Bride Quartet Collection by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

herself business was business and picked up. “Mac Photography at Vows.”
    “Mackensie.”
    Mac instantly closed her eyes, mimed stabbing herself in the head. Why didn’t she learn to check the readout, even on the business line? “Mom.”
    “You haven’t answered any of my calls.”
    “I’ve been working. I told you I’d be swamped this week. Mom, I’ve asked you not to call on the business line.”
    “You answered, didn’t you? Which is more than you did the other three times I called.”
    “Sorry.” Just roll with it, Mac told herself. Rolling with it might get it over with quicker since there was no point in telling her mother she didn’t have time to chat during work hours.
    “So, how was your New Year’s?” she asked her mother.
    There was a single catchy breath that warned Mac a storm was coming.
    “I broke up with Martin, which I’d have told you if you’d bothered to answer my calls. It was a horrible night. Horrible, Mac.” The catchy breath became thick with tears. “I’ve been devastated for days.”
    Martin, Martin . . . She wasn’t sure she could conjure a clear picture of the current ex-boyfriend. “I’m sorry to hear that. Holiday breakups are tough, but I guess you could look at it as starting the new year with a fresh slate.”
    “ How? You know how I loved Martin! I’m forty-two years old, alone and completely shattered.”
    Forty-seven, Mac corrected. But what was five years between mother and daughter? At her desk, Mac rubbed her temple. “You broke up with him, right?”
    “What difference does it make? It’s over. It’s over, and I was crazy about him. Now I’m alone again. We had a terrible fight, and he was unreasonable and mean. He called me selfish . And overly emotional, and oh, other awful things. What else could I do but break it off? He wasn’t the man I thought he was.”
    “Mmmm. Has Eloisa gone back to school?” she asked, hoping to switch the topic to her half sister.
    “Yesterday. She just left me here in this state, when I can barely get out of bed in the morning. I have two daughters. I devoted myself to my girls, and neither of them will make the effort to support me when I’m emotionally shattered.”
    Since her head was already starting to throb, Mac leaned over to lightly bang it against her desk. “The semester’s starting. She has to go back. Maybe Milton—”
    “Martin.”
    “Right, maybe he’ll apologize, then—”
    “It’s over. There’s no going back. I’d never forgive a man who treated me so shabbily. What I need is to heal, to find myself again. I need some me time, some quiet, a place to detox from the stress of this ugly situation. I’ve booked myself a week at a spa in Florida. It’s just what I need. To get away, out of this awful cold, away from the memories and the pain. I need three thousand dollars.”
    “Three—Mom, you can’t expect me to cough up three grand so you can go get facials in Florida because you’re pissed at Marvin.”
    “Martin, damn it, and it’s the least you can do. If I needed medical treatment would you quibble about paying the hospital? I have to go. It’s already booked.”
    “Didn’t Grandma send you money last month? An early Christmas—”
    “I had expenses. I bought that horrible man a TAG Heuer, a limited edition, for Christmas. How was I to know he’d turn into a monster?”
    She began to weep, pitifully.
    “You should ask for it back. Or—”
    “I would never be so tacky. I don’t want the damn watch, or him. I want to get away.”
    “Fine. Go somewhere you can afford, or—”
    “I need the spa. Obviously, I’m strapped financially after all the holiday expenses, and I need your help. Your business is doing very well, as you’re always happy to tell me. I need three thousand dollars, Mackensie.”
    “Like you needed another two last summer so you and El could have a week at the beach? And—”
    Linda burst into tears again. This time Mac didn’t beat her head