Blossom Street. Debbie Macomber

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СКАЧАТЬ me for what?” she asked. “Dinner? I try to help as much as I can.” As she spoke, she drained the spaghetti and assembled the ingredients, stirring in the cheese last.

      “No, I mean, yes, thanks for that, but Mom, thank you for telling me about Bethanne. She’s fabulous! She had a dozen different ideas, but we’re going with the dinosaur motif.” Beaming, she hugged her again. “Until I talked to her, I was planning to take everyone out for pizza and ice cream, and that would’ve been fine. But for the same amount of money, Luke is going to have a spectacular party that he’ll always remember.”

      Elise’s instincts had been right. Busy parents would be willing to pay for a party that was different and specially designed around their children’s interests.

      “Gayle from across the street went with me and she booked a party, too, even though Sonja’s birthday isn’t for another month.”

      “That’s wonderful.” Elise smiled broadly. Opening the oven door, she slid the round casserole dish inside.

      “What’s up?” Maverick asked, coming into the kitchen. His gaze went directly to Elise.

      “One of the women in my knitting group needs a job. It’s complicated,” she said, not wanting to go into the long drawn-out story of why it was so important that Bethanne find employment.

      “Gayle was so excited she called three friends on the drive home,” Aurora explained.

      “I’m so pleased,” Elise murmured.

      “You should be. Bethanne told me this was all your idea.”

      Elise blushed, and wanting to deflect the attention, said, “Dinner’s almost ready.”

      “What are we having?” Luke asked suspiciously. He was the finicky eater in the family.

      Maverick peered into the oven and turned to face his grandson. “It looks like worms and blood to me.”

      “Maverick Beaumont!” Elise cried, horrified he’d say such a thing.

      Luke’s eyes widened with delight as he raced into the other room to share the news with his brother.

      “Better known as spaghetti pie,” Maverick informed his daughter.

      “Oh.”

      Elise smiled and admired Maverick for being so clever.

      “I’ll set the table,” he offered.

      “It’s early yet,” Aurora said. “Why don’t you and Mom collect a bouquet of flowers from the backyard and I’ll use them as a centerpiece. My roses are beautiful this summer.”

      Any other time, Elise would’ve objected and either given the task to Maverick or insisted on cutting the flowers herself. She should have then, but she didn’t.

      Together they went into the backyard, where Aurora’s roses bloomed against the high wooden fence. For their first anniversary David had given her an antique rosebush and year after year it had flourished. Now, on this July afternoon, the fragrance of roses perfumed the air.

      Elise inhaled deeply. “I’ll get the—”

      Maverick stopped her by taking her hand and entwining his fingers with hers. “Let’s just stroll around the yard for a few minutes. Would that be all right?”

      “Yes,” she said, barely recognizing her own voice. “That would be fine.”

      But it was more than fine.

      23

      CHAPTER

       BETHANNE HAMLIN

      “The thing is,” Bethanne said excitedly, reaching for another tortilla chip, “Grant was right.”

      Paul frowned. “Right about what?”

      “About how I should find a way to support myself. He won’t be financially responsible for me much longer, as he’s frequently pointed out. A couple of months ago, he told me to use my God-given talents to find a job. He was talking about childcare and so on, and he meant it sarcastically. At the time I was so furious with him I couldn’t see straight, but you know what? He was right.”

      Paul grinned, and once again Bethanne was struck by the fact that while he wasn’t a handsome man, he was an appealing one, easy to talk to and be around. They’d met for dinner after her first major birthday party, for Elise’s grandson. Because there’d been so little time, she’d had to arrange the party quickly, but everything had fallen nicely into place. The little boys had loved the dinosaur egg hunt, not to mention games like “pin the tail on the dinosaur,” which she’d created herself with Annie’s help.

      “Did I mention I got three new bookings from Luke’s party? I’m also going to do one—a really elaborate one—for a lady I met at the yarn store. They all want ‘my special touch’ for their kids’ parties,” she said. She dipped her chip in the thick salsa before bringing it to her mouth. The most thrilling part of all this was that with her clients’ deposits, she had enough money for Andrew to attend football camp. She’d nearly burst with pride when she handed it over to him.

      “I believe you did say something about upcoming parties.” Paul raised a salsa-laden chip.

      “More than once?” She had the feeling she’d probably repeated the same information a dozen times, but she couldn’t help it. This was the most wonderful thing to happen to her in … years.

      “As the kids got older, Grant used to think all the fuss I made over birthday parties was a waste of money,” she explained. “Who would’ve guessed his wife would make a career of it.” She stopped herself. “Ex-wife,” she corrected. She sighed. “Will I ever get used to saying that?”

      “I don’t know. I haven’t yet.”

      She refused to let that one slip destroy her mood. “I was really glad you phoned.”

      “I wanted to see how everything went with the party.”

      “I’m so happy and excited, and this … this is just great. I love Mexican food.”

      “Me, too.” He reached for his margarita and licked the salt from the edge of his glass before taking a sip.

      The sight of his tongue unnerved her. Bethanne immediately looked away, then chided herself for being silly. But perhaps it was a natural reaction. It’d been so long since she’d made love, she could hardly even remember.

      “Do you miss …” She hesitated to say it aloud, so she leaned toward him and whispered. “Sex?”

      “Sex.” Paul’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”

      They both laughed as if it was the funniest thing they’d heard in ages.

      “Really,” she pressed. “I want to know.”

      He nodded. “Big time. What about you?”

      She СКАЧАТЬ