Page 1 (1/2)

One

Sunshine splashed into the s of the Breazing out at the street and taking occasional sips of the apple juice she’d ordered It was Friday, late afternoon, and she’d come here after work to e to Bruce, wondering how it had disintegrated so fast They’d gone fro last December to separation less than ten months later She turned her head to look in the direction of Cedar Cove The toas situated on the other side of Sinclair Inlet but ht as well have been across the Pacific

Rachel felt she couldn’t go back home to Cedar Cove--to Yakima Street--and yet she had no other viable choice She’d left after the latest arguh Bruce are of the tension between her and Rachel, he’d never adequately addressed it, believing it would eventually resolve itself Oh, sure, he’dwith, or more likely without, Jolene But that was too little, too late Nothing had changed, and, as a result, the stress in their honant, Rachel had decided to leave…for the sake of her sanity and for her own health and that of her baby

She’d lied to Bruce, saying she had a place to stay--with an unidentified friend Instead, she’d checked into a Bremerton hotel

The proble to support herself, which meant she’d need to find an apart was conancy She had severe h That was understandable, considering the tension in the house If not for the baby, Rachel ht’ve been willing to devote all her energy to sorting out the co her the constant reassurance she seemed to require

Since Jolene had learned about the baby, the whole situation had becohter see her as competition for Bruce’s affections, but now Rachel had co another child into the fairl of his undivided attention

What shocked Rachel was how close she and Jolene had been before she married Bruce As a motherless child herself, Rachel had taken a special interest in Jolene, part irl was just six, a year after Jolene’s ht Jolene into the salon for a haircut and Jolene had sadly told her how much she missed her mommy Rachel had been drawn to the child because she’d identified with Jolene She still recalled in vivid detail how she’d felt when her own one to live with her h the years, the closeness between Rachel and Jolene had grown--until she’dJolene’s father To be fair to the teenager, Jolene had wanted Rachel and Bruce to wait until she’d had tiet used to the idea Bruce, however, wouldn’t hear of it He’d wanted theh she’d asked Bruce to delay the wedding because of Jolene’s qualms But by then…the , after firstmore than a friend He was Jolene’s dad He relied on her help with his daughter For years there hadn’t been the slightest indication of ro Nate Olsen, a navy warrant officer she’don hi and Bachelor Auction Shortly after the wedding, Nate was deployed out of state, but noas back They’d been in contact recently and, in fact, he was the friend she’d arranged to ht about e However, by the time he’d asked her to make a decision, Rachel had coly,had e the truth of that old cliché aboutto accept Bruce’s assurances that Jolene would adjust After all, he’d pointed out, it wasn’t as though Rachel was a stranger

But Jolene hadn’t adjusted Whatever affection she’d had for Rachel had changed into passive-aggressive behavior and then escalated to open antagonis to distress her husband, Rachel had done her best to deflect Jolene’s hostility The pregnancy was unplanned, and she’d hoped to keep it a secret for a few ht to tell Jolene That, too, had backfired And it had led to this

The café door opened but Rachel didn’t look up until Nate Olsen slid into the booth across frolanced up and offered hihtly "You okay?" he asked, sounding concerned

"You don’t have to say it I look terrible"

"Not terrible," he said "Just…very pale"

Nate had emailed her when he returned to Bremerton He felt she should know so that if they inadvertently ran into each other, she’d be prepared With everything else that was happening, Rachel hadn’t paid much attention to his email and hadn’t responded Nate was someone she’d loved in the past She was a married woone to the business center and logged on to her e hied a few short eested they meet She’d accepted his invitation

"At my last doctor’s visit I learned I have an iron deficiency" It didn’t help that she hadn’t been able to keep down a ered forher feel too queasy and unco

"I’ot in touch"

"I probably shouldn’t have" Only Rachel didn’t knoho else to contact She couldn’t reach out to her friends; they were the first people Bruce would approach This separation was difficult enough without dragging her friends into the middle of it

"I , call me You know I’ll do whatever I can"

When the waitress came over to the table with a coffeepot, Nate turned over his cera and she filled it

At his words, tears of appreciation sprang to Rachel’s eyes "I know…"

"What can I do?"

She wasn’t sure "Like I said in my e that this fit right into her stepdaughter’s plans Undoubtedly Jolene was ecstatic about having her father to herself again

"So it’s come to that?"

Rachel’s dark hair fell forward as she looked down "I…talked to Teri and she wantsto?"

"I can’t That’ll be the first place Bruce goes I told hiht take Teri up on her offer, but I can’t do that to her She and Bobby have their hands full with the three babies"

"Three?"