Read Love Far Away (A Spicy Contemporary Romance) for Free Online Page B

summer
reconnecting...I just didn’t see it coming at all.”
    “I’m so sorry, Julia,” my mom sympathized. “I can’t imagine
what that’s like. I don’t know- from an outsider point of view, I’ve known
Bradley a long time, and seen the two of you together for a long time. And I
did think something changed. I don’t know if you changed on your own, or if he
changed and that made you change, or what, but when I looked back at who you
are today, thirty years old, and when I look at who you were in high
school...well, it’s two different people.”
    “Of course it is, Mom,” I said. “I was a teenager with no
responsibilities back then. Now I’m a mom, I have a mortgage and a car payment
and life insurance and a home to manage and kids to raise and a home business
to try and run- of course I’ve changed.”
    “You didn’t change together, though,” said Mom. “That’s what
I meant. Of course who you are as a person evolves as you get older, but if
you’re lucky, you both change into people who still love each other and get
along. You turned into someone, he turned into someone else. And those people
might not get along as well as Julia and Bradley of eight years ago did.”
    I couldn’t quite hear the ‘I told you not to get married so
young’ in there, but I thought it was in the background. My parents had warned
me, after all, not to marry so young- live on your own for a year, get the
feeling of independence, my mother had urged me. Don’t go straight from your
parents’ home to a man’s. I hadn’t listened because I was young and in love.
    “Well,” I said, “thanks. I think.”
    “I don’t mean ‘I told you so’,” said Mom hurriedly. “Just-
I’ve watched you lose your sparkle over the past while. I know it sounds cheesy
but it’s true. Just seemed like life- love- was getting you down. You weren’t
the same girl I remembered. So if you need to take a break from all this mess
and go out there and find that sparkle, or get in touch with yourself and
remember who you are- not as a mother, not as a wife, but who Julia is- you go
out there and do it.”
    My mother’s words echoed in my head for the next few days.
She was right, of course- our mothers always are, aren’t they? I could only
vaguely remember what life was like before babies and husbands. There was joy
in being a mother, but there was so much drudgery too. I needed this break. I
needed to remember who I was.
    Bradley hadn’t moved out, but he was sleeping on the couch
for the time being. I was trying my hardest to put on a good face for the kids
and be as friendly and normal around him as I could, but when it was just the
two of us I could hardly bear to even look at him. Ironically, now that he’d
told me he wanted a divorce so he could be with this Nikki girl, he was coming
home early more often and spending more time at home. The day after I’d called
my mom, though, I waited until Henry and Olivia were in bed. Then I spoke in
the most flat, unemotional voice I could manage.
    “By the way, since we won’t be going away on vacation
together while the kids are at my parents’ house, I’m going on a trip with the
girls at the end of the month. Just so you know.”
    He looked up from the TV, startled. “Huh? What? No, you
can’t do that- who’s going to care for the kids?”
    I turned away so I wasn’t facing him when I spoke. I
concentrated on using the most even tone I could. “Like I said, they’ll be with
my parents. You won’t have to lift a finger. In fact, it will make things even
easier for you.”
    “Why, though? Why do you need a vacation?”
    “Maybe,” I said, “because my husband of eight years and
partner of fourteen years just told me he is in love with someone else and no
longer wishes to be part of my family.”
    “Knock off the melodramatics, Julia,” he said, turning back
to the TV. “You wouldn’t just up and leave on vacation.”
    “Oh no? What makes you say