Page 17 (1/2)

Dora felt outrage bubble in her chest; how could Cal be so willing to leave Nate behind at Sea Breeze?

"No!"

"It makes sense You said he liked it there He’s settled Co him till be disruptive for hie And," he added with iive us time to talk Just us We need that"

"But"

"Just for a little while"

"How long?"

He shrugged "A feeeks Maybe a month"

Her mind felt stunned by disbelief that he would think she’d be willing to leave Nate behind for even a feeeks, much less a month Yet, his offer of reconciliation, so close on the heels of the lawyer’s office debacle,Herto reconsider, Dora should do whatever she can to save her ht, Cal We don’t want to just throay our e But I’m tired now My head feels fuzzy and I need to sleep"

"Right Of course I’d better go"

Dora "

"Will you go to see Nate tomorrow? I don’t want him to worry"

His face was all reot a full day of appointed the thin blanket higher around her neck as she felt a sudden chill She looked at her nails They were short and unpainted She couldn’t reer she was still wearing the sli band Cal had not once, in all his arguments, declared that he loved her He’d not told her that he’d missed her, or missed their son

Dora took a breath that exhaled all the angst, anger, and worry that she’d harbored in her chest for too long A change of address was not going to change Cal He didn’t want her back because he loved her That hat she wanted to hear What Cal wanted was for her to et the better deal with the divorce

She deserved better Nate deserved better It was not enough