Starting Now by Debbie Macomber Read Free Book Online

first she’d been thrilled to see him, but then she realized why he was there. He was packing up to move out.
    “Joe?” she’d asked, hardly able to believe this could be happening. Even now she felt her stomach tightening at the memory.
    Her husband refused to look at her. Instead he continued collecting his clothes and personal items almost as if she wasn’t in the room.
    “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “It should be obvious.” He continued to avoid eye contact, intent on carting his shirts from the closet to the suitcase he’d spread open atop their bed. “Nothing’s going to change, Libby. You have your life and I have mine. You don’t want to admit it, so I will. You’ve got dreams, and that’s great. You’re the best, but I’m a regular Joe, no pun intended. I don’t want anything more than a wife and a few kids.”
    “But I thought we agreed—”
    Joe cut her off. “I can see the writing on the wall. There’s never going to be a convenient time for you to have one baby, let alone two or three.”
    She opened her mouth to argue, but he continued.
    “A family would hold you back. I’m not angry, Libby, really I’m not. I want you to have the things you want. But I have dreams, too, and my dreams clash with yours. It’s time we recognized we aren’t both going to be able to have the things we want … at least not together.”
    He was right, and deep down Libby had recognized the truth of it. After a few weak arguments she let him go. It’d broken her heart to watch him cart his suitcases out the door.
    Their divorce was probably one of the most amicable ones in history. Once it was final, they met for lunch and hugged afterward. Libby cried against his shoulder and Joe held her close and tight. Then they broke apart, walking away in separate directions. He’d remarried within a year, a waitress from the diner. Although they were no longer in contact, she wished Joe love and happiness.
    That was three years ago. Three long years. She regretted her failed marriage, and afterward had thrown herself into her career even more. Following her mother’s advice had sustained her through the loneliness and the sense of loss that accompanied her breakupwith Joe. Perhaps she could look back at that painful period after this morning and feel that it had all been worth it.
    “A date,” she repeated. “It must be more than a year ago now. What makes you ask?”
    Robin shrugged.
    “What about you?”
    “Longer.”
    Libby sympathized. “Anyone interested?” Clearly Robin had a reason for bringing up the subject again.
    “A man interested in me?” Robin repeated. “Not that I’ve noticed.”
    “Anyone you find interesting?” Libby asked.
    Robin popped up like a jack-in-the box and headed for the shower. “I’ve got to get to work.”
    So that was it. Robin had a crush on someone. Well, well, well. Good for her. And they were enough alike that Libby understood the problem: Robin didn’t have a clue what to do about it. Libby wouldn’t have had, either. Relationships were often complicated, and getting involved could get sticky. It must be someone in Robin’s office. Although it was tempting, Libby didn’t pry. Robin would tell her when she was ready.
    Libby grabbed her towel and followed her friend into the shower room.
    She was dressing when Robin joined her. “I went back to that yarn store,” Libby mentioned casually, hooking up her bra.
    “Oh? Are you knitting a project?”
    “Yeah.”
    “What are you knitting?”
    “Preemie hats for Seattle General. I knit ten Friday night and ran out of yarn so I went back on Saturday to buy more. I knit another twenty over the weekend.”
    Robin laughed. “As compulsive as ever.” She grabbed her workout bag. “See you Wednesday.”
    “See ya,” Libby echoed.
    Libby returned to A Good Yarn that same morning only to find asign on the door indicating that the store was closed on Mondays. Seeing movement inside, she peered through the