came home from school.”
“He did?”
“He’s … concerned. We’re going out to dinner, and I thought you might like to join us.”
Following a long pause, she spoke in a tight voice. “Mac, I’m almost to Eternity Springs.”
He exhaled a breath he’d been unaware of holding. She’s really going through with this .
“I see. Okay, then.” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “I’m at a bit of a loss here, Ali. What do you want from me during this separation? Are there rules? Do you want me to call? Are we to see each other?” Then, because he was feeling raw, he added, “Are we to see others?”
She responded with a laugh that had tears in it. “Are you asking my permission to date other women, Mackenzie?”
Frustration rolled through him. “I’m confused, Alison. Your children are confused. How are we supposed to fix our marriage if you’re living half a state away?”
“How can we fix it if we don’t know what’s wrong?” she fired back, a bite in her tone. “Unless you’ve had a great revelation in the past nine hours. For instance, have you figured out why you can’t find your way to our bed at night?”
Maybe because it’s the coldest place on earth . Mac set down his drink, closed his eyes, and rubbed his forehead. “This isn’t helping anything.”
He sensed, rather than heard, her sigh. “The governor’s dinner is in a few weeks. Perhaps it would be best if we didn’t speak again until then. I’m angry, Mac. I need some time to cool off.”
“Well, fine. That works for me. I just wanted to know the plan.” He hung up without saying goodbye and sat staring at the phone, feeling as lost and alone as he had the day he walked into the first of his foster homes.
Mac didn’t hear his son enter the room and approach him. It wasn’t until Chase’s hand gripped his shoulder that Mac’s thoughts returned to the present.
“C’mon, Dad,” his son softly said. “Let’s go for that drive. You might want to get a sweater, though. That is too sweet a car not to break it in as a convertible. We’re going topless.”
Topless . The memory of an anniversary trip to St.Barts and a beautiful but bashful Ali flashed through his mind, and he grimaced. Not since that day in an Oklahoma courtroom had he felt this powerless. To borrow his son’s vernacular, this sucked.
Totally.
FOUR
Exhausted, heartsick, and dehydrated from shedding an ocean of tears, Ali went straight to bed upon her arrival at the Angel’s Rest carriage house in Eternity Springs. For the next week she rarely left it.
As a rule, she wasn’t one to lie around feeling sorry for herself, but this time she had no energy for anything more. She slept, then slept some more. When she woke up, she’d stumble to the bathroom, then return to bed and fall back to sleep. Sometimes she’d managed to make her way downstairs to the kitchen, where she scrounged for coffee and choked down a couple of handfuls of dry cereal from the box, but she ate because she felt she should eat rather than to sate an appetite. She didn’t have an appetite. All she wanted to do was sleep, although the nearly constant ringing of her phone made that difficult.
Each of her children called—again and again and again. She didn’t pick up the phone, but she did, finally, send them each a text message reassuring them of her health and asking them to lay off the phone for a bit. Her father called, and since she didn’t have the gumption to talk to him, either, she waited until a time when she knew he wouldn’t be home to phone and leave a message on his machine.
Mac did not call.
Finally around noon, a week to the day following her arrival in Eternity Springs, she awoke with enough energy to thumb the button on the television remote and caught part of a local newscast out of Denver. She paid more attention to the anchorwoman’s outfit—was showing that much cleavage on a morning show really necessary?—than the news until the buxom
“He did?”
“He’s … concerned. We’re going out to dinner, and I thought you might like to join us.”
Following a long pause, she spoke in a tight voice. “Mac, I’m almost to Eternity Springs.”
He exhaled a breath he’d been unaware of holding. She’s really going through with this .
“I see. Okay, then.” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “I’m at a bit of a loss here, Ali. What do you want from me during this separation? Are there rules? Do you want me to call? Are we to see each other?” Then, because he was feeling raw, he added, “Are we to see others?”
She responded with a laugh that had tears in it. “Are you asking my permission to date other women, Mackenzie?”
Frustration rolled through him. “I’m confused, Alison. Your children are confused. How are we supposed to fix our marriage if you’re living half a state away?”
“How can we fix it if we don’t know what’s wrong?” she fired back, a bite in her tone. “Unless you’ve had a great revelation in the past nine hours. For instance, have you figured out why you can’t find your way to our bed at night?”
Maybe because it’s the coldest place on earth . Mac set down his drink, closed his eyes, and rubbed his forehead. “This isn’t helping anything.”
He sensed, rather than heard, her sigh. “The governor’s dinner is in a few weeks. Perhaps it would be best if we didn’t speak again until then. I’m angry, Mac. I need some time to cool off.”
“Well, fine. That works for me. I just wanted to know the plan.” He hung up without saying goodbye and sat staring at the phone, feeling as lost and alone as he had the day he walked into the first of his foster homes.
Mac didn’t hear his son enter the room and approach him. It wasn’t until Chase’s hand gripped his shoulder that Mac’s thoughts returned to the present.
“C’mon, Dad,” his son softly said. “Let’s go for that drive. You might want to get a sweater, though. That is too sweet a car not to break it in as a convertible. We’re going topless.”
Topless . The memory of an anniversary trip to St.Barts and a beautiful but bashful Ali flashed through his mind, and he grimaced. Not since that day in an Oklahoma courtroom had he felt this powerless. To borrow his son’s vernacular, this sucked.
Totally.
FOUR
Exhausted, heartsick, and dehydrated from shedding an ocean of tears, Ali went straight to bed upon her arrival at the Angel’s Rest carriage house in Eternity Springs. For the next week she rarely left it.
As a rule, she wasn’t one to lie around feeling sorry for herself, but this time she had no energy for anything more. She slept, then slept some more. When she woke up, she’d stumble to the bathroom, then return to bed and fall back to sleep. Sometimes she’d managed to make her way downstairs to the kitchen, where she scrounged for coffee and choked down a couple of handfuls of dry cereal from the box, but she ate because she felt she should eat rather than to sate an appetite. She didn’t have an appetite. All she wanted to do was sleep, although the nearly constant ringing of her phone made that difficult.
Each of her children called—again and again and again. She didn’t pick up the phone, but she did, finally, send them each a text message reassuring them of her health and asking them to lay off the phone for a bit. Her father called, and since she didn’t have the gumption to talk to him, either, she waited until a time when she knew he wouldn’t be home to phone and leave a message on his machine.
Mac did not call.
Finally around noon, a week to the day following her arrival in Eternity Springs, she awoke with enough energy to thumb the button on the television remote and caught part of a local newscast out of Denver. She paid more attention to the anchorwoman’s outfit—was showing that much cleavage on a morning show really necessary?—than the news until the buxom
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