On the Line Read Online Free Page B

one night he’d had to work later than usual, but he still called me when
he got off to make sure I’d eaten and to see if I needed anything. I told him I needed
a drink and a good movie, and he showed up with a six pack of hard cider and Steel
Magnolias on DVD,” Janelle said with a chuckle.
    “Good man.” Kelsey grinned up at her sister.
    Janelle nodded. “He sat beside me on the couch and placed a box of tissues between
us. He handed me the first tissue as the first tear fell, and I think I spent the
rest of the movie thinking about this man beside me more than I paid attention to
the movie. I think that was the moment he became more than just ‘Nathan, the friend
I’d grown up with’ and became ‘Nathan, the man who . . .’” Janelle sighed, “‘who
filled so many needs.’ He was taking care of me the way Richard was supposed to be
without asking for anything in return. He just . . . he just did it.”
    Janelle looked out the window and remembered all the times he’d just been there the
moment she’d needed him, all the times he’d play with Zach while she made them all
dinner, all the times he would fix something around the house she’d been nagging
Richard to fix for weeks, if not months, after only being told about it once. She
couldn’t remember when or how they’d slipped into that pattern. She just knew that
she’d loved feeling normal for a change. She’d felt, then, that Nathan belonged in
her life.
    If she were honest with herself, she still felt that way.
    “I guess some people would have considered that part of the affair, too,” Janelle
said with a curl of her lip. She hated thinking of their relationship as scandalous,
even though everyone would now see it that way. “But it was still a few weeks after
that before we made love.”
    “And Richard didn’t know?” Kelsey asked.
    “I didn’t think he did.” Janelle looked at her sister. “Obviously, I was wrong.”
    “How long did it last?”
    Janelle tilted her head to the side and looked at her lap. “Six months, more or less.
I found out I was pregnant with Zoe just before Zach’s second birthday. I knew it
wasn’t Richard’s baby, that wasn’t possible. I’ve never been so torn about a decision
as I was about whether to stay with a husband who ignored me or leave him for the
man I loved.”
    “You still love him.” It wasn’t a question from Kelsey.
    “Am I that obvious?” One corner of Janelle’s mouth lifted.
    “Only to those who know you well.” Kelsey touched Janelle’s arm and squeezed. “Does
Nathan know?”
    “I don’t know, I never told him. I had to act fast, before too much time passed in
the pregnancy. I ended it with Nathan and seduced Richard when he got home all in
the same night.” Janelle shuddered at the memory of that night. “The women in this
family do everything we can to make our marriages work,” Janelle said, mocking her
mother’s tone. “You know how I feel about that idiom.”
    Kelsey rolled her eyes. “That ideal has done nothing for us. Is that why you called
it off with Nathan?”
    “As much as I didn’t want to, I didn’t see where I had much choice.”
    “Why?” asked a male voice as the door closed.
    Janelle looked up and watched Patrick stride into the room and directly to Kelsey’s
side. Without a word, he took her hand and then turned his gaze on Janelle.
    “Why didn’t you have a choice?” Patrick expanded on his first question as he leaned
against the rail on the opposite side of the bed from Janelle.
    “Where would I have gone? I couldn’t move in with Nathan while I was still married
to Richard. Kelsey hadn’t bought her house yet and was spending most of her time
in LA, saving up to buy it. Dad would have gladly taken Zach and me in, but Mom probably
would have put us on the street as soon as she could.” Janelle shrugged and smiled
weakly at him.
    “How do you know that?” Patrick frowned, and his gaze bounced between the sisters.
    Janelle looked