The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks Read Free Book Online

her drink. “I suppose I should go get the cake, huh? Zach has practice at five.”
    “It’ll be hot.”
    Melody stood. “I’m sure he’ll want to bring the Super Soaker. Probably squirt the coach.”
    “Do you need some help?”
    “No thanks. Just sit here and relax. I’ll be right back.”
    Beth watched Melody walk away, realizing for the first time how thin she’d become. Ten, maybe fifteen pounds lighter than she’d been the last time Beth had seen her. Had to be stress, she thought. David’s affair had crushed her, but unlike Beth when it had happened to her, Melody was determined to save her marriage. Then again, they’d had different sorts of marriages. David made a big mistake and it hurt Melody, but overall, they’d always struck Beth as a happy couple. Beth’s marriage, on the other hand, had been a fiasco from the beginning. Just as Nana had predicted. Nana had the ability to size people up in an instant, and she had this way of shrugging when she didn’t like someone. When Beth announced she was pregnant and that instead of going to college, she and her ex planned to get married, Nana began shrugging so much that it resembled a nervous tic. Beth, of course, ignored it at the time, thinking,
She hasn’t given him a chance. She doesn’t really know him. We can make this work.
Nosiree. Never happened. Nana was always polite, always cordial when he was around, but the shrugging didn’t stop until Beth moved back home ten years ago. The marriage had lasted less than nine months; Ben was five weeks old. Nana had been right about him all along.
    Melody vanished inside the house, only to reemerge a few minutes later, David right behind her. He was carrying paper plates and forks, obviously preoccupied. She could see the tufts of gray hair near his ears and deep lines in his forehead. The last time she’d seen him, the lines hadn’t been as evident, and she figured it was another sign of the stress he was under.
    Sometimes, Beth wondered what her life would be like if she were married. Not to her ex, of course. That thought made her shudder. Dealing with him every other weekend was more than enough, thank you very much. But to someone else. Someone . . . better. It seemed like it might be a good idea, at least in the abstract, anyway. After ten years, she was used to her life, and though it might be nice to have someone to share her evenings with after work or get a back rub from now and then, there was also something nice about spending all day Saturday in her pajamas if she wanted to. Which she sometimes did. Ben, too. They called them “lazy days.” They were the best days ever. Sometimes they’d cap off a day of doing absolutely nothing by ordering pizza and watching a movie. Heavenly.
    Besides, if relationships were hard, marriage was even harder. It wasn’t just Melody and David who struggled; it seemed like most couples struggled. It went with the territory. What did Nana always say?
Stick two different people with two different sets of expectations under one roof and it ain’t always going to be shrimp and grits on Easter.
    Exactly. Even if she wasn’t completely sure where Nana came up with her metaphors.
    Glancing at her watch, she knew that as soon as the party ended, she’d have to head back to check in on Nana. No doubt she’d find her in the kennel, either behind the desk or checking on the dogs. Nana was stubborn like that. Did it matter that her left leg could barely support her?
My leg ain’t perfect, but it’s not beeswax, either.
Or that she might fall and get hurt?
I’m not a bucket of fine china.
Or that her left arm was basically useless?
As long as I can eat soup, I don’t need it anyway.
    She was one of a kind, bless her heart. Always had been.
    “Hey, Mom?”
    Lost in thought, she hadn’t seen Ben approaching. His freckled face was shiny with sweat. Water dripped from his clothes, and there were grass stains on his shirt she was certain would never come