As Good as It Got by Isabel Sharpe Read Free Book Online Page A

cool. I spent some time in a temple in Thailand. Did a lot of self-exploration, a lot of chanting, a whole lot of meditation. Very cool people, those monks. Very cool. They’ve got their heads on straight. A lot straighter than most people in this country, chasing the dollar all day long. That’s a wearying bullshit race.”
    Martha had no idea what to say to him. Men didn’t come up to her and start talking. Go away seemed extreme, but it was on the tip of her tongue. “Right.”
    “What’s your name? I’m Patrick. I work here at camp. Just started this summer, actually.”
    “I’m Martha.”
    “Yeah, right, Martha Danvers.” He grinned as if she was a celebrity he’d been wanting to meet all his life. “Nice to meet you.”
    She wasn’t sure if it was mutual, but she murmured something polite.
    “That’s a great shawl. Is that a prayer shawl? I know be-44 Isabel
    Sharpe
    sides the Jewish faith, there’s a Christian feminist ministry that uses shawls to—”
    “It was a gift.”
    “Yeah, okay. All right. It’s really fine.” He lifted his hands from the rock, examined his palms, brushed them off and settled them down again, staring out into the bay. “It’s so beautiful here, isn’t it? You ever been to the Maine coast before?”
    “No.” She and Eldon had wanted to schedule a weekend away for the two of them farther south, near Kennebunk-port, but it never worked out. She’d been trying not to remember her disappointment, and was further irritated when Patrick brought it up.
    “So what prompted you to come down here by yourself, Martha Danvers? You haven’t registered yet. They’re expecting you.”
    “No. I haven’t.” She wondered if the tall gangly woman, Cindy, had gone running to tell them Martha had disappeared into the woods. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay.”
    “Why not?” He turned to her in amazement, and she saw that his eyes were gray and dark-lashed, and very beautiful.
    Too beautiful for a man.
    “I don’t belong here.”
    He smiled, but sadly, and she saw the faint lines in his forehead now. Mid-thirties. “Everyone belongs here if they’ve lost someone. You lost someone. Why would you think you didn’t belong?”
    She wasn’t going to tell him about the beautiful stylish women or the hope she hadn’t lost the promise of Eldon. He had no right to that part of her. Instead she shrugged.
    As Good As It Got
    45
    “Give it a chance.” He was leaning closer now, and she registered that he smelled like some kind of wood, or grass, something natural and fragrant. “You don’t take any risks, you’ll never end up anywhere but dead and forgotten.”
    She inhaled sharply and struggled to her feet, nearly overbalancing on the uneven surface. “I’m not a risk-taker. I don’t like to—”
    “Hey, whoa.” He rose and put a strong hand on her arm as if to keep her from toppling down the rock face, though she’d already regained her balance. “No one’s going to push you to do anything if you don’t want to. There are a lot of really good classes and resources, but if you want to sit here and meditate for two weeks, you can do that too.”
    “I can do that at home.”
    “Not like this.” He gestured out at the view, islands glowing yellow-green in the sun just starting to lose its brilliance to the late afternoon. “And you’d be cheating the rest of the women.”
    “How do you figure that?” She spoke more sharply than she meant to.
    His hand was still on her arm, and standing close to him like this she could see he was quite tall, taller than Eldon, well over six feet. “You can call me crazy, but I’m really good at reading people.”
    She leaned away. He had a magnetic intensity about him, and this close it was nearly unbearable. “I should—”
    “I can see something special inside you, Martha Danvers.”
    He was nearly whispering, and it made his words way too intimate for her comfort. A flush rose in her cheeks. “Even standing up on the