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They were both silent for a moment "No matter what it costs, Linc, we have to leave this apartht, and he couldn’t dispute that The sooner they found a new place, the better

Seven

Rachel wasn’t sure that seeing Bruce was a good idea He’d been persistent, however, and after several conversations about it, she’d finally given in They’d agreed to meet at the Pancake Palace after work When she arrived, a few minutes late, Bruce’s car was already parked out front; he’d probably shown up right at five She wondered if he’d told Jolene where he was going, and doubted he had Bruce liked to keep the peace After all, he’d let his daughter take charge of his life and their e Rachel was astonished that she’d stuck around as long as she had The situation was emotionally unhealthy for all three of them

Rachel parked several spots down from his car, hesitated for a moment, half tempted to flee, and then locked up When she entered the restaurant she saw Bruce i the door He sreet her Funny how a sily She smiled back, accepted his kiss on the cheek and slid into the booth across fro He stretched his arms across the table and clasped her hands as if he needed to touch her "You look fantastic"

"Thanks" She’d taken extra care with her hair and h expectations about thisbetter?" he asked "No problenancy?"

"None," she assured hi okay at work?"

She nodded The past five days, following the fiasco at the salon, had been relatively calm Jane hadn’t been happy with her afterward, and Rachel couldn’t blame her, but fortunately there’d been no further reference to it

One night recently when she hadn’t been able to sleep, Rachel had gotten up for a glass of milk and found Nate in the kitchen They’d talked for alh never intrusive During this conversation with Nate, she’d realized with greater clarity than ever why Bruce acted the way he did He hated confrontation and would do anything to avoid it He coped by ignoring conflicts and tension, by wishing theht between his wife and his daughter She couldn’t fault hi to keep the peace, but his approach didn’t work

"You need to look after yourself and the baby," Bruce was saying

Alicia, the waitress, appeared in her pink uniform with the starched white apron She automatically poured Bruce a coffee

"Decaf for ht up How about a piece of pie to go with that?"

"None foryou She’s the one who could use a littlea smile

Alicia set the coffeepot on the table and started to enuot apple, blueberry, coconut cream and peach The apple’s my favorite but you choose"

"I…" Rachel looked at Bruce, as grinning fro of Alicia’s tactics

"Apple, it is," the waitress announced, picked up the coffeepot and hurried into the kitchen

"She’s al

Goldie had been at the Pancake Palace forever, while Alicia, who’d started there o, was a relative newcoood With all this stress--the pregnancy, the separation, the eht she could ill afford to lose

Alicia reappeared with the decaf and a thick slice of apple pie "Enjoy," she said

"I will" Rachel reached for her fork but didn’t try even a bite She needed to hear what Bruce had to say, why he’d wanted tothe fork, she waited until Alicia was out of earshot "You asked to see me"

"Yes It’s time you came home," Bruce said starkly "You’reso" His voice fell "I worry about you and the baby"

She knew heabout their situation had i by the incident at the ry and caustic as ever Rachel wasn’t wanted nor was she appreciated by her stepdaughter, and her husband wouldn’t deal with the girl’s hostility Rachel refused to return to an environment that was unhealthy for her and her unborn child

"What’s changed?" she asked With great precision, she set the fork aside and studied Bruce

He cupped hiswith both hands and stared down at it "I have" He took in a deep breath "I failed you as a husband by choosing to ignore the obvious I hoped the two of you would work it out on your own instead of doing what I could to help If you co disrespectful"

"Bruce, that isn’t enough I’ to be resolved just because you tell Jolene to respect hter while he was in the house, although she doubted it, but there were plenty of tih revealed his impatience "Okay, tell me exactly what you want"

"I want," she said eet to the root of the proble a counselor A family counselor," she specified "A professional trained to deal with situations like this"

"Okay" He drew out the word

His reluctance was evident He’d said yes to counseling a little while ago but it was obviously the last thing he wanted Bruce had never been keen on the idea of pouring out their personal troubles to a stranger For her part, Jolene had been violently opposed from the first It was one of the factors that had led to Rachel’s leaving "I’ve heard that before and nothing happened I’d et or--"