LITMIR.BIZ

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don’t want to disturb her. She’s so busy.”

      “She needs to know.”

      “I’ll tell her soon,” Charlotte promised.

      Laura fussed about her for a few moments and then, being the good friend she was, realized that Charlotte wanted to be alone. She hugged Charlotte before she left.

      Sitting in her chair, with Harry on her lap, Charlotte reviewed her options. She didn’t expect to live forever, but she felt she had a whole lot of life in her yet. When she was finally ready to talk, it wasn’t Olivia she called but her son, Will, who lived in Atlanta.

      “Mother!” Will was clearly surprised to hear from her. “How are you?”

      “Just grand,” she lied. “I imagine you’re wondering why I’m phoning you at work in the middle of the day, since this is when the rates are high.”

      “The thought did cross my mind,” Will said. How like Clyde he sounded, her son, the nuclear engineer. How proud she was of him and Olivia, too. Suddenly Charlotte found herself trembling.

      “Mom, what’s wrong?”

      Will always seemed to know when something was troubling her. “I was in to see Dr. Fred last week.”

      A pause followed. “When I spoke to Olivia, she said you’d been tired lately.”

      “Yes, well, that’s true. I have been.”

      “Tired enough to decide you needed to visit Dr. Fred.”

      “Yes. You know how he loves my green tomato mincemeat. Normally I would’ve baked him a pie, but this time I just brought him a jar. I had plenty of green tomatoes this year.”

      “Mother, you didn’t call me to talk about your pies, did you?”

      “No…”

      “What did Dr. Fred have to say?”

      “Well, not much. He wanted me to have a few tests.” She pressed the phone hard against her ear.

      “Which you did?”

      “Oh, yes, he was quite insistent about that. The most intrusive one was this morning. It was at Harrison Hospital.”

      “Did Olivia go with you?”

      “Oh, no, I couldn’t bother her on a Thursday, especially at the end of the month. You know how busy her court schedule can get.”

      “In other words, Olivia doesn’t know anything about this?”

      “Not yet.”

      “Did you get the test results?”

      Charlotte felt the tears fill her eyes and was grateful that Harry was lying on her lap. Petting him soothed her and just then, with her fears close to overwhelming her, she needed him.

      “Mother?” Will said more loudly this time. “Are you still on the line?”

      “I’m here.”

      “What did the doctor say?”

      She hesitated. “Will, I know it would be a terrible inconvenience to you and Georgia, but I was wondering if you’d mind making a trip to Cedar Cove in the near future.”

      “Mother, what did Dr. Fred tell you?”

      Charlotte bit down hard on her lower lip. “I’m afraid I have cancer.”

      Twelve

      Zach didn’t want this separation, but Rosie had taken the choice away from him. His soon-to-be ex-wife was the unreasonable one. He’d been shocked and hurt when she’d had him served with divorce papers. Basically he had twenty-four hours to vacate the family home. He was stunned that she’d resort to seeing an attorney and setting everything in motion. Yes, they’d talked about it, but that had been in the heat of an argument. He certainly hadn’t expected her to kick him out of his own home.

      Since she was obviously determined to go through with the divorce, Zach hoped they could at least handle the whole process in a civilized manner. Nothing he said or did would convince Rosie that he wasn’t involved with Janice. He’d given up reasoning with her. If his wife had so little faith in him, he was better off without her.

      Finding an apartment within a reasonable distance of the house, however, had proved to be a challenge. Luckily Janice had been able to help him look; otherwise, he wasn’t sure what he would’ve done. Rosie knew his work schedule better than anyone, and he’d hoped she would appreciate that with quarterly taxes due and the rush of year-end figures he needed to complete for his business clients, his free time was limited. In that hope, he’d been mistaken. Rosie didn’t seem to care.

      Zach was trying hard to maintain a positive attitude for the sake of his children. His relationship with Allison and Eddie was the most important thing to him. He intended to remain a large part of their lives, no matter what the terms of the divorce.

      “Do you have to leave?” Eddie asked, looking forlorn. His son sat on the end of the bed in the master bedroom while Zach packed up his half of the closet.

      “For now that would be best.” Zach refused to drag his children into his problems with Rosie. They were innocent. Rosie was the one he blamed. She’d been acting like a jealous shrew for weeks, although he figured that was just a symptom of her insecurity—an insecurity he’d done nothing to cause.

      “I want you and Allison to come over to my apartment with me, okay?”

      “To stay?”

      This was difficult. “Your mother and I need to work that out. Right now I just want you to see where I live.”

      “Okay.” Eddie sounded like he was trying not to cry. “Can I come any time I want?”

      “Of course! My apartment is your home, too.”

      Eddie shifted on the mattress and sat on his hands. “Do you still love Mom?”

      “Of course I do.” Zach set a work shirt on the stack already in the middle of the bed, then sat down beside his son. He placed his arm around Eddie’s shoulders and struggled for the right words. “Sometime two people who love each other can’t agree on certain things anymore. When that happens, it’s better if they live apart.”

      Eddie lowered his head. “Mom said the same thing.”

      Funny that they could agree on the rationale for divorce more than they could agree on anything to do with their marriage. They hadn’t spoken much in the last few weeks. All communication had been through their attorneys, which was ridiculous as far as Zach was concerned, since he’d continued to live at home.

      “Allison says this whole divorce is bogus.”

      Zach noted that bogus was currently a favorite word of his daughter’s. He didn’t bother to respond.

      “Will you talk to Mom?”

      Not if he could avoid it, Zach mused. They no longer argued, and for that he was grateful. If anything, Rosie went out of her way to be polite. It was almost as though they were strangers. His wife, however, had plenty to say to her attorney. His sins were outlined in legal documents that went on for pages. Knowing it would anger him to read anything more than the title page, Zach left everything to his attorney. He’d known Otto Benson for years and had frequently worked with him, and he trusted Otto to represent him fairly.

      “You ready to help me load everything into the car?” he asked his son.

      “Okay.” Eddie didn’t reveal a lot of enthusiasm. He slid off the edge of the bed and paraded behind Zach with an armload of clothes. Zach arranged the starched dress shirts on the back seat of his car and took the stack Eddie had brought out with him.

      “Do you want to see my apartment?” he asked Allison when he returned to the kitchen.

      His daughter removed her earphones and turned

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