Read Promise Me Forever (Debbie Macomber Classics) for Free Online

regretted the incident that morning with his father and later with her in the pool. He was a man driven to the limits of his endurance. Mentally, Joy pictured him standing at a crossroads. He would choose either life or a living death. Unconsciously, she brushed the hair off her forehead as a smile came to her. Interestingly, she had viewed him standing, and not in a wheelchair. Why such a nonsensical thing should lighten her spirits she didn’t know.
    Joy was whistling on her way out the front door. She hadn’t been hungry and had skipped dinner. All of a sudden she felt ravenous. There wasn’t time to stop and get something before the movie, so she decided to wait until after.
    The show was a light comedy that made her laugh, and heaven knew she needed a reason to smile.
    On the way down the coast highway, Joy pulled off at a fast-food restaurant. She hadn’t paid much attention to the kind of food until she stepped out of the car. Fish. The tantalizing aroma of deep-fried fish and crisp french fries filled the air.
    Joy read the menu and absently wondered if Sloan knew about this place. He would have, of course, since it was only a few miles from the house. But how long had it been since he’d tasted something like this?
    “Can I help you?” An eager-faced youth leaned over the counter.
    “Yes.” Joy’s eyes didn’t leave the menu that was painted in boldface letters over the grill. “I’d like a double order of fish and chips. And a Pepsi.”
    “Will that be all?”
    “No, make that two orders,” she added impulsively.
    “To go?”
    “Pardon?” Joy’s puzzled gaze found the girl’s.
    “Do you want to eat here or take out?” she asked with an impatient breath.
    “Take out.”
    Even as she paid for the meal, Joy wondered what had possessed her to do anything so foolish. No use lying to herself—she’d bought the second fish order for Sloan.
    The lights to his room weren’t visible from the front of the house. Joy carried the grease-stained white sack into her bedroom and immediately went out onto the balcony.
    His draperies were open, but the room was dark. He often sat alone with the lights off. Sometimes she thought he preferred it like that. He could hide in the shadows, but not in the light.
    Tentatively, she knocked on the sliding glass door and opened it just a crack.
    Silence.
    “Are you awake?” She whispered the question, not wishing to disturb him if he happened to be asleep. Her eyes adjusted to the dim interior and searched the room. He sat in the corner, his chin propped up by his fist.
    “How was the movie?”
    “Great.”
    His chuckle was filled with quiet humor. “Why are we whispering?”
    “I don’t know.” She slid open the door. “I didn’t have dinner, so I stopped off at a fish-and-chips place up the road.”
    “Not Mobey Jake’s?”
    “I didn’t notice the name, but it had a neon whale flashing off and on.”
    “That’s the one. The food’s terrific.”
    “I brought you an order back, too.”
    An uncomfortable pause followed her announcement. “Isn’t that fraternizing with the enemy?”
    “Could be,” she agreed, with a secret smile. “But my mother once told me I’d catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar. But then, my mother never met you.”

Chapter Three
    A contented feeling moved through Joy as she sat up in bed and stretched. Linking her fingers high above her head, she arched her back and released a long, drawn-out yawn.
    She couldn’t remember an evening she’d enjoyed more than the one spent with Sloan. He had chuckled when she relayed the movie plot and the antics of the characters. It was the first time Joy had heard the sound of his laughter. The feeling it had produced was warm and pleasant. She had seen him grit his teeth and muffle groans as she manipulated his legs, but never his amusement. How much more she preferred dark eyes that crinkled with laugh lines to ones that struggled to disguise pain.
    She dressed in jeans and a