Perfect Timing by Laura Spinella Read Free Book Online Page A

“Isabel, do you remember how you used to swing so high, out in the backyard? I’d come out to the patio and tell you not to because I was afraid you’d fly off and break an arm or worse.”
    “I remember,” she said, recalling the tidy brick house in New Jersey, its grassy fenced yard. The vision came with warmer feelings than she wished.
    “Someday you’ll understand it’s only instinct to keep even your grown-up children out of harm’s way.”
    “Mom, I hear what you’re saying. But Aidan and I, we’re just friends. That’s all. I swear.” And she could swear to this because it was the truth. Isabel bit her lip, hoping the poignant moment might be a softer spot to relay the rest. “Um, since we’re on the subject, you should know. I agreed to go with Aidan, to the gala . . . as a favor.”
    With her girlish figure and hair like Isabel’s but brown, Carrie usually looked younger than her thirty-nine years. Not at the moment. At the moment she looked troubled and worn through. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.” Carrie’s eyes pinched tight, a hand wringing around her neck. “He’s using you, Isabel. Can’t you see that?”
    A week’s worth of clean wash sat on Isabel’s bed and she deflected the accusation by turning away, stuffing socks in her shirt drawer and shirts in her junk drawer. “Look, I said I’d go, and I will. I’ll pay for the dress myself if that’s what you’re worried about.”
    “A wardrobe budget isn’t the issue. But this thought might be: You turned down not one but two lovely invitations to Catswallow’s big shindig. An event you couldn’t have cared less about. What suddenly put it on your to-do list?” She had no reply. “Exactly. You have a lot of self-worth, Isabel. You’re intelligent, incredibly rational about most things. By agreeing to go, consider the message you’re sending to Aidan.”
    Holding a fist full of clean underwear, she threw it back onto the bed. “We’re just friends. Let it go! Maybe if I tattoo it across my forehead I’d convince you!”
    “Only if you’re willing to look in a mirror. Think about how it looks—”
    “Oh, like I give a shit what anybody in this town thinks. Aidan and I know exactly what we are to each other.”
    “Fine. You’re an adult—on paper. If this is what you want to tell yourself.” Carrie walked the scant three paces to the edge of her daughter’s bedroom. “But I see the kind of man Aidan is becoming. Whether it’s some nightmarish betrayal or his ego, he’ll use you until he decides to show his true colors. I love you, Isabel. You deserve someone special, someone who thinks the world of you. Hokey as it may sound, someone who’ll put you on a pedestal for the rest of your life. Is that so awful of me? I don’t want you to end up like this,” she said, swinging her arms wide.
    “I know, Mom.” Out of words and warnings, Carrie retreated, Isabel going back to silently tucking everything away.

CHAPTER FOUR

    Catswallow, Alabama
    S ECOND TO ERIC LANG, AND NOW IN ADDITION TO RICK STANTON, Carrie had always been in love with the South. It was a distant, amorous affair. The kind where flaws were shadowed by wide leafy magnolias and the feel of romanticism was as inherent as the heat. In the days leading up to the gala this was a benefit. Carrie embraced one small town’s custom, in turn, talking less about Aidan. At least Isabel hoped this was the circumstance. The only other possibility was that she was vicariously reliving her past. Isabel had considered this after finding an old photo album peeking out from beneath her mother’s bed. She couldn’t resist, flipping through its taboo pages. Pictures unfolded like a fairy tale, Carrie and Eric as high school sweethearts and at their college homecomings, the military balls they attended during her father’s days in the Coast Guard. There were candid shots from their wedding, her parents slow-dancing into the future. The last picture was