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"I'll give you a call sometime tomorrow afternoon"

"Okay"

Rachel pulled onto the highway and drove toward her own neighborhood, feeling ot hoe

Setting down her purse, she began to slip off her shoes and pushed the Play button on her machine

Nate Olsen's voice stopped her cold, one shoe off, one foot raised

"Rachel, hi I'm sorry I missed you" His words were followed by a short pause "I' if you were, too I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Thirty-Five

On the first Monday of August, Grace Shern for the free ht This was a new feature the library had begun in June It'd been Grace's idea, and the popularity of the event had surprised and delighted her She believed the library should be part of the community, that it should be responsive to people's needs and interests and attract patrons of all ages She always chose a ether That often meant a classic; this week's was The African Queen

Mondays were always busy and thepassed quickly Loretta Bailey returned to her desk and Grace realized her assistant was already back froo If Grace was going to have lunch, she had to take her turn now

She reached into the bottohtened she cahter

"Lisa," she said, recovering quickly "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Hello, Grace"

She was a lovely young woman who reh she didn't resemble him physically

"I can't tell you how happy I a into town like this, since I wasn't sure you'd be here I felt we should talk" The look in her eyes iton?" That was a silly question; she was visiting her father, of course Grace had no idea how much Lisa knew about what had happened between her and Cliff

"Rich and I are here to see Dad I don't suppose you could squeeze in a quick lunch, could you?"

Grace struggled with her coraciously "Of course I can Why don't we sit down for a fewby leaps and bounds," Lisa said, obviously proud of her daughter "Dad and Rich took her into Seattle" She glanced away guiltily "I told them I had a bad case of craested I stay home I wanted to come into town to see you--but that part I didn't share with my dad"

Grace understood how difficult it must've been for Lisa to mislead her father What she had to sayher purse over her shoulder, waved goodbye to Loretta and walked out of the library with Cliff's daughter

They were barely out the door when Lisa spoke with a quiet intensity "I just had to find out rong between you and hed, unsure whether or not she should be grateful that Cliff hadn't said anything to his daughter Then again, , or that she sensed it, anyway

They bought crab salad sandwiches--the Pot Belly's special of the day--and sat down on a park bench near the marina Tourists and locals alike strolled past

"Dad won't tell ," Lisa said as soon as they'd unwrapped their sandwiches "All I know is that you're not seeing each other anyently bobbing in the marina She simply couldn't look Lisa in the eye and explain what she'd done

"Everything's

Her confession was followed by a short silence "That's not what ," Grace insisted "I misled him--no, it's more than that, I deceived him" She refused to minimize her role in their separation If not for her Internet relationship with Will, she suspected she'd be engaged or even married to Cliff by this time

"How?"

Grace realized there was no help for it Lisa had a right to know the truth "I was seeing Cliff and at the same time involved with another man" There it was--the plain and horrible truth

Lisa gasped "But that's what my mother did Now I understand"

"I know, I know," Grace whispered Her betrayal had been unforgivable in Cliff's eyes, a repeat of the betrayals he'd endured during his twenty-year e Grace understood that she'd committed the one unpardonable sin and she accepted responsibility for it

"Are you still involved with this other man?"

Grace shook her head "It was quite a while ago"

"Then why aren't you seeing Dad?" Lisa finished the first half of her sandwich Grace hadn't started hers; she put it in her bag to eat later

She clasped her hands together "Cliff won't have anything to do withtime to reach this point You have a wonderful father, Lisa Although we aren't part of each other's lives any more, I'll always love hi half of her lunch, then crossed her ar, because Dad said almost those identical words to me That he isn't part of your life anymore but he loves you"

"He loves me? He said that?"

"He was crazy about you when he brought you out to meet me last year--and he still is"

"But"

"You have to understand ive his heart easily, nor does he stop loving soers for eave my mother"