Better Than Before (RightMatch.com Trilogy) by Kathryn Shay Page A

carpet, its waterfall in the corner and soft piped-in music was soothing.
    “Hey, Annie. Daydreaming?” Lauren had come to the reception area from her office out back.
    “What? Oh, I am, I guess.”
    “Mr. Cutie?”
    As soon as she arrived, Annie had begun to tell Lauren about the date with Spence. But her friend had been distracted, glancing at the phone until it rang right in the middle of Annie’s story. She’d been talking to someone for a solid hour.
    “Sorry we got interrupted.” She angled her head to the back office. “I had to take that call.”
    “Anything wrong?”
    “Not wrong, exactly.”
    “You’ve been quiet lately, Lauren. What’s bothering you?”
    “Nothing I want to talk about. Now finish telling me about the date.”
    After Annie had recounted her time with Spence, Lauren asked if she was going to go out with him again.
     “His turn to ask. I made the invitation the first time, so he’s got to do the next one.”
    Lauren sat at the desk, fit and pretty in a beautiful peach silk shirt and matching pants that went well with her green eyes and the short sweep of her auburn hair. Though on closer examination, there were lines around her mouth. “Any more trouble from Keith?”
    “He started a rant about my working here when he picked the kids up at four for his mother’s birthday party. The guy never gives up. And I’ll have to see him when I get home because Alex and Hope aren’t staying overnight. Keith has an early meeting and can’t take them to school.”
    Lauren’s brow knit. “I heard things weren’t going well with Belinda.”
    “Really? They’ve been together for years. I should know,” she added dryly.
    Annie would never forget the way she discovered her husband was cheating on her. He’d come out of the shower and she’d noticed a bruise below his jaw. Approaching him innocently, she’d swiped a finger over it. “Honey, what happened to your neck?”
    His guilty flush and the tension creeping into his shoulders had told her something was wrong. As if he’d been waiting for the right moment, he’d admitted the bruise was a hickey and Annie knew she hadn’t given it to him. He’d packed his bags right then and left them on a bleak November night. Shocked and devastated, Annie had called Lauren and Julia; they’d rushed right over to help her start piecing her life back together.
    A customer came into the shop, giving Annie respite from the awful memory. Thankfully, she was busy the rest of the night and made enough tips to buy that blouse—if she ever saw Spence again!
     What was he waiting for? In their several conversations online, he hadn’t asked her out. She hoped she hadn’t misjudged him. Maybe her reading of men was still off.
    The kids were asleep when she arrived home and Keith was sprawled out on the couch. For a moment, Annie was struck—and hurt—by the familiarity of him watching TV late at night, as if he still lived here. Once again, she was consumed by insecurity and self-doubt—could she have kept her family together if she’d compromised more?
    “You’re late,” he said, rising and picking up his sports coat.
    “I told you ten.”
    “This is ridiculous. You don’t need to work so hard.”
    “To support myself I do.”
    “I can do that. But you’re so stubborn. You always were.”
    Annie wasn’t up for a fight, not tonight. “It’s obvious that you want to give me alimony to assuage your guilt and not look bad in front of your friends. I refuse to play into that.”
    Keith’s demeanor softened. “And because I hate seeing you tired all the time.”
    She was stunned by the gentle tone of his comment. Stunned but not taken in. “Please go. You’re right, I’m exhausted and I don’t have the energy to tangle with you.”
    He didn’t argue. Instead, he squeezed her arm and left.
    And Annie hurried to the computer. There was an email from Spence; thank you dear Lord.
    Yes! She raised her fist into the air. And typed back,