Read Online Marriage Seasons 01 - It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman, Catherine Palmer - Free Book Online

head down to the lake and wet a line,
Brenda. I haven't been home early in a while, and Charlie Moore
tells me the crappie are really biting these days."
    "Nice to meet you, Steve," Nick said. "You've built yourself a
great reputation here at the lake. I wouldn't be surprised if you got
the Realtor of the Year award at the banquet this Christmas. Congratulations."
    Steve nodded to acknowledge the compliment; then he hurried
toward the bedroom. He could hear the excitement return to
Brenda's voice when she began conversing with the handyman again. Well, if it made her happy to pot, sew, and paint, then that
was all right. Maybe she would get back to normal eventually.

    In fact, now that Steve recalled the situation, Brenda had looked
like her old self today. Maybe even better. He decided to revise his
plan and only fish for a little while. If Brenda was happy about the
basement remodeling, maybe she wouldn't push him away in bed
again tonight. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more Steve
felt sure good things were right around the bend.

    Brenda sat cross-legged on the floor of the basement and looked
around her as the cat curled up in her lap. It might be okay. Fixing
up this room-banishing memories and starting afresh-could be
the start of those dreams she had envisioned would fill her empty
nest. Discouragement and confusion had waylaid her in the fall,
but it was almost spring now, and maybe this remodeling project
was the answer to her prayers. For weeks, maybe even months, she
had been asking God to give her some kind of direction in life.
    Brenda missed the kids so much. She had taken great satisfaction in guiding them from infancy to adulthood. Ballet, cheerleading, soccer, football, school plays, the church youth groupBrenda had participated in everything that had interested her children. She had worked on homecoming floats, sewed costumes,
dried tears, bandaged cuts, baked well over fifty birthday cakes,
and endured endless sleepovers. If not driving the kids from one
event to another, she had stayed busy behind the scenes or cheering from the sidelines. After they left last fall-the last of them off
to college at last-she had hardly been able to go down into the
quiet, echoing basement.
    But as desperately as she missed the kids, as much as she grieved
over her quiet, empty house, she knew she could have borne it if
only Steve were here to go through the transition with her. Surely
he must miss their children too. And yet just when Brenda needed him the most, just when she thought they could rediscover who
they were as husband and wife, Steve had deserted her too.

    Ever since he bought the new office building and hired a staff,
her husband had turned into a walking zombie. Wearing a blank
expression, he left the house every morning just after seven. Pale,
frowning, tense all the time, he usually appeared at some late hour
of the evening. He rarely called home and then it was to ask if
Brenda had heard from the kids or to tell her he would be late
again. If she didn't know how focused he was on his work, she
might have thought her husband was having an affair.
    Then Cody had magically appeared at the house, and somehow
he began to fill the hole in her heart. Since he had fled, she worried
about him constantly, but no one in Deepwater Cove had seen him
again. With her children and Cody gone, what did Brenda have
left? Who was she?
    And then today, Nick LeClair had showed up. With his cheerful
smile and warm blue eyes, Brenda liked the man immediately. It
was one thing to build houses based on an architect's plan. Or to
sell houses that someone else had built, as Steve did. But Nick had
vision. He could see past the sagging sectional sofa, the popcornembedded area rug, the TV set, the shelves lined with sports
trophies, the bulletin boards covered with blue ribbons and prom
photographs. And what he saw was Brenda.
    Why couldn't Steve be that way? They'd been