One Tuesday Morning & Beyond Tuesday Morning Compilation by Karen Kingsbury Page A

good.”
    Laura drew a slow breath. “How was work?”
    “No car chases all week.” He grinned at her. “Must be some kind of record.”
    Laura's gaze fell to her hands. She hadn't seen Clay since the pizza place, and she needed to thank him. “Hey, about the birthday party …” She climbed out of the car, shut the door, and leaned against it so that she faced Clay. “Thanks for showing up. It meant a lot to Josh.”
    “Eric should've been there.” Something just short of anger flickered in Clay's expression. He locked onto Laura's eyes a beat longer than necessary. “It's a pattern, isn't it?”
    For an instant Laura had the strange urge to defend Eric. He was her husband, after all, and his work schedule had been this way since long before Josh was born. But she couldn't do it. Clay was right. Eric wasn't around enough, it was that simple.
    “Yes. For a while now.” She looked at a spot on the ground near her feet. No tears, God. Please. Not here, not now . “He and Josh barely know each other.”
    “He's crazy.” Clay clenched his teeth and let the air ease through them. “He works so hard he doesn't know what he's missing.”
    Laura looked at him and tried to read into that last sentence. She wanted to ask exactly what he meant, whether he was talking about Josh or her. But she knew better. There were certain lines in-laws didn't cross. Even if they'd been friends since high school. She found Clay's eyes again. “It could be worse.”
    “Yes.” The depth in Clay's eyes looked suddenly more pronounced. “Eric's a good guy, but … well, maybe his priorities need a little rearranging.” Clay shrugged. “He should've been at the party.”
    She nodded, and Clay seemed to sense that the conversation was hard on her.
    He leaned his head back and stared at the pink and orange sky above them. “Josh had fun … that's all that matters.”
    An image flashed in Laura's mind. Eric holding court with his colleagues at Koppel and Grant, waxing on about the virtues of one stock over the other, while Clay played air hockey with Josh at Chuck E. Cheese's. That didn't make Eric a bad guy, exactly. Lots of fathers worked too many hours, and she should be grateful Josh had someone like Clay. But instead of feeling grateful, her soul ached at the impossible situation she was in.
    Clay strained to see her eyes. “Talk to him, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    Then without saying another word, he pulled her into a hug, the kind they'd shared a thousand times before, but one Laura needed more than air. “I'm here for you, Laura. For both of you. Don't let anything crazy happen.”
    Laura slid her fingers beneath her glasses and wiped at an errant tear. “We won't.”
    “Good.” He drew back and patted his hand against her cheek. “You're my two favorite people in the world.”
    She sniffed and pulled away, reaching into her car for her purse. “I know.”
    “Come on.” Clay took a step toward the church. “Everything's gonna be fine.”
    Three hours later Laura pulled into their driveway. Something about seeing Clay, hearing his optimism had lit a spark in her heart. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe they could get counseling again and make real changes this time. If they'd loved each other once, then somehow, someway God could lead them back to that place, right?
    She was about to step out of her car when she noticed something strange. A car sat parked in their driveway, and Laura stared at it, confused. It was nearly ten o'clock on a Friday night. Who could've been visiting at that hour? She grabbed her things and headed inside. Josh was sitting at the dining room table writing something, and next to him was Jenna, their baby-sitter.
    Laura froze in place, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. “Hello, Jenna.” She hesitated. “I expected to see Mr. Michaels.”
    The teenager smiled and slid an eraser across the table to Josh. “He got called into work.” She pointed to a stack of notepaper. “Josh and I were