Page 43 (1/2)
The kid was aive you the recipe?"
"Ah…"
"You’ve been talking long distance again"
"Mom, we haven’t seen each other in…forever We’re friends You can’t separate us like this and not expect us to talk But don’t worry, we’ve been taking turns calling each other, and we only discuss the things that are ht," Karen answered
"You don’t happen to have Paula’s number on speed dial, do you?"
"Yes, why?"
So that explained how she happened to reach Thom when she’d dialed her mother "Never mind"
The draperies flew back into place "Dad’s here," Karen said, grabbed her overnight bag, and fleard the door Her hand was on the knob when Maureen stopped her
"I’ll go out with you I want to talk to him," she said, and reached for her sweater
Karen cast her mother a wide-eyed appeal She bit into her lower lip, then said, "Mom, please don’t do this"
"All I want to do is talk," Maureen assured her
Karen groaned
Maureen ignored her and stepped outside Brian had parked at the curb and was standing next to his car
He eyed her wearily "Maureen"
"Brian" She buried her hands deep inside the sweater pockets
"I suppose you’re wondering what ti?"
"Yeah" That was as good a place to start their conversation as any
"Is ten too late?" he wanted to know
"That’ll be fine"
"Can we go now?" Karen asked, apparently eager to be on her way Maureen couldn’t blaiven the situation
"In a et in the car if you want" Brian looked at Maureen as if he half expected her to challenge him
"I won’t keep you, but--"
"I appreciate it" His hand was on the car, and he was ready to turn away
"Brian," she said quickly The rest of the words were so thick in her throat, she didn’t know if she could ever get them out
"What now?" he deh that you pesterto tell you," she said "So important"
"What? That you’ve hired a new attorney? I suppose you’re going to ask for a raise in your child support payot all night"
"All right" She gathered her composure "Basically, I want you to know that I’ht the moon afforded, Maureen could read her ex-husband’s confusion "Sorry? What the hell for?"
Actually, she wasn’t sure where to start "Everything, I guess I made the divorce more difficult and painful than it needed to be And since then I’ve done whatever I could to ht onto one leg, "you ht say that"
"The problem was, in the process IKaren and ot about living ret that"
"You don’t hate h he weren’t sure he should believe her
"No I can’t afford the luxury"
He laughed as though amazed "You know, Maureen, you were always a beautiful woman"
"Thank you I fell in love with you once You’re Karen’s father, and if for nothing else, I’ll always be grateful to you for fathering her"
"You know, I’ a job now and again, but there are a hell of a lot worse men in this world"
"That’s true Now shall we call a truce?" she asked
"A truce?"
She held out her hand to hih he were afraid it was all a trick and so would soon explode in his face
"Since we can’t be ood parents to Karen," Maureen suggested "And ht even discover we can be civil to each other again"