The Family Next Door by Jacqueline Diamond

Author:Jacqueline Diamond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

What had she been thinking? Diane had allowed herself to care about the last man on earth she should trust. She’d acted like a starry-eyed schoolgirl, and all the while he was planning his eventual escape from Harmony Circle.

And now…Now, she missed him.

On Sunday night, she sat with her mother and Alice Watson at a booth in Giuseppe’s Taverna, an Italian restaurant just outside their development. They were there for moral support for Alice.

The purple grapes on the dining room mural had faded, and although clean, the red-and-white-checked curtains clearly were survivors of another era. To Diane, the faded ambiance provided a charming reminder of decades past.

She loved Giuseppe’s lasagna even more than her sister Sarah’s spaghetti, which Brittany was enjoying at home, but she knew she ought to opt for a dinner salad. She postponed ordering anything until George Tyler showed up.

Alice nibbled on a breadstick. “He’s late. Maybe he’s not coming.”

The wall clock showed 6:35 p.m. “He’s only five minutes overdue,” Lois pointed out.

“He should have left early.”

“Maybe he got a ticket,” Diane speculated. “The cops crack down hard on Whittier Boulevard.”

“If anyone should be punctual, it’s an engineer.” The usually composed Alice had been stewing about this encounter for hours. Or possibly days.

Diane hoped George would put in an appearance soon. After fifty years, he owed his former fiancée a little closure, which she claimed was the most she hoped for.

Diane scanned the assorted couples and families patronizing the restaurant tonight. No older single male had escaped their radar—as if Alice could possibly have overlooked him.

As the other two women chatted, her thoughts wandered. She’d been trying to sort out her reactions to Josh Lorenz since yesterday. It seemed disloyal to Will’s memory to have kissed him. Sarah would think so, she had no doubt.

As if that weren’t bad enough, Diane had felt new and enticing sensations, being with Josh. And that struck her as even more of a betrayal of Will.

Yet she didn’t want to spend the next fifty years alone, either. If Josh weren’t planning to leave Brea, perhaps their friendship could develop slowly, giving everyone time to adjust. Instead, the discovery of his intentions had further complicated her feelings.

Maybe she should call the whole thing off. But what about the girls? They’d seized on the presumed romance with over-the-top enthusiasm.

This afternoon, while Diane was weeding the garden, Carly had arrived in overalls and a T-shirt, eager to help. She’d proved a ready worker and a delightful companion, except for her references to how much she wished her father would try gardening.

Carly’s interest had been genuine, however. She’d shown particular curiosity about long-term planning, and had asked some thoughtful questions about rotating crops to improve the soil. “It’s like you’re really rooted here, as much as a bush or a tree,” she’d said wistfully after Diane explained how she varied what she planted and made notes to refer to in future years.

“You could plant a garden, too. I’ll help you,” Diane had offered.

“I think I’ll wait.

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