Summer's End by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page A

lapsed into comfortable silence. They were almost in Carmel when Kimberly glanced over at her friend and saw the wistful look in her eyes.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
“Is that all? Hell, they ought to be worth at least five or ten cents.” She tried to laugh away her own thoughts, but Kim wasn’t fooled.
“All right. I’ll give you a dime. But let me guess. Thinking about Marc?”
“Yes.” Deanna’s voice was quiet as she looked out at the sea.
“Do you really miss him that much?” Their relationship had always puzzled Kim. It had seemed to her at first like a marriage of convenience, yet she knew it was not. Deanna loved him. Maybe too much.
Deanna looked away. “Yes, I miss him that much. Does that seem silly to you?”
“No. Admirable maybe. Something like that.”
“Why? Admirable has nothing to do with it.”
Kim laughed and shook her head. “Sweetheart, eighteen years with one man looks more than admirable to me. It’s goddamn heroic.”
Deanna grinned at her friend. “Why heroic? I love him. He’s a beautiful, intelligent, witty, charming man.” And making love with him the night before his departure had renewed something in her heart.
“Yes. He is.” Kim kept her eyes on the road as she said it, but she found herself wondering if there was more. If there was a side of Marc Duras that no one knew, a warm side, a loving side, another dimension to the man of unlimited beauty and charm. A human side that laughed and cried and was real. That would make him a man worth loving, to Kim.
“It’s going to be a very long summer.” Deanna let out a small sigh. “Tell me about this client of yours. Someone new?”
“Yes. He insisted on having this meeting in Carmel. He lives in San Francisco, but has a house here. He was on his way up from L.A. and thought this would be a more pleasant place to discuss the account.”
“How civilized.”
“Yes. Very.” Kim smiled at Deanna.
It was almost eight o’clock when they pulled up in front of the hotel. Kimberly climbed out of the MG with a shake of her curls and a glance at Deanna, pulling herself out of the car with a groan.
“Think you’ll survive? I’ll admit, this isn’t the smoothest possible chariot for traveling.”
“I’ll live.” Deanna looked around at the familiar surroundings. In the early days of their marriage, she and Marc had often come down to Carmel on weekends. They had wandered in and out of the shops, had cozy, candlelit dinners, and walked for miles on the beach. There was a bittersweet feeling to being here again, this time without him.
The hotel was tiny and quaint, with a French provincial facade and gaily painted window boxes filled with bright flowers. Inside, there were low wooden beams, a large fireplace framed by copper pots, and Wedgwood-blue wallpaper with a tiny white design. It was the kind of hotel Marc would have enjoyed; it looked very French.
Kimberly signed the register at the front desk then handed the pen to Deanna. “I asked for adjoining rooms. O.K. with you?” Deanna nodded, relieved. She liked having a room to herself and hadn’t really wanted to share one with Kim.
“That sounds fine.” She filled in her name and address on the card, then they followed the porter to their rooms.
Five minutes later Deanna heard a knock at the door.
“Want a Coke, Deanna? I just got two out of the machine down the hall.” Kim sprawled her long generous frame across Deanna’s bed and held out an icy-cold can.
Deanna took a long sip and then let herself into a chair with a smile and a sigh. “It feels so good to be here. I’m glad I came.”
“So am I. It would have been boring without you. Maybe we can even find time for the shops tomorrow when I’m through with business. Or would you rather go back to the city tomorrow afternoon? Do you have plans?”
“Absolutely none. And this is heaven. I may never go back. The house is like a tomb without Marc and Pilar.”
Kimberly thought it equally tomblike with them,