Bamboo and Lace by Lori Wick Page A

joke.
    â€œGive me the phone,” Ashton ordered, and after a few more words, Gabe obeyed.
    â€œIs it really you this time?” the woman on the other end asked. It was Ashton’s fiancée, Deanne Talbot.
    â€œYes. One of these days he’s going to keep from laughing, and you’ll think I’ve really broken off with you.”
    â€œWe’ll have to come up with some code word.”
    â€œEither that, or you could drop out of school and come home and marry me right now.”
    â€œYou don’t know how tempting that is.”
    â€œWhy? What’s going on?”
    â€œI’m just tired, I think, and even though I studied for hours on my U.S. history exam, I didn’t do that well. But mostly, California is not Hawaii.”
    â€œIt’s just a few more months,” Ashton said for himself as much as Deanne. Just hearing her voice made him ache with longing.
    â€œIt’s three months, eleven days, and approximately six hours.”
    â€œI love it when you do the math.”
    Deanne laughed on the other end, and they talked for most of the next hour. By the time they hung up, California was no closer to Hawaii, but both of them felt a little better.

    Evan didn’t see his wife until he was almost done with his laps. She had pulled a chair close and was sitting at the edge of the pool, watching him. After spotting her, he swam the length of the pool underwater, his blond head breaking the surface at the three-foot end and coming up to smile at her.
    â€œHi.”
    â€œHi, yourself.”
    â€œWanna come in?”
    â€œMaybe later.”
    â€œYou sound sad,” he commented.
    â€œI’m not—just tired.”
    â€œTypical for this time of year.”
    â€œI’m always surprised by that. I always think I’m going to have more energy when the guests are gone, and here I need a nap.”
    â€œGive it a few more weeks. How are you doing with Lily around?”
    â€œYou know,” Bailey said, as though she had just thought of it, “it’s easy. She’s neat and polite and keeps to herself so much of the time. I mean, I feel a certain amount of stress and pain with her being so burned, but she’s one of the most undemanding people I’ve ever known.”
    â€œWhat is she doing now?”
    â€œShe’s still sitting with the kids in front of the television, but I think most of the time she’s sleeping.”
    â€œI told the kids we would swim later. Are you going to join us?”
    Bailey looked at him a moment.
    â€œAre we going to swim a little later on our own?”
    Evan smiled. “I think that could be arranged.”
    Bailey smiled as she moved to put the chair back.
    â€œI’d better check on the kids.”
    â€œAll right. I’ll be coming in a bit.”
    Evan watched her walk away, enjoying her figure from the back. He eventually went back to his laps, but exercise was not really what he had on his mind.

    â€œThis is Nan,” Celia said to Lily, nearly shoving a photo in her face.
    â€œOh.”
    â€œHer name is Deanne,” Peter filled Lily in. “She’s gonna be our aunt.”
    â€œHow nice,” Lily said, still feeling a bit out of it.
    She blinked owlishly at the screen and then noticed that Bailey was asleep next to Peter. At almost the same moment Lily realized that she needed to be excused. She tried to focus on the video but soon gave up. There was no help for it. It was going to hurt to move, but move she must.
    Walking slowly, Lily headed for the small bathroom situated just off the foyer. It seemed to her that everything took forever, and she wondered at the fact that most body parts were taken for granted, at least until they were injured.
    â€œI think I need food,” Lily said quietly to give herself courage as she finished in the bathroom and walked to the kitchen. Something cold and sweet sounded good. Maneuvering gingerly, Lily went straight to