Mending Fences by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

and spoiled things for everyone.
    In an attempt to avert a scene, she stood up and walked over to the pool. “Evan, Caitlyn, you heard your father,” she said quietly. “Settle down.”
    “We’re just having fun, Mom,” Caitlyn said, wiping her wet hair out of her face and looking up.
    “You can have fun quietly, ” Marcie said.
    Evan scowled up at her. “Who put you in charge?” he asked belligerently. “We’re in Mr. and Mrs. D’s pool.”
    Behind her, Marcie heard a chair scrape back. She froze, terrified that Ken was about to cause exactly the kind of commotion she’d been hoping to avoid. Instead, though, it was Emily who came up and slipped an arm through hers.
    “Evan, that’s no way to speak to your mother,” Emily scolded gently. “And the decibel level is getting pretty loud. Maybe you guys should take a break and go inside for a while. We picked up a bunch of movies earlier today. Josh, why don’t you make some popcorn?”
    “Sure, Mom,” he said with easygoing acceptance. He immediately climbed out of the pool and wrapped himself in a towel. “Come on, Evan, I got that action movie we missed.”
    Evan gave Marcie one last scowl, but he followed Josh inside.
    “Thanks,” Marcie said, when the kids were gone. “I don’t know why he listens to you but ignores everything I say.”
    “Most kids would rather obey any other adult than their own parents,” Emily said. “I see it at school all the time. They’ll be sullen and unresponsive with their mom or dad, then turn right around and be sunny and polite to me.”
    Marcie hesitated, then asked, “Evan’s never sassed you, has he?”
    “Never,” Emily said.
    “If he ever does, I want you to send him straight home. Don’t tolerate it, okay?”
    “I will, but it’s never been a problem. I swear it. You’re a good mom, Marcie. Don’t ever question that. And both your kids are terrific.”
    Marcie forced a grin. “Do you think if kids are this much trouble now, we’ll survive their teenage years?”
    “Of course, we will. We’ll still be bigger and stronger—for a while anyway—and we’ll gang up on ’em,” Emily assured her. “Come on. Let’s go inside and put together that strawberry shortcake you brought over. My mouth’s been watering since you got here. I love strawberry season, don’t you?”
    Marcie finally relaxed. “I drove down to the fields to get these. They were huge and sweet as candy.” She leaned in and confided, “I had a fresh strawberry shake while I was there.”
    Emily laughed. “If you’re going to make that drive then you have to have a shake. It’s a rule. Maybe we can take the kids down to the Everglades next weekend and go for a hike on one of the trails. We can stop for a shake on the way back.”
    “A hike?” Marcie asked warily. “Won’t there be bugs?”
    “Not this time of year. Just alligators,” Emily teased, trying and failing to hide a grin.
    “Is that supposed to reassure me?”
    “Come on,” Emily said. “The boys will love it.”
    “And the rest of us?” Marcie asked, still skeptical.
    “Will survive by thinking about the strawberry shake we’ll have afterward.”
    “Aren’t men supposed to take their sons on outings like that?” Marcie asked.
    Emily merely stared at her. “Derek and Ken? You have to be kidding.”
    Marcie gave in to the urge to laugh. “You have a point, though I’d pay big money to see it.”
    “Me, too,” Emily agreed, handing her two dishes piled high with shortcake topped with huge strawberries and a mound of whipped cream, then picking up a tray with the other bowls herself. “Let’s go sweeten them up with dessert. Who knows what we’ll be able to talk them into after that.”
     
    Paula, Emily’s favorite coworker at school, had just undergone breast cancer surgery and it had all of the female teachers jittery. There was a sudden interest in breast self-exams and a flurry of appointments being made for mammograms.
    Shaken more