The Ties That Bind

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Eight

Nine

Ten

Special Excerpt from: Thrown by a Curve

“You need a vacation, Mom. Actually, you need more than a vacation. You need a life.”

Leave it to Lisa Mitchell’s eighteen-year-old daughter to state the obvious.

Lisa sat at the old, scarred wooden kitchen table with her daughter, Kayla, Kayla’s friend Wen, and Lisa’s best friend, Connie, along with Lisa’s ex-husband, Rick. A strange group, to be certain, but not at all unusual. Lisa and Rick, though divorced for nearly fifteen years, were still best friends. Rick and Lisa were Kayla’s rock and co-anchors. Lisa would have never been able to raise Kayla to be the smart, competent adult she was without Rick’s help. Getting divorced was the best thing they could have ever done for Kayla, and for each other. It had saved their relationship.

She stared at the colossal mess that was her family room and kitchen, smiling over the remnants of the successful graduation party for Kayla. She couldn’t believe her baby girl had graduated already. Lisa was only thirty-four years old and her daughter was already going to be heading for college in the fall. She felt old. And yet she still felt young. Her life was over, and yet it was just beginning.

“Which is exactly why you need this trip, Mom,” Kayla had told her. “You’re free of me now. I’m eighteen. I’m going to be gone for the summer anyway, remember?”

How could she forget? Lisa’s older sister Amelia—the fabulous, successful sister—was going to take Kayla to Europe for a month. “Yes, I couldn’t possibly forget you’re going away for the summer since it’s all you’ve talked about for a year.” The trip was Amelia’s graduation gift to Kayla. Lisa had balked. Amelia had insisted. Kayla had
squealed. Rick said it would be good for Kayla, that she was a sharp kid with a sense of adventure.

Lisa had had a sense of adventure once, too. It had landed her pregnant at sixteen.

Of course, her sense of adventure had been a bit wild and out of bounds, totally opposite that of her oh-so-level-headed daughter, thank God. In many ways, Kayla was more like Amelia than Lisa. Which meant her child wouldn’t make the same mistakes she had. She’d go to college, become a success, create a good life for herself instead of making bad choices.

“So are you going to do it?”

Lisa looked up at her best friend. “Do what?”

“Mommmm,”
Kayla said, rolling her eyes. “Pay attention.”

“Sorry. I was thinking.”

“Are you going to do the vacation with Connie? You know, hit the beach, get naked. Drink fruity drinks. Party your ass off.”

“Watch your language, miss,” Lisa warned. Kayla rolled her eyes again.

“She’s right, you know,” Connie said. “You deserve this. No one works harder than you do, both at the hospital and at home. If anyone is screaming for a glorious week of tropical downtime, it’s you.”

Lisa arched a brow. “I don’t recall complaining.”

“You never complain, Lisa.”

Her gaze drifted to Rick. “I have nothing to whine about. My life is ideal.” That was no lie. Kayla had never given her a moment’s trouble, Rick had always been there to help out if and when she needed him, and she had a great job as a critical care nurse, working alongside her best friend Connie. All in all, she led a damned charmed life. And she owed a lot of that to Rick. He was the one who should be taking the vacation. The things he’d given up for her and for Kayla…

“Your love life sucks, Mom.”

Wen snorted.

Snapping a glare at her smart-mouthed daughter, she said, “There’s nothing wrong with my love life.”

“Except that it’s nonexistent.”

“I won’t find one in the Caribbean.”

“It’s a good enough place to start.”

“True, Mrs. Mitchell. You’re still great looking. Even sexy, for a woman…uhh…your age,” Wen said.

“Gee, thanks, Wen. I think,” Lisa said, shaking her head.

Connie laughed and laid her hand over Lisa’s. “Trust me. Teenagers are ubercritical.”

Kayla giggled, then was immediately distracted by the ringtone of her cell phone, temporarily lost in the corner of the kitchen while she and Wen planned the night’s activities.

Lisa blew out a frustrated breath. A vacation would be nice. She needed a tan. Some time on the beach, sipping drinks with paper umbrellas, sounded like a slice of heaven. She never took vacations. Okay, she’d had a few, but they’d always been with Kayla and usually involved places like Disney World and Epcot Center and child-oriented functions, or something to do with Kayla’s cheerleading or soccer. Never an adult vacation, never alone. The thought of going somewhere with another adult was…unfathomable.

