“I don’t, either,” I told him. “But apparently I’m second-best now.” It was difficult to maintain my composure. “Does she want to move back in with you? Is that it?”

“No.” Brad shook his head. “She’ll keep her place and I’ll keep mine. We haven’t made any other decisions. I couldn’t do that until I talked to you.”

This was supposed to cheer me up? If so, it hadn’t worked. Brad was obviously deluded about his ex-wife’s motivations. I knew Janice loved Cody. We’d talked several times, Janice and I, over the past months, and she’d made it perfectly clear that despite her maternal connection with Cody, she didn’t want the demands of a husband and family. I was completely dumbfounded by this sudden change of heart.

“I love you,” I said, and my voice trembled so badly it was hard to speak, “but I can’t and won’t play tug-of-war with Janice over you and Cody. You can’t ask me to share your life one minute, and then the next want me to step aside while you test the waters with your ex. I don’t know what you expect me to say.”

He didn’t respond but I could see that his teeth were clenched, his jaw rigid. “I’ll do what I can to switch routes so we won’t have to see each other.”

“Thank you.” I was surprised by how calm I sounded, because on the inside I was crumbling.

“I’m sorry, Lydia.”

I looked away, unwilling to let him witness the pain I was in.

The man I loved turned and walked out of my life. The instant the door closed, I fell into a chair and covered my face with both hands. I took deep, shuddering breaths as I struggled to make sense of what had just happened. Moments earlier, I’d been anticipating our Fourth of July barbecue with Cody…. My heart froze as I realized anew that not only was I losing Brad, I was losing Cody. Sweet Cody, who’d taught me so much about love and what it meant to be a mom.

The bell jingled with irritating gaiety. I dropped my hands and plastered a smile on my face, which became a frown when I saw it was Margaret. I said the first thing that came to mind. “You’re late.”

“I know,” she said, without explanation.

“If you’re going to work for me, then I’d appreciate if you could make an effort to be here on time,” I snapped. “Just because I’m your sister doesn’t mean you can show up for work whenever you like.”

Margaret’s jaw sagged at the unexpectedness of my attack. “Okay, message received.”

I stood and retreated to the back room but the trembling in my hands refused to stop. I had to pull myself together, or I’d be an emotional wreck. Unfortunately it was probably too late.

“Did you get out of bed on the wrong side this morning?” Margaret asked, following me.

I attempted to pour a cup of coffee and couldn’t. Setting the pot back on the burner, I turned to face my sister, certain I’d gone completely ashen.

“Lydia,” she whispered, looking shaken when she saw me. “What happened?”

I opened my mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, a low moan escaped and then my body was racked by gut-wrenching sobs. So much for regaining my composure.

Margaret’s arms were around me in a flash, and it was a good thing because I was on the verge of collapse.

“Lydia, Lydia, what happened?” She paused, staring at me. “Is it Brad? I saw him outside and he didn’t say a word to me.”

I couldn’t make myself speak. It felt as if this was the end of the world—my world, anyway. I’d been so happy, so excited. For the first time since I was a teenager, I felt truly alive and normal. I’d found love—only to discover how fleeting it can be.

“I…need to go upstairs,” I whispered after I’d pulled myself together enough to speak. “Can you handle the store for a while?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.” I retrieved Whiskers from the front window and by chance looked out to see Brad sitting inside his truck. He had doubled over, his forehead pressed against the upper curve of the steering wheel.

Margaret came to stand behind me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and then glanced out the window.

“You and Brad?” she asked gently.

I nodded. “He’s going back to his ex-wife.”

Margaret turned me in her arms, and hugged me close and hard. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered and I’m sure she was but not nearly as sorry as me.

CHAPTER 15

ELISE BEAUMONT

Elise wasn’t in the best of moods when she returned from her knitting class. Her nonexistent class. She’d arrived at A Good Yarn to find that Lydia had fallen ill and the class had been cancelled. Margaret had tried to be helpful, but apparently she wasn’t much of a knitter and had never made socks. She did say Lydia would extend the class by one week, which was only fair. Elise, however, had made a considerable effort to get to the yarn store on time and was sorely disappointed.

By way of apology Margaret had offered Elise, Bethanne and Courtney a thirty percent discount on anything they wanted to buy that day. Elise wasn’t buying anything. She didn’t need yarn, she needed help with the socks and was annoyed that she’d have to wait until the following week to continue.

“You’re home early,” Aurora commented when Elise walked into the house. Her dour look must have conveyed her mood because her daughter frowned. “What happened, did the class get cancelled?”

