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After two beers and now sipping a mixed drink, I wasn’t sure where to start "I met Brad at The Pour House" Both my sister and Hailey drew closer "He had less than an hour because he had to pick up his son fro we could have spent half the night talking
"He’s paying extra tiaret asked
I nodded
"You can bet he paid through the nose for that"
"He didn’t say" I looked fro on every word
"What did he say?"
"Not much He asked a lot of questions but he didn’t talk aret shrugged as if that didn’t ies at the day care center "What did he have to say about his ex-wife?"
I had to think about that for a arita My sister possessed talents I would never have suspected For one thing, this was the best lossed over the divorce They were too young and she decided she didn’t want to be married or responsible for a child Not once in the entire conversation did Brad say anything negative or derogatory about Cody’s aret smiled "I like him, you know"
So did I, but I was cautious And nervous
"You told hi cancer?" my niece asked
I nodded "I felt it was only fair"
"Are you going to see hiaze was sharp
"Yes" I took another sip of aritas, and I’d probably be willing to hter I can’t rearet this pleased with me and, silly as it sounds, I basked in her approval
CHAPTER 27
JACQUELINE DONOVAN
"I s everything all right with you and Reese?" Ta roohed and pretended not to hear the question She’d hoped no one had noticed the tension between her and Reese during tonight’s dinner party The mayor and two city councilwith their wives and three other couples
At the lastto check with Jacqueline, Reese had invited Paul and Ta Paul there was, of course, perfect, but Jacqueline had cringed at the prospect of her daughter-in-law sharing her unsophisticated sense of huovern Jacqueline could do about it
Thankfully, the evening had gone surprisingly well, with only one litch The mayor had asked Tammie Lee her opinion of the country club Without a pause Ta but tennis and bridge, dining and whining After a second’s pause, during which Jacqueline wanted to slink away and die, the hed uproariously He said it was theanyone had ever said to him Jacqueline wasn’t sure whether he actually lared across the dinner table at Jacqueline, as if to tell her horong she was about Taht he was
The invitation to their son and his asn’t the crux of their ued; there was no reason for it But Reese had exploded when he learned she’d been accosted and nearly oodness both had been apprehended and arraigned Despite that, her husband had ranted at her for at least tento listen to reason and all because she’d parked the car in the alley He had the gall to claied And then he’d called her stupid
Jacqueline was still furious How dare Reese say such things to her--especially when she’d been doing him a favor! Because of him, her entire day had been ruined She’d missed her nail appointment entirely, was late for lunch and so rattled she hadn’t found a thing to buy on her shopping spree
Other than unavoidable conversation, they hadn’t spoken in five very long days They wouldn’t be speaking now except for the dinner party, which had been planned weeks earlier Canceling at the last ument behind them and assumed their best behavior Jacqueline was astonished that Tammie Lee had noticed
"Did you hearJacqueline into the kitchen with an are and dropped the subject Not Tammie Lee
"You can put those dishes on the counter," Jacqueline instructed "Really, there’s no need for you to help Martha will be here in the uest house in the back Now that she was older, she rarely had the energy for serving dinner parties She wanted to retire but Jacqueline relied on her and so Martha stayed on
"You don’t want to leave these dishes on the table overnight," Taht As soon as everyone had left, Jacqueline would put everything in the dishwasher, a task she preferred to do herself
"It was a lovely party," her daughter-in-law said