Pulled Long by D'Abo Christine

Author:D'Abo, Christine [d'Abo, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781426892899
Google: Pl_nlscYVFAC
Amazon: B005Z1BQKM
Barnesnoble: B005Z1BQKM
Goodreads: 12538242
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2011-12-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The silence of his apartment was oppressive. Ian had ignored all calls, after letting Paige and Sadie know he wasn’t feeling good and wouldn’t be coming down to work today. Neither of them believed him, but they didn’t push him either.

It was the fifteenth of the month and he had a call to make.

Normally, Ian would be able to brush off his anxiety and do what he had to. But after his date with Jeff, he found it hard to simply feel flip about the whole thing. He’d been living with the guilt for years, and nothing anyone said could make him feel better about the situation.

The portable phone was warm in his hand and wasn’t about to disappear because he didn’t want to do this. He didn’t have to make the call—no one expected him to, given the situation. Hell, even Paige had tried to get him to stop, and she was the queen of the guilt trips when she wanted to be. It would have been easy to bury the idea and let it drift into the distant background while he got on with his life.

Instead, he pressed the talk button and typed in the number he knew by heart. It only rang three times before a voice chirped back at him from the other end.

“Livingstone Extended Care. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Shelly. It’s Ian Long.”

“Ian! I was wondering when you’d call. It’s a bit later in the day than normal for you.”

Leaning back against the couch, Ian fought the urge to cry. “It’s been crazy today. You know how it gets, running your own store.”

“You need to come by again and bring some more of that wonderful coffee of yours. The girls are all in love.”

“I’ll be sure to do that soon.” Ian squeezed the phone hard. “Is he able to take a call?”

“Your father has finished with his physio session. He should be back in his room. It’s been a bit of a bad day for him, so don’t expect too much, okay?”

I never do. “Thanks for the heads up.”

“I’ll patch you through.”

“Appreciate it.”

The normal roll of nausea began in his stomach when the transferred call began to ring through. The line rang eight times, nothing unusual given the recipient, before the receiver on the other end was lifted. A muted curse and a sharp “What?” greeted him.

“Hi, Dad. It’s Ian.”

The silence that followed didn’t give him any indication of how the conversation was going to go. Ian took a breath and tried to put as much joy into his voice as he could. “How was your physio session? Shelly said you just finished up. Did you give them hell again this time?”

“It fucking hurt.”

“But are you doing better? How are your arms? The doctor told me you’d been complaining about a sore shoulder.”

“I don’t know why they bother with my arms. It’s my legs that don’t work. They need to work on them. Who is this?”

Ah, it’s going to be one of these calls.

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