Love Will Find a Way by Barri Bryan Read Free Book Online Page B

gave and when you had taken everything I had to offer, you walked away."
    His nostrils flared. “You make me sound like a demon in human shape."
    "Whatever you are, I don't want you trying to tell me what to do. And don't keep coming around offering me crumbs. I am going to make a new life for myself. I don't need you to tell me how to do it."
    He vaulted to his feet. “I really do care about you, Emily."
    "If you had cared for me, you wouldn't have betrayed me with another woman. I have more affection for Boo than you have for me.” She snorted her disgust. “Go back to Susan and leave me alone."
    Visibly shaken, he began to walk toward the door. “You certainly don't paint a very pretty picture of me."
    Never before had she been so brutally honest. On a swift burst of insight, she realized that she had wanted to get those things off her chest for months, maybe for years. Following Robert to the door, she asked, “Shall I have Larry call you?"
    He grasped the doorknob. “Larry?"
    "About another ticket."
    "No, that's all right.” He was looking at her in the strangest way. “I'll manage."
    After much thought, Emily did speak to Larry. She told him Robert wanted another ticket and why.
    Larry's young eyes flashed with sudden anger. “I don't want that woman at my graduation."
    Emily suspected that if she ever wanted to drive a permanent wedge between Larry and his father, this was her golden opportunity. She cast the thought aside. She couldn't be that cruel. “That woman will soon be your father's wife. Don't you think it's time you accepted that fact?"
    "He's going to marry her?” Larry's eyes widened in surprise.
    "I'm sure he will. Why else would he want a divorce?"
    "And you think I should send Dad another ticket?"
    "I think you should accept what is and deal with it."
    Larry seemed reluctant. “Are you sure it's all right with you, Mom?"
    Emily forced herself to smile. “I think it's the thing to do."
    Larry's surprise was evident. “Okay, if you say so.
    Emily tried to brace herself for the trauma of seeing Robert with another woman. For more reasons than she could name, she dreaded that encounter. It would make her an object of pity to her friends and Robert's family. But, she reasoned it was inevitable that sooner or later they would run into each other. Larry's graduation ceremony seemed as good a place as any. She knew it would be difficult, but she never dreamed it would be as hard as it turned out to be.
    Emily was seated beside Kevin in the school auditorium when Robert came through the back entrance with a beautiful young woman clinging to his arm. Kevin reached for her hand. “Steady, Mom."
    Emily gasped, “She's gorgeous and so young.” Susan Barrett was tall and glamorous, with a mane of midnight hair and a figure that could have graced the pages of a fashion magazine.
    Kevin's arm went around his mother's shoulder. “How can he do this?"
    "It's all right.” Emily said. But it wasn't all right. Inside she was dying.
    "He's making us all look like fools.” Kevin's fingers tightened around Emily's hand.
    "Don't let it spoil your evening,” Emily begged, but her spirits plummeted to a new low. Then a soothing trauma took over her mind and body allowing her to function on the surface as a normal person. Looking back later, she would realize that she had been in total shock. It was nothing short of a miracle that she was able to make it through the remainder of the lengthy ceremony without falling apart completely.
    As the presentation of diplomas drew to a close, Emily whispered in Kevin's ear, “As soon as I congratulate Larry, I'm going to slip out the side door and go home.” Robert's parents had planned a family party after graduation. Since she hadn't been invited, she could only assume that Robert would be taking Susan there.
    For once, Kevin didn't argue. “After I see Larry, I'm on my way, too."
    "Aren't you going to Grandma's?"
    "I should,” Kevin whispered. “If for no other