Blossom Street. Debbie Macomber

      Aurora sat on the edge of Elise’s bed. “I think we should discuss Dad one last time.”

      Elise’s nod was reluctant.

      “Don’t you want to know if he won or lost?”

      “Not really.” She reached for her knitting, needing something to occupy her hands.

      “He wore his lucky socks.”

      “There is no such thing as luck.” Aurora was more like her father than Elise had known. “They’re simply hand-knit socks,” she said, more sharply than she’d intended.

      “Dad didn’t want you to know.” Her daughter spoke in a voice so low Elise had to strain to hear.

      Frowning, she paused in her knitting and raised her head. “Know what?” she asked.

      Aurora clasped her hands together and stared down at the carpet. “He’s dying.”

       “What?”

      “He has a rare form of leukemia. Don’t ask me to repeat the medical name, because I don’t know if I can even pronounce it. Those afternoons he was away? He was going in for blood transfusions. He only has about a year left. Two years possibly, but no one’s placing any bets.” She smiled sadly when she realized what she’d said.

      “Dying?” It felt as if Elise’s heart had stopped beating.

      “He came to Seattle because he wanted to get to know me and the family while he still could.” Tears shone in her eyes. “He didn’t gamble until that one day, when he entered the poker competition. He swore to me he hadn’t, and I believe him.”

      “But why did he do it then?” Elise demanded. “And don’t tell me it was for my sake, because I refuse to believe it.”

      Aurora shook her head as if she didn’t know what to say. “That’s what he told me.”

      “Dying,” Elise repeated slowly. Everything became very clear to her in those few moments. Her mind scanned the last months. She should’ve understood that something was wrong; in his whole life, Maverick had never been content to sit and do nothing, yet he’d spent hours sitting in the car, waiting for her. She’d accepted that without question, as she had his sudden need to see his daughter.

      “A year …”

      Aurora nodded. “He loves you, Mom. He’s told me that a dozen times, and I know it’s true.”

      Elise swallowed the thickness in her throat. “I love him, too.”

      “I know.”

      Without invitation Luke wandered into the bedroom, feet dragging. He fell into his mother’s lap, sighing dejectedly.

      “What’s the matter?” Elise asked.

      “You don’t know?” he exclaimed. “Grandpa lost.”

      Elise stretched out her arms to her grandson, and Luke slid away from his mother and walked over to her. Holding the boy close, she shut her eyes and mused that her ex-husband was no luckier in cards than he was in life.

      39

      CHAPTER

       BETHANNE HAMLIN

      On a Friday evening in mid-September, when both Andrew and Annie were busy with school activities, Paul phoned and suggested a movie. Bethanne agreed, although he wanted to see a fast-paced action-adventure she normally wouldn’t have chosen. Whenever there were violent scenes Bethanne had to close her eyes. But every time the hero seemed to be facing certain death, he managed to escape. Still, the loud pounding music heightened her anxiety. Could things possibly end well?

      During a brief lull in the action, she thought about Grant. She hadn’t told Paul—or anyone—that she’d run into him in the bank parking lot. The episode had an almost unreal quality to it.

      Bethanne realized with a sense of something approaching sorrow that the affair—and the divorce—had cost him dearly. His children were, for all intents and purposes, estranged from him. Annie talked to her father now and then, but her attitude was more insolent than it should have been. Andrew was still refusing to have much to do with him, despite a couple of attempts by his father to patch up the relationship. Bethanne hoped that in time Andrew would find it in his heart to forgive Grant.

      Bethanne experienced a familiar sadness over the loss of her marriage. Grant had changed, but she didn’t know when those changes had taken place, hadn’t even recognized what was happening. The man he was now wasn’t the man she’d married or the husband who’d stayed with her in the labor room and walked the floors when the children were sick. Perhaps she’d contributed to whatever went wrong. That wasn’t something she’d been willing to acknowledge before. Caught up in her own small world, involved with their children, perhaps Bethanne hadn’t paid enough attention to her marriage. Eventually she and Grant had become strangers to each other.

      Glancing over at Paul, she discovered he was studying her instead of watching the screen. “You okay?” he whispered.

      She nodded, but could tell he didn’t believe her. They went for coffee following the movie—which did end happily. At least the hero had survived.

      They sat across from each other in a booth at Denny’s, and the waitress smiled admiringly at Paul as she brought their coffee. There was a lot to admire, to find attractive about him. The waitress’s smile clarified what Bethanne had been feeling lately.

      “You seem to be deep in thought,” he said.

      “Well, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

      “About what?” Paul asked absently as he reached for a sugar packet. He looked up as he stirred it into his coffee.

      She shrugged and experienced a brief surge of sadness. “You’re not dating anyone, are you?”

      “You mean besides you?”

      “Yes,” she said. “No. I mean, we’re not dating. We’re seeing each other as friends.”

      “Why the frown? I thought that’s what you wanted.”

      “We’ve got a problem, Paul.” She decided to be direct. “We’ve come to rely on each other. I consider you safe and I’m fairly sure you feel the same way about me.”

      He seemed about to argue with her, but had the good sense to wait.

      “If we don’t do something soon, there’s a danger of us becoming so emotionally dependent, we’ll pass up other opportunities, with other people.” Although she made it sound like a possibility, Bethanne feared it was already a reality, especially for him. “I don’t want that to happen.”

      “I don’t, either,” he agreed, but with reluctance.

      “It’s time we went out into the dating world without training wheels.” Bethanne tried to make a joke of it. She wished she’d thought this through more carefully.

      The waitress refilled their coffee and Paul reached for his, sipping it pensively. “Is there someone you want to get involved with?”

      “No, but this isn’t about me.”

      “Then what is it about? I don’t understand, Bethanne. I hoped—I hoped we could become more than friends, damn it,” he said, sounding frustrated. “I was afraid of this. You’re worried about the age difference, aren’t you?”

      “No—okay, a little, but that’s not the point. Much as I care about you, I don’t think our relationship is emotionally healthy.”

      “What’s wrong with it?”

      She didn’t want to repeat everything she’d already said. “Let’s stop relying on each other for a while. I’m not doing you any favors. You should be seeing other women, finding someone who can be everything