Happily Never After by Kathleen O'Brien

Author:Kathleen O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

WILLOW HILL REHABILITATION Center looked more like a country club than a mental-health institution. Set on twenty-five acres in North Carolina, its redbrick main building had white pillars and Palladian porticoes. From the parking lot, Tom and Kelly could also see a long blue swimming pool, at least four smaller cottages and a tennis court, on which two sleek teenagers were playing a very competitive game.

Though Tom and Kelly had left early, right after sunup, the trip had taken more than three hours, so it was now almost eleven. It had been a quiet drive, with little chitchat, but considering how tense their conversation had been last night, Tom wasn’t particularly surprised.

All things considered, she’d been quite civilized about it. Once he had declined her offer of a one-night stand, she had let the subject drop. She’d found him an extra set of pillows and blankets to make the sofa comfortable, offered him a nightcap, which he’d also rejected politely, and finally withdrawn to her own room.

He didn’t know if she’d slept, but he certainly hadn’t. He’d still been awake when, just before dawn, the rain had stopped. He had walked barefoot to the window and watched as the last of the clouds blew away, revealing a crescent moon and about a million stars.

He would have liked to think the clearing was symbolic, that all their problems were going to blow away, too, and bring them a fresh start. But he was a lawyer, not a poet. He knew that, however beautiful the stars might be, they didn’t mean anything. They didn’t grant wishes or pour down blessings. They didn’t glitter to provide a beacon to the lost or to inspire the weary to try again. They glittered because they had to. They were just stars.

“It’s an amazing clinic,” Kelly said. She’d been taking in the whole of Willow Hill with wide eyes. “I’m glad Sophie has been staying in a place like this. The first one, the one I visited, was—” She broke off.

“Pretty grim,” he finished for her. “I saw it, too.”

She looked for a minute as though she’d like to ask about his visits, but she stopped herself and looked away.

“She wouldn’t see me, either,” he volunteered. “The doctor came out and told me he thought it would be better if I didn’t come back.”

“That’s what they told me, too. I went back once, a couple of months later, and got the same answer. I should have ignored them, I guess. But I never did go again after that. Did you?”

He shook his head. “It was a miracle I went at all. I didn’t want to. I took the doctor’s dismissal as my get-out-of-jail-free card. I just put it in my pocket and headed for the border.”

He was overstating it, but he knew it was better to nip in the bud any illusions that might still be hiding in her subconscious. He had been so angry, so caught up in his own problems. He hadn’t really cared whether Sophie had rotted behind those clinic doors forever.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.