Reunion in October (The Calendar Girls Book 2) by Gina Ardito Read Free Book Online Page B

Freckles.”
    I stole a quick glance at Gabriella. How much should I say in front of her? Would she understand? Would it affect her? I attempted vagary. “I’ll call Dr. Herrera this morning and tell her we want to pick out a nice urn for Freckles. Something that reflects how much we all loved him and will miss him. She’ll take care of the details and call me back when we can pick him up. Then we’ll find a nice place in the garden where we can visit him whenever we feel sad. Okay?” All three children nodded, and I pushed myself up from the table. “Okay then. You guys know the drill. Breakfast, showers, school.”
    As they trudged off toward the rest of their day, I couldn’t help the bitter thought that popped into my head. Once again, Roy abandoned me when I needed him most.
     
    ****
     
    Francesca
     
    Friday morning ushered in a cold rain that made me grateful I didn’t have to get up early. There was something decadent about lying in bed on a gloomy day, listening to the rain pelt the window, with no rush to leave my cocoon. The weather also matched my mood. Today, I had to call a locksmith. Then, my mother. Find out exactly what she’d told Michael and why she hadn’t warned me.
    Good God, Michael was back. The realization jolted like lightning. He wanted to pick up where we left off, forgetting the last five years had ever happened.
    But they had happened. I was no longer the starry-eyed girl who’d dreamed of a sunny day and white lace to herald in her Happily Ever After. That poor, deluded fool had perished when her soon-to-be husband determined his career was more important than hers, more important than love and marriage. As if we’d met in the 1950s, when women didn’t have lives outside the home. Don’t ask me why he hadn’t realized I couldn’t pick up and follow him to Oregon on a moment’s notice. I’d never pretended to be June Cleaver, for God’s sake.
    Now, five years later, he comes back because he had a change of heart, and I’m supposed to accept that? Well, just as he hadn’t planned our future in the fifties, he hadn’t returned to the middle of a Disney film. And I hadn’t spent the last half-decade waiting for him to come riding back to me on a white horse. I never asked for a Prince Charming, never wanted to be rescued.
    So what did I want? I stared up at the dark exposed beams in the triangular pitched ceiling over my bed. I wanted to go back to Wednesday, when my most pressing issue was whether or not to call a consult with Dr. Rouch over Mrs. Bernstein’s eye infection. Wonderful Wednesday, before Michael reappeared, before Josh Candolero asked me out.
    Not that Josh was anything more than a good-looking distraction. One date and a few sweet kisses didn’t translate into wedding bells and a white picket fence. Besides, Josh was still, basically, a kid. Not yet thirty, into the dance club scene, and working in Daddy’s business. Fun, but not serious, he’d be a great catch for Claudia. Me? I needed more out of a relationship if I planned to dive into the dating waters again. Which I really hadn’t intended. I liked my life the way it was. No one complained about my work hours, or how often I ran out of milk, or that I stole the covers on rainy mornings.
    Then again, Michael and I had a comfortable history. Up until the day he announced we were moving to Oregon after the wedding, we had always seen eye to eye on the important issues. At one time, I thought that was enough on which to base a marriage. Now I knew better.
    Pick up where we left off. Ridiculous. I punched my pillow and rolled over. Forcing my mind away from all my crazy thoughts, I closed my eyes and willed sleep to return. Naturally, the phone on my nightstand chose that moment to ring.
    On a groan of frustration, I fumbled for the receiver. “Hello?”
    “Hey.” Claudia’s chipper voice evaporated the last vestiges of sleep fog from my skull. “How’d it go last night?”
    “Depends on whose team