Read One Last Weekend for Free Online

and I’ll leave you alone. I promise.”
    â€œOkay,” Joanna agreed, a split second before she realized she’d just taken the bait.
    â€œDo you love Dad or not?”
    An enormous, painful lump formed in Joanna’s throat. She tried to swallow, but it wouldn’t go down.
    â€œMom? Are you still there?”
    â€œI’m—here,” Joanna managed.
    â€œThat’s what I thought. You still love Dad, don’t you?”
    Joanna realized she loved the man Teague used to be, but he’d become someone else over the past few years. As for last night, well, that had been—what? A time warp? Some kind of primitive reaction to being stranded together in a storm?
    â€œMom?”
    â€œCaitlin, not now. Please.”
    â€œI’m coming up there,” Caitlin said decisively. “Someone has to talk sense into the two of you.”
    Joanna drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, silently reminding herself that she loved her daughter. Caitlin was only trying to help. “You’re expecting a baby, sweetheart,” she said gently. “You have a husband and a nice apartment and a very demanding job. You can’t just pick up and leave.”
    â€œPeter and I talked it over last night,” Caitlin said. “We want to take Sammy.”
    â€œTake Sammy?”
    â€œYou know, give him a home.”
    â€œHe has a home.”
    â€œA broken one.” Caitlin gave a small, stifled sob.
    Again, Joanna’s eyes stung. “Yes,” she admitted, suddenly imagining all of them—herself, Teague, Caitlin and Sammy—picking their way around the storm-tossed wreckage of some once-great ship, unable to reach each other. “A broken one.”
    â€œI guess Sammy wouldn’t be happy in this little apartment,” Caitlin admitted.
    Suddenly needing to move, Joanna wandered out of the kitchen and into the living room to stand with one bent knee resting on the window seat cushion. Sunlight danced, dazzling on the water—it was as if there’d been no storm in the night, as if she’d dreamed it.
    While Caitlin talked on, Joanna, only half listening, stared out at the sandy, stony beach in front of the cottage and remembered Teague and Sammy playing there. Teague throwing sticks, Sammy chasing them, bringing them back.
    â€œSammy needs your father,” Joanna said.
    And deep in her heart, a silent voice added, And so do I.

Chapter Three
    By the time Sammy and Teague returned from their supermarket mission, Joanna had brought the bumpy conversation with Caitlin in for a safe landing, gathered up the quilts from the living-room floor, and opened several windows to the warmth of the day.
    â€œHe’s jonesing for a walk,” Teague said with a nod toward Sammy as Joanna stepped outside to help carry in the bags of groceries stuffed into the tiny trunk of the sports car. “Think breakfast could wait?”
    Joanna smiled even as her heart splintered inside her. Why couldn’t life always be like this—simple, easy, glazed in sunlight? “Sure,” she said.
    So they left the groceries, and Teague caught hold of her hand, and they went across the dirt road and down the bank to the beach, Sammy gamboling joyfully ahead of them.
    Joanna bit her lower lip, watching him, trying to stay another spate of tears. They would have this one last glorious weekend together, she and Teague and Sammy. She envied the dog because he couldn’t know just how short the time would be.
    â€œWhat?” Teague asked, noticing what she was trying so hard to hide.
    â€œI was just wondering—do you think we tried hard enough?”
    Teague looked puzzled.
    â€œTo save our marriage, Teague,” Joanna prompted.
    â€œNo,” Teague said. He bent, still holding Joanna’s hand firmly, and picked up a stick. He tossed it a little ways for Sammy, who shot after it, a streak of happy, golden dog catapulting down the