Read Online The Man From Her Past by Anna Adams - Free Book Online

pregnant with Eli in high school and had made a bad marriage. “This time, you’re with someone who loves you. I’m happy for you, little sis.”
    “You look happy. A second ago, you didn’t.” She took his sleeve and led him in a beeline toward the concession stand. “You can treat me while I find a table, and after you bring me sustenance you can tell me what’s upsetting you.”
    He took orders from her for the first time in his life. But there she was, all Mother Earth and I-have-a-plan, and he didn’t know what to do next.
    He ordered hot dogs and cocoa, tempted because he hadn’t been able to choke down much of his meal with Cassie and Hope. He took the food back to the table Beth had snagged. “Should you be eating this?”
    “Talk slow, and I’ll eat yours, too.” She unwrapped the mustard-smeared waxed paper and took a bite, sighing immediately with contentment.
    “Cassie’s home.”
    She sat up straight. “Good.” The hot dog went gently to the table. “Her father needs her.”
    That simple, as if Cassie were anyone, not the woman she’d claimed as a sister and the best friend whose loss she’d mourned like a death.
    “Didn’t you expect she’d come?” he asked.
    “You’re looking for a fight.” She returned to savaging her hot dog. “I didn’t assume either way, so back off, brother. She left here plenty mad at both you and Leo. We all lost her because of her father.”
    “And me?”
    “I never understood the way she was with you after the—afterward. I always thought I’d have turned to the man I loved, but neither of us was in her shoes, so we can’t know what she was thinking.”
    “Maybe she should have given me a hint or two.”
    Beth looked up, startled, as she pried the top off her cocoa. “I’ve never heard you say one word against Cassie.”
    “How do you blame a woman who’s been through that?” He shoved his wrapped hot dog across the table. “I don’t blame her now, but I don’t know how my marriage ended.”
    “I was never sure it did end for you.”
    “Cassie doesn’t want to hear that, either.”
    “You told her?” Beth sipped cocoa, her eyes like half-dollars above the cup’s white paper rim.
    A shout and sparks rose from the bonfire at the other end of the rink. They both stopped to inspect the knot of teenagers partying.
    “Last year, I would have assumed Eli was over there, looking for trouble,” Beth remarked.
    “But this year, he’s a happy kid with a good father figure and a little sibling on the way.”
    “Let’s hope he didn’t count on remaining an only child.”
    He squeezed her hand. “Eli will love the baby, and besides, he has Dr. Maria to smooth over the rough edges.”
    “Maybe you should talk to Maria Keaton. She looks like she’s sixteen, but she’s an able therapist. I’m not sure it’s healthy to still want a broken marriage five years after your wife walked away.”
    “Don’t hurt yourself trying to pull punches, Beth.”
    “Face it. You should have moved on and found someone else.”
    “Okay, so I didn’t want your advice after all, but I do have a favor to ask.”
    With a motherly pat on his shoulder, she leaned into the light.
    “You have a whipped-cream mustache,” he said.
    “Hunger is making you cranky. You should have eaten this hot dog yourself,” Beth said as she picked it up. “I already put together a tomato and cucumber salad. I left a roast in the Dutch oven, and I’m going to open some canned green beans from the garden. You could join us for dinner.”
    “A third meal? I’ve wasted enough food already, and I can’t believe you plan to eat again after two of those.” She took another bite of her “snack.”
    “I may not finish yours.” She chewed with closed eyes. “I need the facts. You’re surprised to feel the way you always have for Cassie?”
    “You feel nothing for Campbell?” Her deadbeat first husband had been no one to pine for.
    She shuddered. “But if I lost Aidan, I