Free It Matters To Me (The Wandering Hearts Book 2) by Wendy Owens Page A

having a fugly hair day and cramps from hell. Spill it, sister.”
    I can’t help but crack a small smile when I hear Anna snickering on the other end of the line. The other end of the line that happens to be all the way across an ocean. Okay, my smile is gone again.
    “You know that book I was working on?”
    “Um, kinda hard to forget it. It’s amazing.”
    “Well …” she starts, her voice practically vibrating.
    “No way!” I shout, the sullen shell of myself falling away.
    “Nothing’s final,” she quickly adds the disclaimer. “But I sent it to my old publishing company and Harry Weingotner—”
    “Big nose Harry?” I laugh.
    “That’s mean. Harry’s sweet.”
    “Yes, he is, and he also is in possession of one of the biggest schnozzes I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing in my life. But that doesn’t matter. What did old Harry boy say?”
    I hear her swallow hard before sucking in a sharp breath. “He said it’s good, like superb good.”
    “Of course, it’s good.” Anna has never understood her potential like those around her. She was the most talented girl in our high school, and even managed to put some of our college professors to shame with her intellect, but if you ask her, she thinks she’s typically average. “Are they publishing it, then?”
    “He’s going to recommend it for publication, so now it’s just waiting to see if everyone else at the office agrees.”
    “Oh, they’ll agree. It’s brilliant.”
    “I don’t know about brilliant,” Anna laughs.
    “I’m so proud of you girl,” I say, noticing one of my sneakers is unlaced. I had thoroughly planned to go for a run when I slid my curves into a pair of yoga pants, but then the couch was calling my name. It’s so rare to be alone at my parents’ house; I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a quiet moment.
    “Thanks, I can’t believe this is my life. I’m a mom now, and Holden, and the book. It’s like I’m just waiting for everything to fall apart.” The excitement fades from her voice.
    “Don’t do that,” I demand.
    “Do what?” she quips defensively.
    “That thing…where you start to think just because Jack screwed you over everyone else will too,” I declare firmly. It’s one thing to get cold feet and call off your wedding. It’s another to walk in on your fiancé screwing the neighbor from across the hall just before your wedding.
    “I guess. But —”
    “But what?” I snap firmly.
    “Nothing.”
    “You can’t help yourself, can you?” I huff in frustration.
    “I didn’t say anything.”
    “You don’t have to. I know you. You’re still sitting there telling yourself not to let yourself get too excited because it’s inevitable something bad will happen.”
    “What’s wrong with that? At least I won’t be disappointed,” she points out.
    “How can you enjoy life when you’re always waiting for it to implode before your eyes? You deserve life in the clouds. You paid your time with that ass.”
    “Come on, Jack wasn’t … okay, he was pretty terrible.”
    “Exactly,” I agree.
    “Okay, you’re right, I want to focus on the positivity happening. No more talk about something going bad. How are things in your life?” she questions, and I gulp anxiously at her question.
    Here it is, the chance for me to tell her that I’m grabbing life by the horns just like she did. She can’t fault me for that, right? I open my mouth, “just having fun being young and dumb.” What the hell, Kenzie? I ask myself, thoroughly disappointed in my cowardice.
    “Oh yeah?” She eagerly presses for details. “Hanging out in the clouds a bit yourself these days, huh?”
    “You know that’s not for me. I like it on the ground,” I answer, giving up on the tea and moving into the kitchen to dump it down the sink.
    “Since when?” she asks, and I can imagine her skeptical glare. I don’t answer. This apparently gives her a license to dig deeper. “Are you talking to Ben