Only Forever by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online Page A

moment to speak.
    At last Parker met her gaze. “I thought things would be so much better without you,” he told her gruffly. “Instead my whole life is going to hell.”
    Vanessa resisted an urge to take out the brandy she’d used to make fruitcake the year before and pour a generous dose into her coffee. “I’m flattered,” she said in a moderate voice, “but I don’t think getting back together would be good for either of us.”
    “You’re in love with somebody else,” Parker accused.
    It was too soon to say that what Vanessa felt for Nick was love, but his appearance in her life had made some profound changes. “That’s got nothing to do with anything,” she answered. “There is no future for you and me—there shouldn’t even have been a past.” She got out of her chair and went to the back door, opening it to the chilly autumn wind and standing there looking at Parker.
    To his credit, he took the hint and slid back his chair. “If you’d just let me stay, I could prove to you that getting divorced was a mistake for us.”
    Vanessa shook her head, marveling. “Good night,” she said, and she closed and locked the door the moment Parker stepped over the threshold.
    The telephone rang just as she was taking their cups from the table to the sink.
    “Was that The Living Legend I just saw leaving your place?” her cousin Rodney demanded.
    Vanessa smiled, looking out the kitchen window at the lighted apartment over the garage. “Yes. All moved in, are you?”
    “Absolutely,” Rodney replied. “I’ve been painting all day, and the fact is, I think if I close my eyes tonight I’m going to wake up asphyxiated.”
    “If you’re asphyxiated, you don’t usually wake up,” Vanessa pointed out.
    “I’d forgotten how nitpicky you get when you’re tired,” Rodney teased. “Are you going to invite me to sleep on your couch tonight or what?”
    Vanessa laughed. “I haven’t got a couch, remember?Parker took it. But you’re welcome to spread out a sleeping bag and breathe free.”
    “I’ll be right down,” came the immediate response.
    Rodney arrived within seconds, carrying a rolled-up sleeping bag and a paper sack with the name of a favorite delicatessen emblazoned on the side. “Have you had dinner?” he asked.
    Vanessa realized that she hadn’t had anything to eat since the Chinese lunch at Nick’s, and she was hungry. “Actually, no,” she answered.
    Rodney pulled out the cutting board and slid the biggest hero sandwich Vanessa had seen in recent memory out of the bag. Her cousin reached for a knife and cut the huge combination of bread and lettuce, cheese and turkey into two equal pieces. “Share and share alike,” he said.
    Grinning, Vanessa took plates from the cupboard and brought them over to the counter. “I’m overwhelmed by your generosity.”
    “It’s the least I can do for the woman who saved me from spending another night above Jergenson’s Funeral Parlor,” he replied.
    Vanessa put half the sandwich onto her plate and went back to the table. “Someday, when you’re a successful chiropractor, you’ll look back on living there as a growth experience.”
    Rodney dropped into the chair directly across from hers. “You’re trying to evade the real issue here, which is what did Parker want?”
    “I don’t think he knows,” Vanessa confided, dropping her eyes to her sandwich.
    “Damn,” Rodney marveled, “he’s trying to get you back, isn’t he? I wonder how he found out you were seeing Nick DeAngelo. Bet it’s eating him up—”
    Vanessa gazed directly at her cousin. “How do you know about Nick?” she broke in.
    “I saw him,” Rodney answered with a shrug. “I go out with his sister Gina sometimes.”
    Vanessa blushed, remembering that she was wearing Gina’s jumpsuit and wondering if Rodney recognized it. “Then you know him?” she speculated.
    Rodney shrugged again. “You could say that, I guess. I’ve been on a few family picnics—when that