Her Sister's Secret Life. Pamela Toth

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      When Lily heard the familiar rumble of Wade’s truck coming down the driveway alongside the big old house that she and Pauline had inherited from their parents, she slid a casserole dish into the oven and set the timer.

      After “the guys” had left earlier, she had tried to search the Internet for office space to lease, but she had been unable to concentrate. Finally, she had given up in self-disgust. Cooking normally relaxed her, but not today. The entire time she’d been chopping onions, browning ground beef and boiling egg noodles, her thoughts had bounced back and forth between Pauline’s recipe and her own brief glimpse of her first love.

      Seeing Steve drive by had opened a floodgate of questions—uppermost being, what kind of man had he become and did he carry a grudge against her for the way she had left him?

      When Jordan came into the kitchen moments later with Wade on his heels, she was in the act of transferring cooled brownies from a baking pan into a plastic container.

      “Oh, wow!” Jordan exclaimed, reaching for one without bothering with a greeting. “My favorite.”

      Lily snatched them out of his reach. “You can say hello first, and then go wash your hands,” she scolded.

      Wade inhaled deeply. “But, Ma, we’re starving.”

      “No exceptions,” she said with a firm stare.

      “Might as well do it,” Jordan muttered, crossing to the sink. “She never gives in.”

      Lily set two of the fragrant brownies on paper napkins as they took turns with the kitchen towel. “Just one each so you don’t spoil your appetites for dinner.”

      Lily and Jordan had been staying here with Pauline, but on the first of the month they’d be moving into a small furnished house that Lily had sublet. Even though this grand old Victorian had more than enough room for all of them plus Pauline’s boarder, Lily felt as though she and Jordan were imposing on the engaged couple’s privacy. Besides, Lily wanted to be settled into a place of their own before school began in the fall and she opened her accounting office.

      “Mom, guess where we went?” Jordan asked around a mouthful of brownie.

      She glanced from him to Wade, who suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I thought you were going to shoot baskets at the park.”

      “We did,” Wade replied, concentrating on his snack.

      “I saw two houses being built right near the beach,” Jordan continued. “Maybe we can buy one of them when it’s done instead of renting that other little house.”

      “Oh?” Realization dawned on Lily, as clear and cold as a winter sunrise. She stared hard at Wade.

      “I doubt we’ll be able to afford a house on the water,” she muttered, a ball of anger and disbelief forming in her chest.

      She wanted to yell at Wade, to demand to know what the hell gave him the right to make decisions for her son. To reach over and shake him by his broad shoulders until his shiny white teeth snapped together.

      “How did you happen to go there?” she asked, keeping her voice calm with an effort that singed her throat.

      Wade stared at the knife in her hand, the one she’d used to cut the brownies. “Jordan was curious,” he said. “I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

      “Ah.” Carefully Lily laid down the knife. “Jordan, since you’re through eating, why don’t you go up and change before dinner?” she suggested. “Maybe you should take a shower, too.”

      “Are you going to yell at Wade?” he asked.

      “No,” she replied truthfully, “I’m not going to yell at him.” Maybe rip out his tongue with her bare hands or beat him silly with the wooden spoon she had used earlier.

      Jordan hesitated. “Steve showed me how he and his crew were framing each room,” he said defiantly, “and he told me I could come back again to see how it’s going.” His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. “As long as it’s okay with you.”

      Lily felt like a pot that might boil over at any second. “You and I will talk later,” she told him firmly. “For now, please go ahead and do what I asked.”

      He ducked his head and left the room. “I liked him,” he grumbled as he went through the dining room on his way to the foyer.

      “What were you thinking?” Lily demanded of СКАЧАТЬ