A Child's Wish

“Barnett’s going to be on talk radio Saturday morning.”

What had she done to bring this upon herself? “Who told you?”

“Angela Liddy. The station is a subsidiary of KNLD.”

“So what more can he say?”

“He’s got some experts who are going to be appearing with him.”

“What kind of experts?”

“A psychologist, for one.”

She could feel herself turning pale. “And let me guess,” she said. “A psychic.”

“So I’m told.”

“What time?” Maybe she, and everyone she knew, would be out for the day.

“7:00 a.m.”

When everyone she knew—and members of the school board—would be just waking up, possibly listening.

“He’s attempting to blow my credibility in the community.”

“You knew he wasn’t going to go away.”

She glanced up at him and caught him staring at her. Oddly. Differently. Probably because of what had happened Saturday night. She’d known it wouldn’t disappear, either.

“Has anyone heard from Ruth Barnett?” she asked. “Or anything about how Tommy’s doing?”

Mark shook his head.

“So what’s the bad news?” she asked, almost afraid to hear.

“Susan and I have decided not to see each other anymore.”

She sat straight up, her heart pounding. “What?” She hadn’t felt anything strong from Susan since they’d spoken on Sunday. “When?”

“This afternoon.”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed as she watched him. And she started to feel sick. “Why?” If Saturday had anything to do with this, she was leaving town. She wasn’t good for people. As hard as she tried, she just wasn’t good.

“Because Susan realized that we were more about convenience than love, and she wants the real thing.”

“Susan broke up with you?”

“Yep,” he said, moving to stand behind his desk. “Right after I asked her to marry me.”

“So it didn’t have anything to do with Saturday night?”

“Of course not,” Mark answered immediately, but he was sorting envelopes on his desk rather than meeting her gaze. On the surface he’d told her the truth, but somewhere deeper down there was no “of course” about it.

She had no idea what that meant.

And at the moment, she didn’t want to know.

ON FRIDAY, Kelsey didn’t argue when her mother suggested that they go straight to her house from school. They’d been spending time there and Kelsey was getting a little more used to the place. Besides, she’d have to go there when things got worked out and she could see Mom out in the open. They wouldn’t be able to hang out in her car forever. And they sure couldn’t go to Kelsey’s house.