Free A Change of Plans by Donna K. Weaver Page A

bed flicked on. “No practice this morning?”
    I shielded my eyes against the sudden glare. “It’s too rough.”
    She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. “Braedon’s been as mopey as you. Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
    “You were right. He wants more than friendship.”
    “What’s wrong with that? What scares you about dating on a ship?”
    I heaved a sigh and waved my hands. “All of this.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “It’s all a fairy tale.” I sat up, throwing my blanket from me. My eyes burned. “We live in this luxury, spoiled by fine food and pampering servants. All around us are fun activities and attractive people while we visit exotic places.”
    Elle shook her head. “You’re not making any sense, Lyn. If you’re so afraid of connecting with people here, why do you go out of your way to make them feel comfortable and confide in you?”
    “I don’t.”
    She crossed her arms. “Oh, please. All you have to do is talk with people and they’re spilling their innermost secrets to you. You’ve always been able to do that.” She sighed. “Until a year ago. I think it’s healthy that it’s coming back.”
    Standing, I rubbed my pounding temples, remembering how I had felt in the hospital room. “Not in this environment. I trusted a fairy tale once. I won’t do it again.”
    I retreated to the bathroom, undressed, and cried in the shower. So much for the diminishing of my emotions.

CHAPTER 9
    E LLE REMAINED quiet when I came out, slipping into the bathroom for her own shower. I dressed and tried to put on some makeup. It seemed pointless to work on my red nose and puffy eyes, so I blew my hair dry first.
    I didn’t say anything when Elle came back into the room. I didn’t want to talk about it. I felt exposed and tender. She put on her clothes, and I stepped beside her at the mirror to finish applying my makeup.
    “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to push you.”
    Elle had been such a stalwart friend and supporter. She must be tired of me. “I didn’t know my feelings were still so raw.”
    She paused and raised her eyebrows. “I’m not sure it’s—” she stopped herself before saying Jace’s name aloud, “um, your past that’s the problem. I think you’re afraid because you care a lot for Braedon.”
    My chest ached. She was right about him, but it didn’t change anything. It’s not like we would see each other after the cruise. I had been right not to let things go any further. Itwas pointless to take a chance on something that couldn’t go anywhere anyway.
    We finished in silence, and Elle faced me. “We have a social problem we need to decide how to handle.”
    I knew what she meant. The only way for me to ignore Braedon completely was to keep to myself. Elle would never stand for that. Yet I couldn’t subject everyone in the group to the awkwardness between Braedon and me. I sighed.
    “Lyn, you need to tell him.”
    “What, you didn’t tell him like you told Jori?”
    Elle averted her eyes. “Braedon needs to hear this from you. Don’t you think he has the right to know why you’ve been avoiding him? Everyone’s been asking him if you guys had a fight.”
    My stomach churned. I should have done this days ago, forged my way through the embarrassment. Only Elle understood the hell I had been through the last year. And Braedon, he didn’t deserve any of it.
    A year ago, I had refused to admit I was wounded, not saying Jace’s name or allowing anyone else to do so in my presence. Yeah, that had gone well.
    I dropped into the chair. “I’ll talk to him. I would have done it this morning if I could have been sure of a little more privacy.”
    Her expression lightened. “You will?” Elle, the eternal romantic.
    I scowled, my stomach tightening again. “What did you think was going to happen, anyway? That the nice doctor would sweep me off my feet, and we would ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after? This isn’t