US Marshall 01 - Cold Ridge by Carla Neggers Read Free Book Online Page B

pararescuemen.
    But Manny hadn't listened to her in months, and, depending on her mood, Val didn't blame him.
    She sank back in her chair at her small, round table in what passed for an eating area. The kitchen wasn't much bigger than a closet, and the bedroom was just big enough for a double bed and a bureau. She hadn't slept
that
close to Manny in years. Fortunately, she was a petite woman herself-black-haired, brown-eyed and, at thirty-eight, still with a good future ahead of her. If she stopped screwing up her life.
    The living room was kind of cute-it had a large paned window shaded by a gorgeous oak tree, its leaves a rich burgundy color now that it was November. A one-bedroom apartment on a noisy street in Arlington was the best she and Manny could find-and afford-on short notice. At least it was clean and bug-free. If he made a go of his business and they decided to stay in the Washington area, they'd start looking for a house.
    Their son was doing well, and she was off antidepressants.
    Remember your priorities, she told herself.
    She folded up the paper and called Manny on his cell phone, getting his voice mail. "Hi, it's me. I heard about what happened. Sounds hideous. Call me when you can and let me know you're all right."
    There. That was nice. She hadn't yelled anything about being his wife and having a goddamned
right
to know. For all she knew, he could be in jail.
    She doubted he'd call back. He'd given her six months to get her shit together. He'd stick it out with her until then. If she stayed on her current track, he was gone. That was five months ago, and she was doing better. Manny was the same. He was a bossy, stubborn SOB and refused to recognize his own stress reaction to the utterly crappy time they'd had of it lately, but Val couldn't control what he did-she'd finally figured that one out after months in psychotherapy. Twenty years of sleeping with him hadn't quite done it.
    But Manny wasn't responsible for the allergies and asthma that had come so close-so very close-to taking their son's life. Neither was she, but that had taken more months of therapy to sort out, because she'd wanted someone to blame. Otherwise-why? What was the point of a thirteen-year-old boy almost dying from eating a damn peanut? Coughing and choking just trying to breathe?
    She didn't want her son having to struggle for the rest of his life with a chronic illness. She wanted her son to have a chance to be a PJ like his dad if that was what he chose.
    She wanted the Manny Carrera she'd married back- smart, funny, sexy, self-aware.
    And she wanted herself back, the tough Val, the Val who didn't take shit from anyone.
    But Manny was struggling, although he wouldn't admit it, and she was struggling, and Eric would never be a PJ, his choices limited by asthma and allergies so severe he had to wear a Medic Alert bracelet and carry an inhale rand a dose of epinephrine wherever he went. He was on daily doses of four different medications. Even with the promise of new treatments and desensitization shots, he'd never be accepted into PJ indoc-it just wasn't going to happen.
    None of it was anyone's fault. It just was.
    And Eric was doing fine, with a long, good life ahead of him. He would say to her-"Mom, Dad could never be a ballet dancer or a calculus teacher. That's okay, right? Then it's okay that I can't be a PJ."
    Val debated calling him at his prep school in Cold Ridge, but decided Manny should be the one to talk to their son about whatever had gone on in Boston. Whatever was still going on. It wasn't easy having Eric away at school, but it was what he wanted-and, after weeks fighting it, she could see it was what he needed at least right now. Between a scholarship and scraping together what they had, she and Manny were managing the tuition.
Just
managing.
    She'd been such a trooper through those early days of diagnosis and treatment. Supermom. She'd done it all. Manny's work was demanding, his paycheck not optional. When Eric