“Yes, and I wanted to learn how to turn the heel.” She hadn’t mentioned that the socks were a gift for David. She wished now that she’d lingered downtown and perhaps visited a friend or gone to the library. Instead, she’d rushed back to the house as if she had nothing better to do.

That sudden desire to return home worried Elise; she was afraid she was succumbing to Maverick’s effect on her. She did everything she could to maintain the distance between them, but it wasn’t easy. After all, they slept across the hall from each other and shared one if not two meals a day.

Maverick didn’t lose an opportunity to sweet-talk her. Oh, Elise recognized it for what it was. This was simply a form of entertainment to him. She was a challenge, and he was determined to win her over, just to prove he could do it. He might view himself as an irresistible force, but Elise was equally determined to remain an immovable object. She absolutely would not fall under his spell—unlike her daughter and everyone else in the household.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Aurora said under her breath. “Dad volunteered to watch the boys for me while I run some errands, but I’m afraid they might be too much for him.”

“You want me to help?”

Aurora’s eyes softened with gratitude. “If you would, Mom, that’d be great.”

Elise longed to refuse, but didn’t feel she could. Maverick would surely welcome this as another chance to exercise his considerable charm. That man would try to talk his way into heaven, and was probably counting on doing exactly that.

“I’ll let Dad know you’re here,” Aurora said, hugging Elise. “Thanks, Mom.”

Elise went to her room, but kept the door open, which she often used to do before Maverick’s visit. Heaven only knew how long he intended to stay. He’d said two weeks; he’d been here one week already and hadn’t given any indication that he was ready to head out. Each day was agony. She wanted him gone so she could relax and not have to stay constantly on guard.

Sorting through her dirty clothes, Elise carried her whites to the laundry room off the kitchen. She loaded the washing machine and waited until she heard the water running before she left.

As she walked into the living room, she saw Maverick standing there, a boy under each arm. Luke and John squealed with delight and he growled playfully, but stopped abruptly when he saw her. “The boys want me to take them to the park.”

“Then I think you should,” she said formally.

“I will if you come along.”

An automatic protest rose. But before she could utter a word, Luke and John begged her to accompany them. She felt she had no choice, particularly since she’d promised Aurora she’d help out with the kids. “All right, I’ll grab my sweater.”

“It’s not cold,” Luke told her.

Today was unseasonably cold for the end of June, but perhaps to a child who raced and played it was pleasant enough. Elise, however, required a sweater.

Maverick and the children were waiting out front for her. Elise called Aurora, who had a cell phone, and explained that they were all walking to the park, which was two blocks away.

The park was little more than a playground with a few pieces of equipment, an abundance of dwarf cherry trees, several well-maintained flower beds and a few benches. The boys loved the swing set and the slides. As soon as they got close, Luke and John tore off across the freshly mowed lawn toward the play equipment.

Maverick followed Elise to a nearby bench. She planned to sit and wait quietly until the boys wore themselves out. She didn’t care what Maverick did and wanted to groan out loud when he settled down next to her. He watched the kids play, laughing aloud a couple of times and shouting encouragement. She had to acknowledge that he was an excellent grandfather. Although he’d had very little experience with children—as far as she knew—he seemed to have a natural affinity for them. Women too, she reminded herself.

“Don’t you envy all that energy?” he asked casually.

“Oh, yes.” She would answer his questions but had no intention of starting up a conversation.

Maverick didn’t say anything for a minute or so, which for him must be some kind of record. That man could talk more than anyone she’d ever known.

When he finally did speak, she wished he hadn’t. “I was surprised to find you living with Aurora.”

She frowned and gathered the sweater more tightly around her. He knew before he’d arrived that she was living with their daughter and her family. “What you really mean is that you’re wondering why an independent woman like me is pinching my pennies.” She hadn’t heard from the attorney in a couple of weeks now and was beginning to fear she’d never get her money back. Thinking about the situation made her feel angry and ill, so most of the time she tried to put it out of her mind.

“All right,” he agreed, “I am wondering. What happened?”

“I…I’m in the middle of a class-action lawsuit with a developer. I bought a piece of land and put money down on a house after touring the model home. Then the development company went belly-up.” The bile rose in her throat as she relayed the details of this disaster. “Trust me, dealing with attorneys and lawsuits isn’t how I thought I’d be spending my retirement.”

It was embarrassing to admit how foolish she’d been in not investigating the project thoroughly before she wrote the check. If she had, she would’ve discovered that the developer was in a financial mess.

“You can’t get the money back?” Maverick asked.