Raising Rain by Debbie Fuller Thomas

find him.

    Rain updated Bebe on her mother’s condition when they met for coffee on Friday morning. Bebe seemed to be a little down, and Rain remembered that Dylan and Scott had both left.
    â€œSo, are you and Neil getting away to someplace special, now that the boys are gone?” Rain asked.
    Bebe removed the lid from her coffee to let it cool and shrugged. “We’re trying. But it’s the end of the summer and we have staff vacations already scheduled. We’ll see.”
    After an awkward silence, Bebe asked, “Have you heard from Hayden?”
    â€œHe sent me an e-mail saying that he wanted to come by on Sunday to get the rest of his stuff.”
    â€œAre you going to be okay with that?”
    â€œWhat choice do I have? I just hope he doesn’t bring somebody with him.”
    Bebe frowned. “He doesn’t seem that insensitive. But maybe you should have a friend with you, just in case.”
    Rain sighed. “Well, that’s another problem.” She glanced over at the table to their right where a young couple sat close together. Rain lowered her voice. “How often do you see Toni and Mare?”
    â€œNot very often, why?”
    â€œWell, do you have any friends that you get together with—without Neil?”
    Bebe thought for a moment. “Not on a regular basis.” Then she added, smiling, “Just you.”
    â€œEver since Hayden left, I’ve tried to connect with my old friends, but they’re all preoccupied. Lisa from my office is married and their families monopolize her time, and Sarah is
very
pregnant and only caresabout baby stuff, which would be great if I were pregnant, too. Kim works seventy hours a week at her travel agency when she’s not leading a tour with her boyfriend, Mark. It seems like we all cut our ties when we found guys. We all isolated ourselves—except that they haven’t realized it yet because I’m the only one who is unattached at the moment.”
    â€œI see what you mean.”
    â€œIt’s so June Cleaver.”
    â€œHave you mentioned it to any of them?”
    â€œThey don’t want to hear it.” Rain’s attention caught on an attractive young barista behind the counter, but he was too young. She needed someone with a steady job and a future, not a college boy. “Sometimes I feel like they see me as a threat.”
    â€œA threat?”
    â€œThat it could happen to them.” Rain had never put the feeling into words before, and now that it was out, she felt betrayed. “Do you ever worry about that?”
    Bebe smiled into her cup and swirled her coffee. “Well, no. Neil and I have been together for over thirty years.” She chuckled. “That really makes us sound ancient. I suppose it could happen to anyone at any stage of life.”
    Rain didn’t want to cause Bebe concern, but she needed to ask. “Isn’t this the time when a lot of married couples split up, after the kids go away for college? Aren’t you worried about that?”
    Bebe paused for a moment. “When the boys first left it felt a little odd, but we’re finding it’s kind of fun being alone again. We work with each other every day and we go to church together, so we haven’t really grown apart much. I pray for our marriage, you know, and not just when we have challenges to face. It’s important to find common interests and to do things together—even small things. But even that’s no guarantee of security.”
    Rain ran her hand through her hair. “Relationships are so complicated. I mean, look at William and Mom. She treats him like dirt and he doesn’t say a thing. I feel so sorry for him.”
    Bebe dipped her head. “You never know what goes on between twopeople. He must have a reason, or he wouldn’t stay.”
    â€œMaybe change is just hard.”
    â€œAnd maybe he loves her. When you love someone enough, you can let them