Room to Breathe by Liz Talley

Author:Liz Talley [Talley, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781542008631
Published: 2019-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

You okay? I thought you were waiting up for me?

I’m going to bed, babe. So tired.

This time Ellery didn’t try to stop the tears that slipped from her eyes.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Daphne’s morning had started out nicely.

After a disastrous, tense dinner next to her ass of an ex-husband, she’d fled to her room before she could bump into Clay or have to spend another moment listening to Rex talk about scuba diving in Belize. Seemed it was “amazing,” and she should “totally go.”

Hey, she would have loved to leave Shreveport behind and sun on a beach somewhere. Rex knew this because she’d talked about getting certified and taking some trips once Ellery was in college and they no longer had the grind of soccer games, cheer camp, and National Honor Society inductions. They would take long weekends, leaving Pinnacle Heating and Air in the capable hands of Betsy Morgan, a cute, young divorcée who had taken over most of the office management when Daphne had to scale back in order to write and keep up with the demand of Dixie Doodle. But divorce had come before rest and relaxation. Then Cindy had not liked the attractive redhead spending time with Rex, so Rex had let Betsy go. Cindy had taken over, leaving her part-time RN position to do the receivables. Daphne knew Cindy didn’t have a background in office management or bookkeeping, but it was no longer her business. She kept ownership of her intellectual property, and Rex kept ownership of Pinnacle. That was agreed upon in mediation during their divorce.

So, yeah, she would love to go to Belize, but at present her deadlines would keep her at her computer.

When she woke that morning, Daphne passed on a cup of tea and instead pulled on her old trainers, a pair of running leggings, and a pullover, then went for a jog.

The path through the gated neighborhood wound around a community lake and undeveloped woods bright with fall foliage. The slap, slap of her feet on the pavement paired with the zing of coolness on her face did much to improve her mood. Her favorite playlist—a mix of Van Halen and Aerosmith—was the perfect accompaniment even if she found the hilly terrain an extra challenge. Her normal route back in Shreveport was fairly flat, and in the last few months she’d decreased the amount she ran because her knees had started aching. Getting old sucked.

As she came around a corner, she nearly crashed into Evan McCallum, who leaped aside at the last minute.

“Hey,” he said, jogging in place and flashing her an engaging smile. He didn’t even seem out of breath.

Daphne tugged her earbuds out and leaned over to grasp her knees. Breathing hard, she managed, “Lord, I’m not used to these hills.”

Evan stopped jogging. “Yeah, they can get you sometimes. I’m on the last leg of my run. Want to join me?”

She wasn’t sure she could keep up. “I’m not a fast runner.”

“That’s okay. I’m cooling down. Come on,” he said, jerking his head toward a side street she’d avoided on her first pass.

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