Barbara Freethy - Some Kind Of Wonderful by Some Kind Of Wonderful Read Free Book Online

dropped the baby on his doorstep late last
night. It was all very mysterious. And Emily was in trouble, so I
helped."

"Emily is his sister?"

"No, Emily is her," Caitlyn tipped her head toward the baby. "Sarah is
his sister."

"Sarah? I'm totally confused now."

"Bottom line, Matt didn't know what to do with a baby. It was after
midnight, and Emily needed someone to take care of her, so I decided to
help. She is beautiful, isn't she? Sweet innocent perfection."

"Speaking of perfection, your mother called this morning. You weren't
here, so she gave me an earful."

"Really? Why?" Caitlyn felt her whole body tighten at the mention of
her mother.

"She feels it's time you pull your head out of the sand and get on with
your life."

Caitlyn sighed. That sounded familiar. Her mother, Marilyn Devereaux, a
brilliant professor of mathematics, had never been one to let the grass
grow under her feet— or under Caitlyn's feet, for that matter. When
Marilyn saw something that needed to be fixed, she fixed it. It was
probably one reason why she was an excellent mathematician: every
equation in her life added up.

While Marilyn's motives were always born out of love, Caitlyn bore the
scars from most of those so-called repairs. Memories of the summer
vacation her mother had sent her on. which had turned out
to be a fat
camp, reminded Caitlyn of just how far her mother's obsession with
fixing could go.

"You don't have to say anything more," Caitlyn said.

"Brian," Jolie said anyway. "Have you checked the calendar lately? His
fellowship ended last week.
He's back, Caitlyn."

"Are you sure? I thought he might stay in Boston." Actually, she'd been hoping he'd stay in Boston,
because dealing with Brian, dealing with
everything that went with Brian, made her very uncomfortable.

"Nope. He called your mother last night looking for you. He was very
surprised you had moved out of your parents' house. Your mother gave
him your phone number, by the way. Is that all right with you?"

"I don't know," Caitlyn said helplessly, not sure how she felt about
Brian anymore, not sure how she should feel. He'd been a friend, a
lover, a fiance, and now he was . . . she didn't know what he was.

"Well, you better figure it out fast, because I think she gave him your
address, too. He wants to see you." Jolie cleared her throat.
"Apparently he wants to get your relationship back
on track."

Caitlyn sank down on the empty chair in front of the desk and adjusted
the bottle in Emily's mouth, grateful to have something to do so she
wouldn't have to look into Jolie's inquisitive eyes. "He's been
gone
over a year. How can he possibly think that he can come back and we'll
just take up where we
left off?"

"I have no idea what Brian thinks. For that matter, I have no idea what
you think," Jolie said pointedly. "The only thing I do know is what
your mother told me. Your parents are very excited to welcome him home,
and they're interested in having him work with them at the university.
He is the son they never had, and if you think they aren't hoping
you'll get back together, you are sorely mistaken. They want
you and
Brian, love and marriage, and the baby carriage. You know how the song
goes."

"Well, I'm not singing that song."

"Because?"

"Because I'm not," Caitlyn said firmly.

"You know you can shut me up with that, but your mother won't give up
so easily."

"Why can't she just let me live my own life?" Caitlyn complained.

"Because she doesn't think you're doing a very good job." Jolie leaned
forward, waiting until Caitlyn looked at her. "I'm surprised she gave
you this much time. And we both know that while you may have moved out
of your parents' house, you haven't completely moved on."

"I'm trying."

"Are you? Because there is that little matter of your blank sketch pad."

"That has nothing to do with Brian. I'm an artist. I can't create on
demand."

"You can't create at all... and I'm not asking you to tell me why," she
added quickly as Caitlyn tried to interrupt.