Read Online Blackbird Lake by Jill Gregory - Free Book Online

husband’s death in Afghanistan two years earlier.
    Horrible. What was Kevin thinking?
she typed.
He’s messed up beyond belief. I so dodged a bullet getting out when I did. How are you and Evan celebrating your three-month anniversary of dating?
    After she hit send, she deleted the email link to the
Herald
article detailing how Kevin had been charged with felony child endangerment for taking his two older kids out of school under false pretenses and trying to drive them to his parents’ home in upstate New York. Carly had read each word with wide eyes.
    Even worse, he’d been pulled over by the police for erratic driving with the kids in the car and had tested for a blood alcohol level of .09 and been charged with an aggravated DUI.
    That was when he took a swing at one of the cops.
    Kevin’s wife—now his ex-wife—apparently had full custody of the kids and had not given him permission to take the children
anywhere
, much less out of school or out of state. Though out on bail, Kevin was in big trouble with the law. His ex and her new husband were pressing charges.
    Sitting back, she shook her head.
I sure know how to pick ’em.
    A few years ago, reading anything about Kevin Boyd would have set her teeth on edge and had her pacing, unable to sleep, and furious.
    Now she felt zip—except sympathy for his ex and her kids, and a fervent gratitude that she’d found out the truth and escaped when she had.
    But as she lifted the whistling teapot from the stove and poured hot water over the peppermint tea in one of Annie’s delicate flowered cups, a small knot tightened in her stomach. Kevin no longer mattered any more than a pebble scattering under the tire of her Jeep.
    But she still had a problem.
    And it was a biggie.
    What were the odds she’d be able to successfully dodge Jake Tanner during his visit to Lonesome Way? Next to impossible, if she didn’t cancel out on attending Zoey’s birthday party.
    And
if she and Zoey didn’t pretty much steer clear of town until he was gone…
    She took a few slow sips of tea, trying to relax, to remember what calm felt like, when suddenly her cell phone rang.
    To her surprise the caller ID showed Karla McDonald’s name.
    “Carly, I’m so sorry. I hate to ask on such short notice, but I need a favor. A big one. If you can’t help me, I understand, but—”
    Karla’s voice broke. She sounded close to tears.
    “What’s wrong, honey? What can I do?” Scared that something had happened to Denny or one of the kids, Carly’s fingers tightened around the phone.
    “It’s Denny—and his dad…they’ve been in an accident. They were at a meeting, bidding on a construction job in Livingston, and were on their way home. A car ran a red light and hit them….”
    Her voice cracked, and Carly heard a muffled sob.
    “Oh, no. Tell me what you need. Are they all right? Where are they?”
    “Denny’s okay—at least, he says he is. But he’s shaken up. His dad, though—they think he has a concussion. He’s at Long Valley Hospital in Livingston. I need to go there and be with him. I want to make sure they’re both all right. But the kids are asleep—”
    “I’m coming right over,” Carly interrupted. “Let me just grab Emma and I’ll stay as long as you need me. Give me two minutes.”
    “Thank you! I can’t thank you enough.”
    “No need to thank me. I’ll be right there, honey. Hang on.”
    After yanking on a fleece jacket, she tossed what she needed into the diaper bag, then ran to the nursery and eased Emma ever so gently from her crib. She wrapped her daughter in a soft knit throw and headed for the door.
    A moment later she had crossed two sets of lawns and was standing on the McDonald porch. Karla’s face glowed almost as pale as her hair in the hall light after she swung open the front door.
    “Oh, thank goodness. Thank you for coming. I hope I won’t be home too late. I just don’t know…I don’t know if Denny will be able to leave with me or not,