Coming Home to Love (Lakeside Porch Series Book 2) by Katie O'Boyle Page A

your voice over the years. I heard it long before things blew up with Alexa. Perhaps it’s the nature of your work not to trust your partners any more than your enemies. But after Alexa betrayed you, you carried that suspicion into your love life, too. No wonder your London ladies said you had a heart of stone.” She raised her eyebrows. “Suspicion is a huge turnoff, you know.”
    “You’ve had too much to drink.”
    “Mark my words, Justin. I’m not being mean. You know I want your happiness.”
    Before Justin could reply, their dinners arrived.
    The waiter set heavy plates in front of them. “Can I get you folks anything more just now?”
    “Two coffees,” Justin growled.
    Sydney smiled, and the waiter left the table. The aroma of sizzling steak enveloped them. “Mm.” She patted Justin’s hand. “Eat, growly bear. You know I’m right.”
    Gianessa talked with her hands and with anything her hands happened to be holding. At the moment, she was holding a half-full mug of coffee, and Carol watched its movement carefully, prepared to move out of the way as needed.
    “Joel is coming home to the new suite at the Manse very soon, and we’ll be ready for his treatment.” She set down her coffee mug, brushed a splash of coffee off her hand with a napkin, and continued. “You should see the treatment pool and the equipment room. It’s a first-rate setup, and I know Joel will make progress quickly.”
    Carol warmed to the happy tone in Gianessa’s voice, the lightness of her smile. When she asked for details of the setup, she heard more than she could ever understand. Gianessa wound down after a few minutes, and Carol told her, “As your AA sponsor, I am so glad to see you embrace this exciting change. You’ve worked long and hard for this opportunity. I see one of the AA promises coming true for you. Would you agree that you have a new freedom and a new happiness? I think you’re breaking free of the past, Gianessa.”
    To Carol’s surprise, Gianessa’s face lost its sparkle. What’s that about? She waited a few beats for Gianessa to take the lead, but Gianessa seemed lost in thought.
    “Gianessa, when you told me about your new opportunities, you seemed so happy and excited about your work. And now you’re not. What did I miss?”
    Gianessa came back with a false smile. “Maybe I’m just realizing all the work ahead of me.”
    “Want to know what I think?”
    Gianessa picked up the empty wrapper from Carol’s sugar packet and ripped it in half. “Of course. That’s why I have a sponsor.”
    Carol ignored the tone of dismissal and told her, “I think you were hoping the fulfillment of work would blot out the sadness from the past, and maybe it hasn’t.”
    Gianessa’s face darkened, and her jaw hardened. Carol wasn’t sure what was coming next. Tears or an angry outburst.
    Neither. Gianessa calmly shredded the sugar packet. When she had reduced it to eight thin strips, she picked up each strip in turn and tore it into four tiny squares.
    Carol marveled at her concentration and dexterity.
    Gianessa nudged the thirty-two tiny squares into a neat pile, sat back and sighed. “I totally failed my daughter and my husband, when what I really wanted—more than anything—was to be a mother and a wife.”
    “Yes, we’ve talked about that, and it’s very sad. Do you still want to be a mother and a wife?”
    “It’s not possible.” Gianessa’s voice was hard.
    Carol lightened her tone. “What are you planning to do with that pretty pink pile of torn paper?”
    Gianessa huffed and squirmed in her chair, pursed her mouth, and finally met Carol’s gaze. “It’s not that I don’t want to have a career. I do. I’m a healer, and I want to share that gift. I’m a talented physical therapist, and I want to use that skill. I’m happy Joel will be home and in therapy very soon.”
    “But?”
    Gianessa looked around the coffee shop, swallowed hard, and brought her gaze to rest on the tiny squares