lack of privacy, the amount of energy and attention young children needed, and all the things Cooper knew he couldn’t even begin to imagine, never having been around young children.
God, but what was he doing, thinking only about how
their
lives would be altered. Lucy’s and Ben’s lives had already been tragically changed.
They
deserved a little consideration here.
But no matter how Cooper looked at it, he couldn’t see how bringing those kids here to New York to live was going to help any of them. No matter how he looked at it, he simply couldn’t see how he and Josie could give Ben and Lucy the amount of time and love they were going to need.
No, there had to be another solution. There
had
to be. It just called for some creative thinking. And he and Josie were the king and queen of creative thinking, that was for sure.
This was going to be a piece of cake.
Cooper stood up and went to give Josie the good news. Ben and Lucy were alive.
SIX
J OSIE’S STOMACH was in a knot as the 727 started its final descent into Nashville. There was so much to be sick about, she wasn’t quite sure which was making her feel the worst—the plane ride or the fact that she was unwillingly returning to her home state after more than ten years away.
She’d had enough of small town living and small town poverty to last a lifetime. It was true that Nashville was a city, but geographically it was much too close to the town she’d grown up in. As long as she was within a few hours drive of that little one-stop-sign town in the mountains, she’d be susceptible to its pull. A small town was like quicksand, Josie’s mother used to tell her. It was always waiting to pull you down, drag you under.
Josie’s mother had been married at seventeen, pregnant with Brad. Josie had come along a few years later, and from the time she was old enough to understand, her mother had urged her to get out, to break free, to escape the endless cycle of small town life. Don’t make the mistakes I did, Josie’s mother had repeatedly told her. Give yourself a chance to live your own life before you give everything up and have a family.
Get far away from here, her mother had urged her. Go to college, be self-reliant. After all, you’re the only one you can really count on. And when that small town boy promises you a house with a little picket fence and all the babies you could ever want, don’t be fooled. Babies may be sweet, but they’ll weigh you down. And that picket fence is nothing but the bars of a jail, painted a pretty color. Run fast and don’t look back.
Josie had taken her mother’s advice to heart. And when she’d left Tennessee, she’d sworn she’d never come back. ’Course, she hadn’t taken into account the possibility that she’d need to return to bury her brother and his wife.
Lord, both her fear of flying and her discomfort at having to return to her former home seemed stupid, petty, and laughably small in comparison to the dreadful fact that Brad and Carla were dead.
Dead. As in gone, good-bye, the end. No second chances, no second tries. No do-overs. Not this time.
Brad had wanted Josie and Cooper to come visit. He’d called every so often with invitations. But both Josie’s work schedule and her reluctance to return to Tennessee kept her from making any plans with him.
God, she hadn’t even laid eyes on her niece and nephew. Josie hadn’t even
talked
to Brad since before the new baby was born, more than nine months ago. She’d gotten the news about Brad’s son on her answering machine, and had left a message of congratulations on
his
machine. She had sent a gift—something baby-blue that one of her secretaries had picked out.
Lord, her stomach burned. The pain was white hot and sharp and relentless as hell. Staunchly, she ignored it, the same way she ignored the fact that the huge jet was screaming toward that ridiculously tiny airstrip on the ground.
Cooper reached over and took her hand. He didn’t smile
God, but what was he doing, thinking only about how
their
lives would be altered. Lucy’s and Ben’s lives had already been tragically changed.
They
deserved a little consideration here.
But no matter how Cooper looked at it, he couldn’t see how bringing those kids here to New York to live was going to help any of them. No matter how he looked at it, he simply couldn’t see how he and Josie could give Ben and Lucy the amount of time and love they were going to need.
No, there had to be another solution. There
had
to be. It just called for some creative thinking. And he and Josie were the king and queen of creative thinking, that was for sure.
This was going to be a piece of cake.
Cooper stood up and went to give Josie the good news. Ben and Lucy were alive.
SIX
J OSIE’S STOMACH was in a knot as the 727 started its final descent into Nashville. There was so much to be sick about, she wasn’t quite sure which was making her feel the worst—the plane ride or the fact that she was unwillingly returning to her home state after more than ten years away.
She’d had enough of small town living and small town poverty to last a lifetime. It was true that Nashville was a city, but geographically it was much too close to the town she’d grown up in. As long as she was within a few hours drive of that little one-stop-sign town in the mountains, she’d be susceptible to its pull. A small town was like quicksand, Josie’s mother used to tell her. It was always waiting to pull you down, drag you under.
Josie’s mother had been married at seventeen, pregnant with Brad. Josie had come along a few years later, and from the time she was old enough to understand, her mother had urged her to get out, to break free, to escape the endless cycle of small town life. Don’t make the mistakes I did, Josie’s mother had repeatedly told her. Give yourself a chance to live your own life before you give everything up and have a family.
Get far away from here, her mother had urged her. Go to college, be self-reliant. After all, you’re the only one you can really count on. And when that small town boy promises you a house with a little picket fence and all the babies you could ever want, don’t be fooled. Babies may be sweet, but they’ll weigh you down. And that picket fence is nothing but the bars of a jail, painted a pretty color. Run fast and don’t look back.
Josie had taken her mother’s advice to heart. And when she’d left Tennessee, she’d sworn she’d never come back. ’Course, she hadn’t taken into account the possibility that she’d need to return to bury her brother and his wife.
Lord, both her fear of flying and her discomfort at having to return to her former home seemed stupid, petty, and laughably small in comparison to the dreadful fact that Brad and Carla were dead.
Dead. As in gone, good-bye, the end. No second chances, no second tries. No do-overs. Not this time.
Brad had wanted Josie and Cooper to come visit. He’d called every so often with invitations. But both Josie’s work schedule and her reluctance to return to Tennessee kept her from making any plans with him.
God, she hadn’t even laid eyes on her niece and nephew. Josie hadn’t even
talked
to Brad since before the new baby was born, more than nine months ago. She’d gotten the news about Brad’s son on her answering machine, and had left a message of congratulations on
his
machine. She had sent a gift—something baby-blue that one of her secretaries had picked out.
Lord, her stomach burned. The pain was white hot and sharp and relentless as hell. Staunchly, she ignored it, the same way she ignored the fact that the huge jet was screaming toward that ridiculously tiny airstrip on the ground.
Cooper reached over and took her hand. He didn’t smile
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