“Go, Lisa.”

She looked up at Rick. It was difficult thinking of sunning herself on the beach, possibly meeting or dancing with other men.

There’d never been
other
men. There’d only been Rick. Since she was fourteen years old, there’d only been Rick. She’d dated now and then, but nothing serious. She just hadn’t been able to be with anyone else. How could she, when the only man who made her panties wet sat across the kitchen table from her? And the last time she’d had sex with him was…something like fifteen years ago?

God, she really did need a life.

“You’d really go with me?” She cast a pleading look at Connie.

Connie nodded. “Uh, you bet. Couldn’t talk me out of it.”

How did she get so lucky to find a best friend and a dynamite coworker in one? “Do you think the hospital would let us both off at the same time?”

Connie grinned. “Already asked and answered. Beth said she’d rearrange the schedule to accommodate us.”

“See? It’s a done deal,” Kayla said, a satisfied smile lighting up her gorgeous face.

Her daughter was beautiful. Okay, maybe she was just a tiny bit prejudiced, but she and Rick had made one incredible girl. Five feet seven, curvy in all the right places, and thank God the girl liked to eat and wasn’t model-stick-worry-your-mother-to-death thin. She was athletic, loved the arts, earned some amazing scholarships, and didn’t make stupid choices about boys. She was going to Florida State in the fall to major in elementary education. She’d always wanted to be a teacher, ever since she was a little girl playing school with her friends. The kid had goals. Goals!

“Finished with excuses?” Rick asked. “You don’t even need me to watch over Kayla anymore. You’re free, Lisa.”

Free. What a concept. Free of responsibilities for one entire week. Not having to worry about what Kayla was doing, no guilt over dumping Rick with the burden.

She’d never have that guilt again. The ties that bound her and Rick together were slowly disintegrating.

The twinge in her stomach intensified. She figured it was the cake, not the fact that her link to Rick was evaporating. They were divorced, had been for a very long time. They’d always be connected by Kayla, but it was long past time she let go of him. It was time she let him move on.

Even at thirty-seven, he still took her breath away, probably more now than the day he walked into her life when she was fourteen years old and he was an oh-so-mature seventeen, tall and lanky with his midnight black hair falling over his face. He’d worn it long, shaggy, nearly covering his steely blue eyes. She’d gasped the first time she saw his eyes. No guy should have a face that beautiful, all those sharply angled cheekbones, full bottom lip, and eyes that could make a woman melt.

She’d fallen in love on the spot, and they’d been inseparable after that.

That had been the beginning of the end for her, and had altered the course of her life forever. And Rick’s, too. She owed it to him to let
him go now. He’d been by her side for all these years, devoted to her and Kayla in ways she’d never expected. He’d been the best father a girl could ask for and Kayla adored him. Lisa admired him for never once failing in his duties. He’d gone above and beyond his responsibilities to Lisa, too. She’d never have the career she had now if not for Rick.

She owed him so much. She owed him a life, love of his own. Even if the thought of it made her stomach ache.

“Speaking of someone who needs to get a life…” she said, hardly able to look him in the eyes without bursting into tears. Why was this so hard? She was probably just melancholy at the thought of Kayla growing up, moving off to college. This emotional mess had nothing to do with Rick.

“Working on it,” he said, his lips lifting in a sly smile.

Her stomach tightened. “Oh, really? Well, that’s…great…I’m glad.”

Kayla grinned. She knew about this, about whatever woman put the gleam in Rick’s eye. “And it’s about time, Dad.”

This was more than she could handle in one night. Lisa pushed back her chair. “Look at this mess. I think I’ll start cleaning up.”

“Need me to help, Mom?”

“Of course not. You’ve got your all-night graduation celebration at the high school tonight.” She stopped, tilted her head down the hall. “You can take all your gifts to your room, then you’d better get packed.”

“I’ll drop the girls off,” Rick said.

Lisa nodded, busied herself with picking up discarded gift wrap and paper plates. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ll get her in the morning.”

When the girls were ready and Rick hustled them out the door, it was just her and Connie left behind. The three-bedroom house had never been oversized—just enough room for Kayla and her. Right now it felt like a huge, yawning mausoleum.