Mending Fences by Sherryl Woods

children an opportunity to experience a home-cooked meal from time to time. For that, I am eternally grateful.”
    Marcie chuckled. “So are they. Dani asked me the other day if I could teach her to boil water so she’d know more than mommy.”
    “Ha-ha,” Emily retorted. “Very funny.”
    “Well, she did,” Marcie insisted. “Seriously, both girls want me to give them cooking lessons.”
    Emily shrugged. “Then by all means, go for it. Let me know if Dani’s any good at it. If she is, maybe I’ll be able to stay out of the kitchen altogether.”
    “You hate cooking that much?” Marcie asked, her expression incredulous.
    “I hate most things I’m lousy at. Cooking tops the list. Sewing’s a close second with household organization right on their heels.”
    “All my favorite things,” Marcie said. “How on earth did we ever become such good friends?”
    “Proximity?” Emily suggested. “And the fact that you’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever known.”
    Marcie grinned. “Ditto. Now let me get you that lasagna.”
    She handed Emily a baking dish big enough to supply dinner for at least three nights.
    “Are you sure you didn’t confuse my family with Josh’s Little League team?”
    “You’ll have leftovers for another night,” Marcie said. “Want some cookies for the kids’ lunches?”
    “Good heavens, no! I still have the ones you sent home with me yesterday. You need to take a day off from baking.”
    “And do what?” Marcie asked with an expression that said she honestly had no idea what she’d do with herself.
    “Spend the day with Paula,” Emily suggested at once. “And take a few dozen cookies to the nurses, so they’ll treat her right.”
    Marcie’s face lit up. “I’ll do it first thing tomorrow.”
    “Give her another hug from me and tell her we miss her at school. Let her know I’ll stop by the hospital after work with all the gossip.”
    Marcie walked outside with her. “She’s going to be okay, you know.”
    “I know,” Emily said automatically as she slipped through the opening Josh had cut in the hedge between the houses. She just wished she could believe it.

4
    E mily had barely left the house, when Marcie heard the garage door open and realized Ken was home, hours earlier than usual. Her stomach immediately tied itself into knots. Whatever had brought him home at this hour couldn’t possibly be good. Still, she took a quick look at herself in a mirror to check her hair and makeup, then plastered a smile on her face as she waited for him.
    When he finally came inside, his tie was askew, his collar open and, if she wasn’t mistaken, he’d been drinking. Her smile immediately faltered.
    “Ken, what’s wrong?”
    “The bastards fired me, that’s what’s wrong,” he said, immediately going to the liquor cabinet and splashing several inches of Scotch into a glass, then taking a gulp that clearly wasn’t his first of the day. “I’ve worked my butt off for those jerks for how many years now? Fifteen? And now I’m history.”
    “Did they tell you why?” she asked hesitantly, knowing as soon as the words were out of her mouth that it was exactly the wrong thing to ask.
    His face flushed an even brighter shade of red. “Because they’re idiots, that’s why. One little mistakeand none of the accounts I brought in, none of the work I’d done for them mattered.”
    Marcie smothered a desire to point out that if the mistake had been so small, surely they would never have done such a thing. Ken had worked hard for them for years. She might not know a lot about the corporate world, but surely they wouldn’t have fired him over something insignificant. Had she said such a thing, though, Ken’s already precarious mood would have turned even darker. She doubted she’d ever hear the whole story. Ken never admitted his failures. It must be killing him just to confess he’d been fired.
    She also had to swallow all of the questions she had about what came