Sunday Kind of Love by Dorothy Garlock Read Free Book Online

back…’”
    Hank didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to.
    He’d heard it all before.
    Myron chuckled, but it came out a humorless wheeze. “You know, I thought ’bout goin’ over and tellin’ ’em that they didn’t know the half of it, but it wouldn’t do a lick a good. People believe what they want to believe. To them, you and me, we’re what they call a…call a…”
    But that was as far as Myron got before finally passing out with his head on his arm, leaning hard against the table.
    Hank sighed. He slipped an arm around his father’s waist and lifted the older man out of his chair. In the living room, Hank laid Myron down on the couch, then pulled a blanket over him, hoping he would sleep it off. Only now, overcome by all the liquor he’d drunk, did his father look at peace.
    Deep down, Hank believed that a lesser man would give up, pack his things, and hit the road, leaving his father to face his demons alone. But Hank wouldn’t abandon him. He just couldn’t. For all Myron’s problems, his son loved him fiercely. He wanted him to get better, and still thought that he could.
    “Get some rest, Dad.”
    Back in the kitchen, Hank looked at his workshop through the rain. He knew he should go back and try to finish that chair, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. His head was a mess, full of too many ghosts.
    So instead, he snatched up his keys. He’d take his truck for a drive, listen to music, anything to distract himself. He couldn’t stay.
    Out he headed into the still-raging storm.

Chapter Four
    T HIS IS ABOUT you and me getting married…
    Gwen sat at the dining room table, dumbstruck. It was as if Kent’s words hung in the air, taunting her, daring her to respond.
    A grin slowly spread across Kent’s face, an expression that, she had to admit, made him even more handsome. From the way his eyes danced, Gwen knew he expected her to blush, cry tears of joy, clasp her hands together, and accept his sort-of proposal. In Kent’s mind, there could be no other outcome. Rejection wasn’t an option.
    Glancing across the table, Gwen saw that her parents were equally expectant. Meredith’s bright eyes lit up the room while Warren nodded slightly, as if he was giving his approval. Gwen knew that this was what her parents had always wanted for their daughter. They had struggled to send her to Worthington and pushed her to make the right choices, all in the hopes that she would have a better life than they’d had. And now, right before their eyes, she was on the cusp of succeeding beyond their wildest dreams.
    All Gwen had to do was utter one simple word.
    Yes…
    But she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
    Undeniably, there was a part of Gwen that had always fantasized about becoming Kent’s wife, yet another part remained cautious. She loved him, of that there was no doubt, but she knew it wasn’t that simple. In the end, it came down to the one obstacle they’d yet to overcome: Kent didn’t want her to become a writer. Until the matter was settled, she couldn’t possibly accept.
    “Kent, I…I think that…” she managed, unsure what, if anything, she should say.
    “I told your father about the Lutheran church on Wheeler Avenue,” Kent said, acting as if she’d reacted every bit as emphatically as he’d assumed she would. “I know it’s a little Gothic-looking, but it’s perfect for the ceremony, large enough to hold all the people who would attend.”
    “And later we’ll have a celebration here in Buckton,” Meredith added. “Something for family and friends who can’t make the trip to Chicago.”
    “A lavish party!” Kent said enthusiastically.
    “I’ll make the best cakes you’ve ever tasted, Gwennie!” her father chimed in. “Everythin’ you loved when you were a kid and more.”
    “For the honeymoon, I was thinking Niagara Falls,” Kent continued, sounding a bit like a traveling salesman using the hard sell to peddle his wares. “I’d prefer somewhere more