One True Love Read Free Page B

wife is expecting a baby any day now. My parents are finally taking their second honeymoon. I can’t ask them to come home.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “Watch my kids for the weekend. I know I shouldn’t ask. You’re getting married in a month, and you must be busy, but I could use a friend right now.” Her voice tightened. “And—and you owe me, Lisa. There, I said it. I’ve felt it for a long time, and now I’ve said it. You didn’t even come for Keith’s funeral. I still can’t believe you didn’t come.”
    Lisa’s stomach turned over at the anger and bitterness in Maggie’s voice. Maggie was right. Lisa had been a lousy friend. “I came down the week after,” she protested.
    “So you wouldn’t have to see Nick and my parents and my kids. Your feelings came before mine.”
    “You’re right. I was scared.” And selfish. Lisa twisted the phone cord between her fingers. She’d felt guilty for weeks. She still did.
    “I should have been there for you. If you don’t want to be my friend, I won’t blame you.”
    “You’re not getting out of it that easily. I need you now, Lisa. You have to come. You just have to.”
    “I’ll be down as soon as I can, a couple of hours.” Lisa mentally ran through the list of what she was supposed to accomplish that weekend. Raymond wouldn’t be happy. Neither would Mrs. Carstairs, but Maggie was right. Lisa owed her this. Heck, she owed her a lot more than this.
    “Really?” Maggie’s voice filled with hope. “I know you hate it here, all the memories and Nick…”
    “I can handle the memories; it’s your children I’m concerned about. Are you sure you want to leave them with me?”
    “I wouldn’t trust anyone else,” Maggie said softly.
    Lisa’s gaze dropped to the charm bracelet once again. Someone else had trusted her, and she had let her down. “Are you sure?”
    “It’s the only thing I am sure about. Lisa?”
    “What?”
    “Hurry.”
    Lisa hung up the phone, worried more than ever by the note of panic in Maggie’s voice. Maggie had always been the cool one, sensible, reasonable, dependable—nothing like her older brother, Nick. Lisa’s heart raced at the thought of him. But just because she was going back to San Diego didn’t mean she had to see Nick. She’d managed to avoid him for almost eight years. Surely, she could make it through one more weekend.

Chapter 2
    Nick Maddux was surrounded by pregnant women. Every time he turned around, he bumped into someone’s stomach. Muttering yet another apology, he backed into the corner of his ten-by-twelve-foot booth at the San Diego Baby and Parenting Fair and took a deep breath. He was hot, tired and proud.
    His handcrafted baby furniture was the hit of the show. He had taken three orders for cradles, another two for cribs, and one for a matching crib, dresser and rocking chair. A couple of the items he had in stock, but the rest he would have to make. In some cases, it would be a challenge to have his furniture arrive before the stork, but Nick thrived on challenges, and Robin Wood Designs was finally on its way to becoming the profitable business he had envisioned.
    Nick couldn’t believe how far he’d come, how much he’d changed.
    Eight years ago, he’d been twenty-five years old, working toward getting his contractor’s license, and trying to provide for a wife and a child on the way. He’d kept at it long after they’d gone, hammering out his anger and frustration on helpless nails and boards.
    Every evening he’d drink himself to sleep, and every morning he’d wake up more sad than he could ever have imagined. Two years had gone by before he ran out of work, out of booze and out of money. Finally, stone cold sober, he’d realized his life was a mess. That when he’d met Walter Mackey, a master craftsman well into his seventies but still taking joy out of carving wood. Walter made rocking chairs in his garage and sold them at craft fairs. Nick had bought one of