It's a Wonderful Wife by Janet Chapman Read Free Book Online Page A

sorry,” he said, dropping his hand when she lifted her head to look at him, her expressive blue eyes filled with pain. “I can only imagine how much work went into making them.”
    â€œI spent four weeks just on the island alone,” she said thickly. “Clients rarely ask for presentation models, so the ones I make are usually just rough studies to help them understand the plans. But right after your meeting in February, I asked Stanley to hire a pilot to fly over the island and take aerial shots.” She slowly shook her head. “I lost count of all the individual trees and rocks I made, and I perfectly replicated that stand of pines to the west of the lower bluff.”
    â€œI saw the pines,” he said softly. “The island model was beautiful.”
    â€œAnd the house,” she cried, burying her face in her hands again. “I
loved
that house.”
    â€œAnd I loved what I saw of it. I’m sorry,” he repeated when another shudder wracked her. “Would you like me to drive you home tonight, Cadi? It won’t take me a minute to unhook the camper.”
    â€œI can’t go home,” she said, straightening on a deep breath and using the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her eyes. “I don’t want to see anyone. I don’t even want to talk to them. Oh, God,” she groaned, lifting her hands to hide her face. “They’re all going to be so
nice
.”
    Jesse was back to not knowing how to respond. “I’m pretty sure that’s what people do when someone they care about has . . . had an upset,” he said lamely as he stood up and slowly started backing toward the door, only to stop in surprise when she lowered her hands to glare at him—her mood apparently switching directions again.
    â€œI was just finally getting everyone to stop treating me like a fragile piece of china. My father had had two heart attacks; it’s not like I didn’t see it coming. And now this thing with Stanley,” she hissed, gesturing at the lone balloon bumping along the ceiling, “is going to start the coddling all over again.”
    â€œBecause they care,” Jesse repeated.
    â€œYeah, well, you spend over a year with an entire town giving you sympathetic smiles and patting your shoulder and constantly asking how you’re doing. Or having them tell you to be happy because your father’s with your mother now. Or worse, having them push you to set a wedding date so you can get busy having babies.”
    â€œYou don’t want children?”
    Her glare turned thunderous. “Not with
Stanley
.”
    Undecided if this particular snit was about her fake fiancé’s little perversion or the destroyed models, Jesse simply gave up. He walked to the door, but stopped and looked at her. “Promise you’ll be here when I get back, and I promise that after you’ve eaten enough food to soak up at least some of that wine, we’ll decide whether you’ll get a motel room or sleep on my couch.” When her only answer was silence, Jesse shot her a grin. “But instead of snooping to pass your time, why don’t you play with the slide-outs,” he said, tapping the panel on the wall beside the door. “And see if you can’t figure out how to make some of the walls of my house move when you rebuild the model.”
    As he had suspected she would, the woman immediately zeroed in on the panel. “I prefer chicken,” she said, waving him away as she turned her attention to the slide-out across from her. “And mashed potatoes. And I’ve changed my mind; bring me a Moxie instead of the wine. Please,” she tacked on while pulling her purse onto her lap.
    â€œMoxie? Is that a beer? I really don’t think you should be mixing beer with wine.”
    She went back to glaring at him. “It’s
soda
.” But then she suddenly smiled, although it looked more sinister than