Traded for Love by Michelle Hughes, Dahlia Salvatore Page A

surprised. “You came in early.”
    “I thought it'd be nice to give you the morning off.” The wrinkles around her eyes creased as she smiled.
    “I'll be meeting my sister for lunch and then I was thinking about going to a bookstore. What do you like to read, Donna?” I asked, sitting in the plush recliner on the far side of the nursery.
    She sat down with the baby, feeding her formula from a bottle. “Me?” She rocked slowly. “I like everything: romance, philosophy, science.”
    “You're smarter than me. I stick to my romance novels,” I said with a grin.
    “I bet even the best fiction doesn't compare with your real life.” Her smile was unrelenting. “You must take all kinds of trips and get lots of expensive gifts.” She sighed. “What a life.”
    It'd never occurred to me that Donna had been present for most of my marriage. Obviously, she was clueless to how things really were between Jack and me. I nodded. “Yeah. What a life … ”
    “You don't sound too thrilled,” she said as she repositioned the baby in her lap to give her better access to the formula.
    “Nothing is all good or all bad.” I hoped the statement was ambiguous enough to satisfy her while masking my doubts. “Mr. Duncan can be … a little forceful sometimes.” It was more than I should have said. Confiding in her seemed was startlingly easy.
    “I'm sure it's more good than bad, though,” she said. I knew she was trying to cheer me up, and when I couldn't summon a smile, her own melted away. “I'm sorry. I spoke out of turn. Your marriage is none of my business.”
    I pursed my lip. “No, no. We had a little spat and I'm not happy about it,” I lied. “Mr. Duncan is a good husband and father.” The words tasted sour on my tongue. Calling him a good anything at this point didn't seem accurate.
    Donna was quiet after that. I hoped she couldn't hear the uncertainty in my voice. “I think I'll get going. Thank you for coming in early. When I get home from the bookstore, you can go home early if you want.”
    “Thanks, Mrs. Duncan.” She lay Katherine against her shoulder.
    I nodded and left the room, walking back down the hall to my room. It'd been months since I'd seen Kim, but I never felt obliged to dress up for her, even on days like this when having lunch with her felt like a special occasion.
    Since Dante was gone with the car, I took a cab down Main Street and told the driver to stop in front of a strip of shops. To conserve space on the island, there weren't many one-story buildings. This collection of tall, narrow outlets was no exception. A bakery was on the far end, followed by a bistro, then a dry cleaners, and lastly came the bookstore I wanted to visit later.
    Its front window was full of ads for all the new releases. There was one romance in particular that caught my eye through the glass window. If I hadn't been scheduled to meet Kim in five minutes, I would have gone in immediately.
    The bistro was full, not a surprising fact, since we'd decided to meet during the lunch rush.
    She was early. I caught sight of her sitting at a table on the restaurant's far wall. Though I waved, she didn't notice me until I wove through the crowds and reached her. She stood up and hugged me.
    “I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you,” she said. When I pulled away, she appraised me like she usually did. “Tell me how you're doing.”
    “I'm fine. How are you doing? How's the center doing?” I asked, setting my purse in the floor and hailing the waiter. He drifted up beside us. “Could I have a Long Island Iced Tea and a water, please?”
    The waiter nodded and moved down the line of tables.
    Though I was unwilling to admit it, I craved relaxation, especially after last night. I opened my menu. “What were we talking about? Oh, yeah, the center. Have you heard from Marcus lately?”
    Marcus had been Kim's pet project for the past few months. She'd had a lot of cases, but finding a job for Marcus, a veteran,