Practice Makes Perfect Read Online Free

here?”
    “Thinking.”
    “Want some company?”
    “Only yours.”
    Nora slid into the front seat. Just fifty, she had strands of gray in her light brown hair now, which tonight was pulled up girlishly in a short ponytail.
    “Have a bad day?” Nora asked. “It’s April sixth.”
    Paige sighed. “I survived.”
    “You always do, dear.”
    “Nora, do you think I’m selfish? Having the kind of practice I do?”
    “You are one of the most unselfish people—doctors-I’ve ever known. What on earth gave you that idea?”
    “Nothing. I’m just feeling maudlin today, I guess. Tell me what’s new with you.”
    For a moment Nora watched her, probably trying to read whether Paige had meant what she’d said. “Well, I was going to call you later about something.” Nora held out her hand, where a diamond ring sparkled.
    “Oh, my God.” Paige’s gaze flew to Nora’s face. “From Dan?”
    A dreamy smile lit her face. “Yes, of course.”
    Paige grinned broadly. Nora Nolan had loved Dan Whitman for years. It had been a favorite topic of the girls of Serenity House. But Dan had been married, his wife suffering from dementia, and his and Nora’s relationship had remained platonic because they were both people of honor. Mary Whitman had died a year ago February.
    Like Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, Dan and Nora could be together now. The girls had watched the classic movie on TV back then, along with many of the old TV shows.
    Like
Dr. Kildare
. Reruns that Ian, obviously, had never seen.
    Though gestures of affection were hard for her, Paige reached over and hugged Nora. “I’m so happy for you.”
    Nora returned the embrace. “I’m going to hold you girls to your promise all those years ago.”
    Paige drew back and stared at Nora. The original residents of Serenity House—the first six girls to live there in 1996, the year it opened—had pledged that they’d all come back to Hyde Point no matter where they were in the world when Nora got married. Typical of group-home residents, Paige had not kept in touch with her former house sisters. Darcy Shannon O’Malley, the wild redhead with a devil-may-care attitude, had returned to Hyde Point two years ago, and only then had Paige struck up a friendship with her. “I see Darcy occasionally. Do you know where everybody else is?” she asked.
    “Yes. Anabelle’s kept in touch.” The youngest and shyest resident, Anabelle had left town, and no one but Dan and Nora had heard from her again.
    “And I hear from Taylor and Charly all the time. They live in Elmwood.”
    Though Paige wasn’t friends with either of them, she did bump into Charly and Taylor around town occasionally. Charly had become a social worker like Nora and had married an older man. Taylor, who’d come to Serenity House after being found beaten by the side of the road with no memory of who she was, was happily married with three children.
    “That just leaves your sister,” Nora said softly.
    “I know where Jade is.” Paige couldn’t keep the chill out of her voice.
    “She still won’t see you?”
    “Nope. Just talks to me occasionally on the phone.” Paige shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
    “Well, you can ask her when she comes for the wedding. It’s going to be in July.”
    “That should be enough notice for everybody.”
    “What’s more, I’m asking all you girls to come a few days early. I want to see how my first flock’s doing.”
    Paige breathed in deeply. More surprises. Nora’s wedding. Contact with the other Serenity House residents. And maybe seeing her sister for the first time in more than three years. Add that to Ian Chandler’s little bomb—that he was Elsa Moore’s son and that he wanted Paige to work in the center he’d named for his mother—and it had been quite a day.
    Paige wished like hell she really was on that Caribbean cruise.

CHAPTER TWO
    “WILL YOU INTRODUCE me to Linus, Casey?” Paige smiled down at the six-year-old girl, warmed by the trust