Promises Under the Peach Tree (Harlequin Superromance) Read Online Free Page A

marriage disintegrated.
    “It can’t be too late. Why don’t you take off for a week or two? Plan a getaway with just you and Bethany and see if you can work things out?”
    “I’m not sure we should leave Ally now when she’s having such a rough go of it. Plus, I can’t leave town with the festival coming up—”
    “First of all, screw the festival.” Mack grabbed the nearby tire swing and wrapped his arms around it to steady the old truck tire. “I’ll take care of whatever needs doing there. And as for Ally, don’t you think it would go a long way toward helping her problems if you and Bethany got back on stable ground? You’ve got to work on the marriage first.”
    “Like you did with Jenny?”
    Mack nearly spewed his drink but ended up just coughing instead. He set the beer on the ground.
    “That’s a low blow.”
    “That didn’t come out right.” He swiped an impatient hand through the air. “I just mean, you ended that marriage after three years. Something must have told you it was over. How...” Scott scraped the toe of his boot through the patch of grass beneath the tree. “How did you know for sure there was nothing left?”
    Nina.
    Her name flashed in his brain but he wasn’t about to share that vague, ill-timed thought. As much as the sight of her had stirred his attraction to her today, that attraction had been tempered by resentment.
    And he hadn’t been pining for Nina during his marriage. If Jenny hadn’t walked, he’d still be married and he would have turned the car around today to make damn sure Nina stayed out of his mind.
    “Jenny made the decision, not me.” He lifted a boot to rest on the inside of the truck tire, the weight of his foot shaking free a few leaves from the oak to rain down around them. “I’m too stubborn to give up on anything once I commit to it. She was the one who changed the rules and decided she wanted kids when she was aware of how I felt about that. After that—for her—it was over. No going back.”
    Mack had experienced the ravages of his mother’s disorder and understood the propensity was genetic. Why put a kid through that? As for Jenny...she had her own reasons after a miscarriage as a teen. He never would have asked her to marry him if he’d dreamed she’d change her mind about children.
    “You must have fought for her, though.” Scott gave him the oldest brother, I-know-best scowl that he’d perfected as a teenager. “You didn’t just let her go without a fight.”
    Mack debated how to answer that one. But Jenny wasn’t like Nina. She wasn’t the kind of woman you could argue with. Both women were strong-willed, but Jenny had become a bulldozer after Vince’s death—nothing got in her way. Not even her husband.
    “You just let her go?” Scott prodded.
    “This isn’t about me.” Mack took a long swallow of his beer and tried to get his head on straight again. The day was throwing him curveballs left and right. “I messed up with my marriage and won’t let you do the same.”
    “I’m not sure Bethany is going to be as agreeable to your plans. But, assuming I still have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning her back, what do you suggest?”
    “Take tomorrow off to be with your wife. Give me a list of what needs to happen for the Harvest Fest and I’ll cover for you there and at the store. If you can get Bethany to take off with you for a few days, just leave. I’ll watch out for Ally.”
    “I don’t put many hours in the store these days, so you don’t have to cover for me there.” Scott leaned down to pet Luce even though the dog had curled up for a nap in a patch of flattened grass. “Besides, my wife will never go for this.”
    Mack wondered where Scott was spending all his time if he wasn’t working at the store. That used to be his full-time gig. When they’d expanded the business, Bethany had quit her teaching job to help him manage the project.
    “But you have to try, right? Isn’t that what you just