Fireflies From Heaven by Rebecca Julia Lauren

back.
    “Stop,” Cora
ordered me. “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t want to go there.   We don’t always have to try and fix me.
I’m not that screwed up.”
    “You’re not
screwed up at all,” I protested.
    “Ellie, you
were hung up on Reed. That’s why you never had ‘normal’ relationships that
women our age have had.   I am
screwed up and we both know it,” she said with uncharacteristic frustration.
    It didn’t feel
right leaving things unfinished with Cora, but I’d learned that not everything
could be fixed over a cup of coffee and the ear of a best friend.   Some problems were like knots, the
harder you pulled on them the tighter and more intense they became, and the
only thing left to do was leave it alone.
    “When you’re
ready Cora, I’ll be here.”
    She smiled. “I
know.”

 
 
 
    I was a little
nervous about what to expect from Reed the next time I saw him.   Would he expect us to pick up where we
left off before Jase interrupted us?   I was excited and couldn’t wait to find out.
    I gave
considerable thought to my underwear before deciding on a lacy black bra with
matching panties.   Since I had
several patients to see before I could go to Reed I’d be dressed in my scrubs
when I saw him, which was good because I didn’t have to decide what I was going
to where and bad because, well, scrubs were about as sexy as a paper bag.
    Trying to
compensate for the scrubs, I applied a touch more mascara and made sure my
tinted lip-gloss was fresh before I went to see Reed.   I also worked a handful of mousse
through my wavy hair, scrunched it and let it dry naturally so that it fell in
soft curls around my shoulders.
    Reed’s handsome
face split into the sexiest smile when he saw me, and my heart squeezed.   He kissed me and my cells jumped up and
did a little happy dance.   When he
took my hand, I thought that Reed was leading me to his bedroom where we’d
spend the night in bed making love.   Instead, Reed led me out onto the deck, and tears pricked my eyes at
he’d done.
    The patio table
was covered with white linen, set with plates and silverware, and in center
flickered candles and a large crystal vase of daisies.   It was beautiful and the most romantic
thing anyone had ever done for me.
    We dined on
grilled tilapia, new potatoes and asparagus.   Reed opened a bottle of wine and we
spent the entire evening talking.   When I told him how romantic he was, he got a strange look on his face.
    “Don’t laugh. I
watched a lot of daytime TV while I was in the hospital, and I got the idea for
tonight from one of those talk shows titled something like, ‘What Women Want’.”
    I smiled.
“You’re telling me you don’t know much about romancing women?”
    “I hope you’re
not too disappointed. On my own I’d probably have gone with beer and barbeque,
but I wanted to do something special for you tonight,” Reed said, claiming a
chunk of my heart.
    I would never
forget that night, and we didn’t even have sex nor did we any of the nights
that followed.   Reed did kiss me a
few times, each kiss shaking me all the way to my core but he never went any
further. I wondered if his leg was bothering him, but when I asked he always
said that he was fine.   He was
lying, I knew, even though he never complained.   I tried to get him to take the pain
medication that he’d been prescribed, but Reed refused.   He said he didn’t like how the meds made
him feel.
      In a few short days, I felt like Reed was
one of my best friends, and I knew that I was falling hard for him. Things were
going great for Reed and I until the day that flipped our new relationship
upside down.
      I’d just finished checking his leg when Isabelle
showed up.  
    “Knock, Knock!”
Isabelle called a moment before she swept into Reed’s living room, where he sat
on the sofa.   I sat on an ottoman
opposite him.
    “Hey, sis.”
    Isabelle hugged
Reed first and then me. “Hey, Brother.