Where Azaleas Bloom by Sherryl Woods Page A

relationship
balance that works for them. Look at Helen and Erik. She’s a high-powered
attorney with a statewide reputation and he’s a chef in a small-town restaurant.
He doesn’t seem to be the least bit threatened by that.”
    “Need I remind you that that restaurant has an outstanding
reputation all over the state?” Mitch said. “I doubt Dana Sue would appreciate
any hint that it’s some local dive.”
    Lynn winced. “I didn’t mean it that way. I was just making a
point. And to continue with that, Cal doesn’t seem to notice that Maddie’s ten
years older than he is. There are all sorts of things that make couples seem
unlikely to outsiders, but that work perfectly for them.”
    Mitch nodded. “I suppose in a way that was even true for Amy
and me. I was a blue-collar guy all the way and she was a debutante. Did you
know that?”
    Lynn shook her head. “I never would have guessed. The few times
I met her, she seemed totally down-to-earth.” She shrugged. “Then, again, so’s
Raylene, and she was a debutante, too.”
    “With Amy sometimes I wondered how our paths even crossed, but
fate stepped in and there she was one day when I was over at Sullivan’s Island
with my folks. Her blueblood Charleston family nearly had a coronary when we
said we wanted to get married. They insisted that she had to go to college, and
if it was what she still wanted after graduation, they promised to go along with
it. Then she got pregnant with Nate, and that was that. They couldn’t get us
down the aisle fast enough. I think they finally reconciled themselves to having
me in the family when Luke was born, and Amy and I were still together and
happy.”
    “My folks never approved of Ed,” Lynn confided. “I think they
saw him in a way I didn’t until we started this divorce process. My father
always thought he was shallow and self-involved. Most of the time my mom managed
to get him to keep his opinion to himself, but both of them slipped up enough
that I knew exactly how they felt.”
    Her smile was rueful. “Of course, I wouldn’t listen, because
what do parents know? Some days I wish I had listened, but then I wouldn’t have
Lexie and Jeremy. They’re worth whatever pain I’m going through now. And I can’t
help thinking the one good thing about having lost my parents a few years ago is
that they don’t have to see the way he’s behaving now. And I don’t have to hear
so many I-told-you-so comments.”
    “What about his folks? I know they’re still right here in town.
Have they stepped up at all?”
    A hint of temper sparked in her eyes. “And suggest for even an
instant that their precious son might be in the wrong? Not a chance,” she said
heatedly, then flushed. “Sorry. They’re good people, but they have a blind spot
where Ed’s concerned. Heaven knows what he’s told them about the divorce, but
I’m sure they think I’m the one in the wrong.”
    “Maybe you need to set them straight before they say something
in front of the kids,” he suggested.
    “Too late,” Lynn said. “Lexie already refuses to go over there
because her grandmother said something about me that upset her. She refuses to
tell me what was said. It’s taken everything in me not to go charging over there
to warn them they’ll never see either of my kids again if they don’t watch what
they say around them.”
    “Maybe you should,” he told her, angry on her behalf.
    She shook her head. “I don’t want to escalate things. As far as
I know, there was only the one slip. I’m sure when Lexie stopped going over,
they got the message. For all their flaws, they adore the kids. I know they have
to be missing her.”
    Mitch would have been content to stay right here for a second
cup of coffee, but he knew he was getting entirely too comfortable being with
Lynn. The other night they’d established the need to take it slow, for both
their sakes. He had to honor that.
    “I should get over and check on my crew.” He