Where Azaleas Bloom Read Online Free Page B

then.”
    “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”
    “Is he late with a check or something?”
    Lynn squirmed. “Mitch, I’m really not comfortable talking about
this.” She didn’t want everyone in town speculating about Ed and the way he was
behaving. Not that they weren’t already, but she didn’t want to confirm or add
to the talk.
    Mitch clearly wasn’t going to back down, though. His expression
filled with concern, he pressed, “I thought we were old friends. If there’s a
problem, maybe I can help.”
    “It’s sweet of you to offer, it really is, but this will work
out,” she insisted. “And it’s not going to kill me to work a few more hours
every week. It won’t hurt the kids, either,” she added defensively.
    “I know you’re a great mother, Lynn,” he replied patiently. “I
wasn’t suggesting otherwise. I see enough of Jeremy and Lexie over at Raylene’s
to see how well they’re turning out, and I know they have you to thank for
that.”
    She drank in his praise. She’d heard far too little of it from
her soon-to-be-ex-husband. “Thank you for saying that. They’re great kids. I
worry myself sick sometimes about how the divorce is affecting them. Lexie’s
growing up too fast, that’s for sure. She’s a sensitive girl and no matter how
hard I try to keep my problems from her, she picks up on everything.”
    “She looks just fine to me,” Mitch consoled her. “You should
hear her and Mandy over at Raylene’s. I can hear them giggling over the sound of
all the hammering and, even more impressive, over that music they play. She
sounds like a happy, healthy teenager to me.”
    “I wish I’d heard that,” Lynn said wistfully. “She and Mandy
don’t hang out at our house much these days.”
    “Could be she feels guilty about having fun when she knows
you’re sad,” Mitch said, surprising her with his insightfulness. “Kids are like
that. Those first months after Amy died, mine did plenty of tiptoeing around
whenever they came home on visits. Surprised the heck out of me. I didn’t think
either one of those boys had a sensitive bone in their bodies, but they were
raised by Amy, so of course they did.”
    She saw the faraway look in his eyes and responded to that.
“There’s no mistaking how much you loved her, Mitch,” she said gently. As hard
as the divorce proceedings were, she knew it was nothing like losing someone you
loved so deeply with such finality.
    “Always will, I imagine,” he said. “But every day does get a
little easier.”
    He seemed to snap himself back to the moment. “Now I’d better
get over to Raylene’s or she’ll be wondering what happened to me. She always has
some kind of checklist for me before she goes off to work.” He leaned closer and
confided, “Don’t tell her, but I stuff ’em in my pocket and never look at ’em
again.”
    “Is that because you really don’t give a hoot about what she
wants or because you have a photographic memory?” Lynn asked.
    He shrugged. “Maybe a little of both. I know I’ll get to all of
it eventually. I haven’t been in this business my entire life without knowing
what needs to be done and when. See you around, Lynn. Thanks for the
company.”
    “Thanks for the breakfast,” she said, then watched as he walked
away. She was still following him with her gaze when Grace appeared just as he
was climbing into his shiny new four-by-four parked out front. She couldn’t help
wondering if a man who took such good care of his truck would be equally
thoughtful when it came to caring for a woman.
    “That man does look good in a pair of jeans,” Grace said with a
dramatic sigh. She pinned Lynn with a look. “Just in case you hadn’t
noticed.”
    “Hard not to notice,” Lynn replied, then gave Grace a chiding
look. “But don’t go getting any ideas in your head, you hear me? I’m not looking
for a man, and he says he’s not looking for anyone, either.”
    “And sometimes people lie to themselves because it