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

shore, watching you sitting here alone, 46 Isabel
    Sharpe
    off in your own world. You have a light inside you, a spiritual guiding light. Don’t keep that to yourself. There are women here who can benefit from what you have to offer.”
    She snorted to shake off the stupid part of her that such utter crap appealed to. “I’m a private person. I like to be alone.”
    “Sure. Okay. That’s fine. But you can still give them something they really need.” His thumb moved against the skin of her wrist; she couldn’t tell if he knew he was doing it. “I guess I’m asking you to give them a chance at your healing power.”
    This was absolutely too much. She turned an incredulous stare on him, and was surprised to find his face open, completely sincere. Either he was a really good liar or he absolutely believed what he was saying. A surprise flash of pleasure lit inside her. “I . . . I don’t—”
    “Come up with me. I’ll take you to registration. You can meet Betsy, who is like the Earth Mother of camp. I think you’ll really hit it off with her. In fact, I can see you someday as her assistant here, when you come through the other side of your pain. Most of the Kinsonu staff were once campers.
    I can see you being just that type of person the women here will need.”
    “Yeah. Um. Yeah, okay.” She let him guide her up the path, his hand at her back until the way was too narrow for them side by side.
    What just happened? She thought Eldon was a smooth talker, but this guy should run for God. She’d never met anyone who could spout so much tempting bullshit with such seductive sincerity. Not that she met too many people outside her job at the DOT. No one, really.
    As Good As It Got
    47

    * * *
    Betsy welcomed her to Camp Kinsonu in the plain plank lodge with a long hug, as if they’d been best friends their whole lives and Betsy had lived every second of Martha’s pain with her. Martha wasn’t wild about strangers touching her, and in the last ten minutes she’d had two to deal with.
    “Welcome. We are so glad to have you with us.” She was younger than Martha expected an Earth Mother to be, probably forty, slender, lovely, with flawless skin and teeth, a short mannish blond haircut and a direct blue stare that went on a little too long when she was speaking. She was dressed in a plain white shirt and baggy khaki shorts, and radiated solid, sincere warmth. “You’re in Cabin Four. Here’s a folder with your choices for electives this session, plus your assigned class, the scheduled group and support activities, and information on your cabin’s trip the last day. You are welcome to change the electives, but we do ask that you give us twenty-four hours notice, and that if you skip a session, you let the instructor or someone know where you are. We don’t want to intrude on privacy, at the same time, we are morally if not legally liable for the health and happiness of our guests.”
    Martha nodded dumbly. Mild panic started crawling up her spine. She couldn’t do this. “I’m not sure I’ll be . . . I don’t think I can—”
    “You’re going to do fine.”
    “I can’t stay here.” She forgot to monitor her breath, and if flew up into her chest and heaved there like a bird fighting a net.
    “Martha.” Betsy laid a firm hand on her shoulder, which told her in no uncertain terms that she was, in fact, going 48 Isabel
    Sharpe
    to stay. If that wasn’t enough, the light in Betsy’s blue eyes shone with utter faith. “If you can find the strength to keep going after your loss, you can certainly handle Camp Kinsonu.”
    Martha nodded, fighting for control and calm. She’d stay. Not for Betsy, not for Patrick, but because she couldn’t bring herself to disappoint Eldon.
    Chapter 5
    Ann stepped onto Cabin Four’s screened-in porch and greedily inhaled the soft night air. She would have loved to say she’d come out to become one with the natural world, but she was actually escaping. Behind her in