Read Online The Weekday Brides 04 - Single by Saturday by Catherine Bybee - Free Book Online

Mike for the half a day he had with his brother made him want a different life even more. Not that he wanted Mike’s life…just something more.
    Then there was Karen.
    Dammit. He’d almost kissed her, almost tasted the most forbidden fruit of all. His brother’s wife. He’d seen the spark of passion in her eyes, felt the way her body had swayed into his. So he ran.
    Ran back to what he knew. Utah.
    Only as he steered his motorcycle down Main Street and parked it along the curb by the hardware store, he realized how ready he was to move on. Rena’s life was in this small town, Mike had founda life in California, and he didn’t think Judy would stick around when she graduated from college the next year. So why did he stay?
    Family.
    His father had expected him to stay and he had. For a while, he told himself it was because he wanted the small-town life. But now he realized that wasn’t true any longer. He wanted something more.
    Zach slid his helmet off his head and shook out his hair.
    Inside the store, he waved to the kid behind the counter. “Hey, Nolan, my dad here?”
    Nolan nodded toward the back.
    “Thanks.”
    Sawyer Gardner was a strong man full of hard edges and inflexibility most of the time. His disgust about Mike getting married and not bringing Karen home to meet the family brought heated conversations every time Mike ended up in the paper.
    Sawyer tossed a box full of plumbing supplies onto a dolly when Zach walked into the room. “Hey, Dad.”
    Sawyer glanced over his shoulder and kept right on stacking boxes. “You’re back quick.”
    “California isn’t that far away.” Even on the back of a motorcycle.
    “Did you remind your brother of that?”
    “Yeah. I did.”
    Zach grabbed a box alongside his father and helped him stack them.
    “So, did you meet her?”
    Zach swallowed, hard. “Yeah.”
    “And she’s real? Not some made up TV version of a wife?” Sawyer never had approved of what Mike did for a living.
    “She’s real.”
Very, very real.
    Sawyer stood now, looked Zach in the eye. “Are we going to meet her?”
    “Yeah. Mike’s arranging some time off and Karen insisted they finally visit.”
    The stoic expression on his father’s face didn’t change with the news. He simply turned on his heel, pointed toward a box, and said, “Grab that, will ya?”
    No thanks for driving hundreds of miles on behalf of the family, not one word of happiness about Mike’s impending visit…nothing else was said on the Mike subject.
    Although his father’s reaction didn’t surprise him, it still pissed him off.

    Michael cleared his schedule for ten days. Not an easy task when everyone wanted a piece of him. They waited until after graduation ceremonies for the seniors that Karen watched over at the club so they could attend, and then they boarded their chartered flight for a direct route to St. George and from there rented a car to drive the next hour to Hilton. Between the wait at the airport and the rental car delay, by the time they’d hit the highway, Karen was convinced it would have been faster to drive the distance instead of taking a plane.
    Karen used the last hour to talk about their overall plan of attack with his family when it came to their relationship.
    “I feel guilty enough duping your brother. It’s going to be harder with your parents.”
    “My parents are going to love you.”
    “And we’re planning our divorce.”
    “So?”
    “Michael, these are people we’re talking about here. They have feelings.”
    “I know. I would have avoided the interaction altogether if Zach hadn’t shown up.”
    Hearing Zach’s name had dread rolling over her. “You’re the actor, Michael. I’ve been trying, but your family is going to be the hardest to convince.”
    He looked at her over the brim of his sunglasses. “Having second thoughts? Aren’t you the one who insisted we do this?”
    Yes, she had. She watched the landscape as they drove by at seventy miles per hour. “I