both running.

"Craig?" she called.

"In here."

She found him in his recliner, the remote control in one hand and his cell phone in the

other. A basketball game was on.

"Thanks for starting dinner," she said as she walked behind him, lightly squeezing his

shoulder. "And laundry."

"How was your day?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Same as always." She rarely spoke about her job. On the few

occasions she did try to share something with him, she could tell he was totally

disinterested. If it didn't have to do with sports, his attention span was that of a tenyear-

old. "You?"

"Short day. I blew off practice. We were awesome last night. I told them to take a day

off."

"Well that was nice of you." She moved away. "Was Angie here? She had band practice."

"Yeah, I took her. She's going to catch a ride home."

"So I'm assuming she didn't give you grief like she did me this morning?"

Craig laughed. "The way I heard it, you gave her grief. My mother said Angie called her in

tears."

Jill sighed. "And what else did your mother say?"

"Oh, the usual. By the way, we're invited to dinner Saturday night."

"Can't wait," she murmured as she left the room.

Alone in their bedroom, she undressed quickly, intending to take a shower before dinner.

But Craig surprised her when he opened the door.

"We've got thirty minutes before Angie is home," he said, his eyebrows rising

mischievously. He smiled, causing his moustache to crinkle at the corners.

But she closed her eyes and shook her head< "I'm not really in the mood, Craig," she said

quietly.

He walked closer. "It's been a long time, babe."

"Yes, I know. It's been awhile since we've both actually been here at the same time."

"So? Is that a yes?"

Before she could answer, his cell rang. He looked at it, then back at Jill. "Sorry, babe, but

I've got to take this."

She shook her head, surprised at the relief she felt as he closed the door behind him. No,

she wasn't in the mood, but that hadn't stopped her before. But for some reason, this time

she couldn't muster the energy to fake it.

And instead of the quick shower she'd planned, she filled the tub with water, adding scents

and oils to the hot water. She lit the lone candle she kept there then turned the lights

down. It was a romantic setting. So before she slipped into the warm water, she locked the

bathroom door. Just in case.

She let the water envelope her, sinking down to her neck and closing her eyes. She wasn't

surprised when thoughts of Carrie Howell danced in her mind.

CHAPTER SIX

"That Howell? The electronics store?" Jill asked a few days later as they walked to feed

the ducks.

"Yes, that Howell, but it's not that big a deal," Carrie said.

"Is that really your husband in the commercials?"

"That's really him."

"Wow. He's attractive."

Carrie shrugged. "He's getting the middle-age spread."

"How long have you been married?"

"Twenty-two years. We seldom see each other, though. I'm certain that's a requirement

for a good marriage. You're never around each other enough to argue. But he's a

workaholic. He has seven stores now. Two in town here and the rest within a two-hundred-

mile radius. He's convinced he has to visit each one personally once a week."

"Wow."

"That impresses you?"

"Seven stores? Yeah, it does. How'd he get started?"

Carrie pointed. "There's Grandma Duck. She's waiting for us." She paused, her eyes still on

the duck. "When we got married, James had every gadget known to man. CDs were just

getting off the ground, computers were still in their infancy and cell phones were about

this big," she said with a laugh, holding her hands apart. "But, if they made it, James had to

have it." She handed Jill some bread then began tossing it to the ducks, making sure

Grandma Duck got her share.

"So that prompted him to open his own store of gadgets?"

"Pretty much. That was before the days of the big chain stores. He made a decent living

but when it became the norm for everyone to have a home computer, that's when his

business really took off. That, and when everything went digital. Phones and cameras. He

was way ahead of the game and he already had a reputation."

"So when the big stores moved in, it didn't cut into his business?"

"Some. But most of his other stores are in smaller towns where the competition is nearly

nonexistent."

"So you don't work then?"

Carrie shook her head. "Not anymore. But it really didn't have anything to do with James. I

was in real estate for years. I had my own money."

When Jill would have asked another question, Carrie turned to her, her blue eyes clear as

they met Jill's.

"You have got to be bored silly hearing about my husband's ascent in the business world.

Tell me what you do."

Again, that sense of familiarity settled over her as she looked into Carrie's eyes. She

smiled before turning back to the ducks.

"I don't even tell my husband about my job, why in the world would you want to hear about

it?"

"Because I'm interested in you."

It was a simple answer said with the casualness of a new friendship. But for some reason,

the words echoed in her brain. Why in the world would Carrie Howell be interested in her?

"I manage an office," Jill finally said. "Tutt Construction. I've been there since I quit

teaching, fifteen years now."

"Oh? You were a teacher? I always think of it as being the worst possible job on the

planet," she said with a laugh. "I don't blame you for quitting. So what does one do to

manage an office?"

"Well, there's the owner, Mr. Tutt's son Johnny who took over about eight years ago.

There's my assistant, who now handles all of the really important things, like making sure

there's coffee in the morning. That leaves me to juggle the accounts and keep them

reconciled, deal with the accountants, deal with the bank and do payroll for the

construction crews."

"You wear quite a few hats," Carrie said.

Jill shook her head. "I've been there so long, I could do it in my sleep," she said. "It's a

relatively stress-free job that brings in more income than my husband's."

"Ouch. That must hurt," Carrie guessed.

"He's a teacher. And a coach," she added. "At Kline High."

"So you were both teachers? What prompted you to quit?"

"I realized I hated teenagers."

Carrie's laughter rang out, startling the ducks as they scurried away from them.

"And now you're living with one. That's priceless."

"Glad you find it amusing," Jill said with a smile.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The inane conversation over dinner was endless and Jill found it hard to keep an interested

look on her face. She'd heard Craig's childhood stories more times than she could count—

they all had—yet his mother continued, droning on and on until Jill felt her eyes rolling to

the back of her head.

"Grandma, tell the one where Dad fell out of the tree," Angie coaxed.

"Oh, I remember when that happened," Craig's uncle chimed in.

Jill looked across the table at Craig, silently begging him to put an end to the storytelling.

He gave her a subtle wink then turned his attention to his mother who had already begun

the story.

Rude or not, Jill simply could not stand it another second. She stood, quietly pointing to the

bathroom. Her mother-in-law never missed a beat.

She closed the door then turned on the water, letting the sound drown out the voices in

the other room. She met her eyes in the mirror, wondering at her irritability this evening.

Of course her in-laws got on her nerves—they always had—but she thought she'd be used

to it by now. The once-a-month dinner party his parents hosted had become so routine, Jill

hardly gave it a thought anymore. But tonight, she simply could not take another second of

it. She sighed, then brushed at the blond hair covering her ears, then fluffed her bangs a

bit. She sighed again.

The restlessness she'd felt all day seemed to escalate as she sat through dinner, growing

with each word her mother-in-law uttered. As she stared into the mirror, she saw the

truth in her hazel eyes and she knew why she felt restless. She didn't understand it, but

she knew why.

It was Saturday.

And as her luck would have it, Monday proved to be a rainy day. She didn't care. She went

to the park anyway.

It was empty.

So she sat in her car, her disappointment nearly choking her as she nibbled at her

sandwich. No, she didn't understand it. How could she become obsessed with a woman

she'd known but a week? What was it about Carrie Howell that drew her?

Lost in thought, she gasped at the urgent knocking on her window. She wiped at the fog on

the glass, her smile matching that of Carrie's as the other woman stared back at her.

Jill quickly unlocked the doors, watching as Carrie hurried around to the passenger's door,