The House on Sugar Plum Lane by JUDY DUARTE Page B

do next.
    â€œWho lives in the house now?” he asked.
    â€œActually, the neighbors think that I do.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œI leased the place,” she explained. “It’s furnished and still holds Mrs. Rucker’s personal belongings, so it gives me an opportunity to…look around.”
    What happened to the sensible woman he’d married, the loving mother who was a gourmet cook and had an eye for décor?
    Brandon slowly shook his head. His wife—no way was he ready to throw in the towel and refer to her as his ex yet—had surely flipped. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
    â€œYou signed a lease?” he asked. Of course she had; she’d just told him that. But for some reason, he’d thought he’d missed something. “For how long?”
    â€œSix months. It’s the least amount of time they’d agree to.”
    It wasn’t about the money, but it still seemed like a big waste to him. “How much did that cost?”
    â€œI can afford it.”
    â€œThat’s not the point.”
    â€œI wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
    Quite frankly, once upon a time, right after a fairy-tale courtship and wedding, he’d thought Amy had been the easiest woman in the world to understand, to love and trust, to come home to. But she’d thrown him for a loop about six months ago, right about the time her mother passed away.
    He’d told himself it was grief messing with her mind. But now? He didn’t know what to think.
    â€œAre you planning to move again?” he asked.
    â€œNo. I wouldn’t do that to Callie.”
    He was glad to hear that. She’d done enough to the poor kid already—moved out of the only home she’d ever known, filed for divorce from her father. A man who’d do anything to provide for his family, by the way, but she’d thrown it all in his face.
    He again glanced in the mirror, saw his daughter smiling at him, oblivious to the grown-up problems around her. “I realize you miss your mom, Amy. But to take on a search like that—”
    â€œI didn’t expect you to understand. You hardly even knew my mother. In fact, I think you were still calling her Mrs. Barnes when she died.”
    He wasn’t sure what she meant by that, so he spoke up in his own defense. “I used to call her Susan.”
    For some reason, he could imagine Amy rolling her eyes about now. She’d been doing that a lot in the past few months.
    Where had they gone wrong? When had they gotten off track?
    â€œFor Pete’s sake, Brandon. You even arrived late to the funeral.”
    He’d had to work that morning, and an important call had come in. He hadn’t meant to be late. And then he’d run into traffic on Interstate 5—a fatal accident that had blocked all four lanes.
    â€œI can’t explain why this matters,” Amy said. “Not so you would understand. But I have to do it. I’ve got this big, huge hole in my heart now that my mom’s gone.”
    Brandon understood about holes in one’s heart, gaps in one’s life. He’d been dealing with that ever since Amy had dropped the bomb on him and moved out.
    â€œWhat about me?” he asked. “What about us? ”
    â€œI’m sorry that our marriage wasn’t strong enough, that we don’t love each other like we once did. If it had been, if we did, we might have made it through anything.”
    She was probably right, but the trouble was, Brandon still loved Amy. And he feared he always would.
    â€œWhat’s done is done,” she said.
    Was it?
    â€œBesides, I’ve always been in this alone.”
    Not by his choice, he wanted to say. But he kept his mouth shut. Things had changed; Amy had changed.
    And even though he’d give anything to go back to the way things once were, she’d made it clear that she wasn’t up for the trek.

Chapter 4
    Barbara