The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club by Lexi Eddings Page A

fight another day.
    * * *
    Anne watched Daniel pull away from the curb and drive slowly down the block. She was so hollow inside she didn’t know how to name what she was feeling. Part of her ached to run after the cruiser and call him back. Part of her held firm. This was a fight worth fighting. She couldn’t go back to him unless she won it.
    â€œDid you tell him?” Her mother came up behind her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œLord knows I’ve no use for the man, but he deserves to be told. Might shake some sense into him.”
    â€œHe’ll find out sooner or later. Probably sooner.” It wasn’t a secret that would keep. When she was carrying Carson, she hardly showed at all until the end of her fifth month. But this pregnancy felt different. Like a balloon that had been blown up once, she suspected her tummy would pop out a lot quicker this time.
    If Daniel knew she was pregnant again, he’d say anything to make her come home. But even if he did, how would she know if he really meant it?
    How could she ever tell whether it was her he wanted or if the only tie binding him to her was his children? After all, he was only coming back tomorrow morning for Carson’s appointment. Especially with Lacy Evans back in town, Anne needed to know Daniel loved her for her, not just because she was the mother of his son. Not just because he was chained to her by a wedding vow.
    If she and Daniel couldn’t re-form their circle of two . . . if their love wasn’t enough to get Danny through this gambling problem . . . how could they ever hope to create a safe place between them, a sweet little hollow for their children to take shelter in?

Chapter 9
    There’s nothing more relaxing for a man than spending a whole day in the company of his own thoughts. Unless it’s spending a day in the company of his own thoughts, a rod and reel, and the right kind of bait.
    Â 
    â€”Marvin Tyler, beloved husband of Mary, father of Jacob, Laura, Steven, and Mark
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    J ake cranked up the oldies station as he and Lacy headed east in his pickup on the highway that wound around Lake Jewel. On the town side of the lake, there was an expansive public park. Part of the Bates College campus was snugged up against its southwest cove. Once they passed the Coldwater Cove marina on the north side of the lake, thick woods rose up on either side of the drive.
    Lacy had managed to get Thursday off from the paper, the same day that he was regularly free from the Green Apple. The fact that she was willing to arrange her life to suit his schedule was a good sign. All week, he’d been looking forward to being with her at the lake house.
    With any luck, he could turn Thursdays into a standing all-day date.
    Conversation flowed easily between them. Since his injury, it had been hard to talk to women for longer than he could make a cup of coffee last. Invariably, they wanted to hear him rehash what had happened to him in Afghanistan and how he felt about it. Even if he could name what he was feeling, what was the good in dredging it all up again?
    Lacy treated him as if nothing had changed. If she had the slightest curiosity about his time in Helmand province, she kept it to herself.
    Another good sign.
    She was full of stories about her first week at the Coldwater Gazette . They were sure never to make the paper itself.
    â€œTurns out, there’s a running feud between Wanda and Marjorie Chubb for some unknown reason,” Lacy said. “I don’t remember them being at odds when I wrote for the paper before.”
    â€œThey may have been and you didn’t notice. High school kids are generally too wrapped up in themselves to pay attention to what’s going on with the adults around them.”
    â€œSpeak for yourself, Mr. Big Stuff,” she said. “I was sort of invisible in high school.”
    â€œNo, you weren’t.” Mr. Big Stuff, huh? He