Ultimate Cedar Cove Collection. Debbie Macomber

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СКАЧАТЬ for doing this,” Cliff said as she turned onto the road.

      “It’s the least I can do. You’ve done so much for me.”

      Without missing a beat, Cliff said, “If you feel obligated, then I suggest you think seriously about our relationship—about where we could go.”

      He said it in a joking way and she replied in a similar fashion. “Where we’re going is the airport. Now, would you cut it out?”

      “Probably not. Would you like it if I did?”

      She smiled and kept her gaze focused on the road ahead. “Probably not.”

      Cliff chuckled. “How’s Maryellen?”

      “Wearing maternity clothes now. I wouldn’t have wished this on her, but I’m amazed by how happy she is. She’s very excited about the baby.” She paused, then thinking aloud, said, “I’m pretty sure the father is one of the artists she knows.” Initially she hadn’t intended to, but Grace told him about the conversation she’d had with Maryellen on Sunday.

      Cliff listened intently. “I admire the way you can be open and honest with your daughters.”

      “You aren’t with Lisa?”

      Cliff didn’t answer right away. “Not really. We avoid the subject of her mother. It’s as if Susan’s a phantom woman. I think Lisa’s afraid of saying something that’ll hurt me, although I doubt my ex-wife has that power anymore.”

      “What do you mean?” Although Grace didn’t want to pry, she was curious about his marriage. He’d made occasional remarks, but nothing that gave her a real picture of what his life had been like before the divorce. In a way, information about the marriages—and divorces—of others helped put her own marriage in perspective.

      “I think one of the reasons you attracted me is because of Susan.”

      This instantly alarmed Grace. “You mean I resemble her?”

      “Not in the least. You couldn’t be more different. Physically, for instance. She’s tall and thin, whereas you’re short and…pleasingly round.”

      “Thanks a lot,” Grace muttered under her breath. He hadn’t intended to be insulting, but then a man didn’t understand the effort it took to keep her weight down to “pleasingly round.” Glancing over, she found him studying her with an amused look. “It’s my thighs, isn’t it?”

      He laughed at that. “Too bad you’re driving, otherwise I’d find an excuse to kiss you right now.”

      “You most certainly will not!”

      “Not for lack of interest.” He shook his head. “Don’t you know how attractive I find you?”

      Her hands gripped the steering wheel a bit more firmly. “Just explain that comment about Susan.”

      “All I meant is that you and I have a great deal in common.”

      “What, exactly?”

      “Well, for one thing, I know what it is to have the person you love get involved with someone else. It’s an emotionally damaging experience—as if every inadequacy, every doubt, I’d ever had about myself was true. If Susan had an affair, it was because there was something lacking in me.”

      She merged with the traffic, heading over the Narrows Bridge. She lowered her speed as she drove onto the mile-long expansion bridge. “You mean a man thinks like that, too?” she asked, surprised by the revelation.

      “Of course—but then we do what we can to compensate in other areas.”

      “Such as?”

      He shrugged. “For me, I got involved with horses. I ignored what was going on behind my back because that was the only way I could deal with it. A man isn’t supposed to feel pain, you know?” he added wryly.

      “That’s ridiculous!”

      “Yes, well, I learned that pain comes out one way or another. I think if Susan and I had gone on as we were, it would’ve eventually killed me. She was braver than I was and decided to end our marriage. The funny part is, I was actually grateful.”

      “What does any of this have to do with me?” Grace asked.

      “Oh, yeah—that was the point of this conversation, wasn’t it?” He grinned. “When we met that first time—”

      “You mean when you absconded with my credit card?”

      “You know, I’ve thought about the significance of that a hundred times since.”

      “Finish your original sentence,” she said with mock sternness.

      “That day I came by the library to exchange credit cards, I was strongly attracted to you. I’ll admit it shook me up because I’d been divorced for five years and I wasn’t interested in another relationship. And then, all at once, it was like a bomb went off and I saw the future in a totally new way.”

      It didn’t hurt Grace’s ego any to hear this, although his interest had unsettled her in the beginning. She found herself growing more and more comfortable with it, however. For a long time she’d needed answers regarding Dan, but as the months passed, a resolution seemed increasingly unlikely and she was growing accustomed to that reality.

      “I realize now what attracted me. Or, at least, part of it.”

      She sent him a questioning glance.

      “You believe Dan’s with another woman.”

      She nodded, swallowing down the hurt the words still evoked.

      “You’ve dealt with the emotions felt by someone who’s been betrayed in his or her marriage—what I felt about Susan’s affair.”

      He could be right. In her heart of hearts, Grace was indeed convinced that Dan was with someone else. A woman he’d loved so much that he was willing to walk away from his entire life. So many things about his disappearance didn’t add up, and she had no other answers.

      Grace exited the freeway in Tacoma and took the back road into the airport. The route Dan had taught her.

      “Can I tell you my theory about the mix-up with our credit cards?” he asked.

      She laughed out loud. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

      “Well, to my way of thinking, it was fate. Destiny. Call it what you will.”

      “The waitress at the Pancake Palace wasn’t responsible?”

      “She was merely the instrument of fate.”

      Grace was both amused and intrigued by his theory. “So, we were destined to meet.”

      “Without a doubt.” He sounded convinced of it. “I’ve come to think of our meeting as a gift. A sort of compensation for all the pain that came with the divorce.”

      Grace СКАЧАТЬ