginning that this was something special, and neither of you felt prepared to handle it,” she explains, as if I’m Becky’s age.
    I groan.
    “Susan. That’s not how it works.”
    “Oh, I know. Little Susan the naïve sister- in- law. She was only ever in love with one man. The poor little widow. She doesn’t know how men and women operate.”
    “That’s not what I mean!” I protest.
    “I’m just kidding,” she says. “But seriously. You’re driving me crazy with the ‘I’m not the relationship type’ talk. You have to open your heart at some point, you know? You can’t keep yourself closed off from love forever, just because of what happened with Pete.”
    “This has nothing to do with Pete!” I snarl.
    I can’t believe she’s dragging my last