Love on the Horizon (A Northern Woods Novel) by Charliann Roberts

getting tired of this game,
honey. I know we planned our future well ahead of time, conspired very
carefully; but I miss you so much. I want to be home with you. When will this be
over?’ That was all I heard. She then turned in the opposite direction, and I
walked out of the restroom.”
    Mariah pulled a tablet from her
purse and wrote it all down, word for word.  “I have to show this to Nick. As
much as it would hurt Jake, I’m sure he’d want to know what she’s up to.” 
Mariah held the gold heart on the chain she wore around her neck. Nick gave it
to her for Christmas. It was a beautiful one-karat diamond set in the middle of
a gold heart. She was an extremely lucky woman and still very much in love. She
was very thankful for a wonderful husband and a solid marriage.
    * * *
    “I wonder how the men are doing,”
Mariah said, after she’d put the twins down for their nap.
    “Probably having the time of
their lives; I’m sure my boys are enjoying it.”
    “I’m not real sure about Nicky.
He thought I’d be going along. When I told him the girls were too young to go
camping, he looked as though he was having second thoughts.”
    “Don’t worry, Mariah. Once
they’ve pulled out their fishing rods, they’ll have forgotten all about us.
Believe me. I’m glad you asked me to stay here tonight. I get awfully lonely in
that empty house.”
    “I love to have you around,
Sarah, you know that. We’re both so busy with our families these days that we
aren’t able to get together often enough. Hey, let’s see if there’s a good
movie on tonight, and we can make popcorn. All four of us will have a slumber
party,” she joked.
    Mariah suddenly grabbed her phone
from the table next to her. “Hello handsome,” she said.
    “You must have been bored to
death, sitting there waiting for us to call,” Nick said. “What if it hadn’t
been me? What if it had been Art?”
    “Oh, he’d have thanked me for the
compliment,” Mariah laughed.
    “Here, Nicky wants to talk to
you.”
    “Mommy, guess what? I put a worm
on the hook all by myself, and I got a great big fish!”
    “Oh my goodness, you caught one
all by yourself?”
    “Well, daddy helped me.”
    “Now you’ll have something
special for show and tell when you start kindergarten this year.”
    “I know. Daddy took a picture. I
have to go now. I’m going to help them set our tent up. Bye Mommy.”
    “Bye honey, you have lots of
fun.” She closed her phone and looked at Sarah.
    “You don’t have to tell me,”
Sarah said, glancing upward, her forefinger placed alongside her chin. “Let me
see… he was all excited; he caught a fish; they've all been having fun, and he
didn’t even tell you he missed you.”
    “How’d you know?”
    “Been there, remember? It turned
out the same way for both Tommy and Bobby. Don’t worry, by tomorrow he’ll miss
you all the way home. ‘ Are we almost home daddy? Are we there yet? ’
Don’t worry, he won’t forget about you. Nick will tell you all about it.”
Mariah laughed and playfully gave her a light push.
    “The twins are still asleep. Want
to make a pizza?”
    Sarah nodded and they both jumped
from the couch and raced out to the kitchen, just like high school days.

Chapter
Nineteen
     
    “Mommy, Mommy,” Nicky said, when
he ran toward the porch. “I caught a fish, Mommy! It’s this big!” He spread his
arms apart as wide as he could and stood looking up at her with a very proud
grin.
    “Oh my! How did you ever manage
such a huge fish all by yourself? You must be getting big muscles if you reeled
it in without any help.”
    “Well, daddy kinda helped me, a
little.”
    Nick came up the steps carrying
their fishing poles, placed them up against the railing, and set the tackle box
down next to them.
    “Hi honey, we sure missed you.”
He looked her up and down and tipped his head, then crossed his arms and stared
at her.
    “What?”
    “Something’s different. You look
even sexier than you did