1 Sunshine Hunter Read Online Free PDF Page A

into the bathroom.
    “Is that it? Is it over?” he called from the kitchen. “Did he tell you why he didn’t tell you he was married?”
    “He’s getting a divorce,” I called back. I heard Darby snort from the kitchen. “Really, he is,” I insisted. “The divorce was started before we met, and he thought it would be easier to tell me about it after it was over.”
    With raspberry iced tea in hand, Darby stood in the bathroom doorway watching me brush my hair, “Well, that kind of makes sense ,” he said. “Are you going to talk to him about it some more?”
    “I don’t know. I’m so confused. I don’t want to date a married man. And what if his son hates me?” I thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t want to see him right now. I need time to process all of this.” I put my brush down, and moved toward the doorway, “Darby, I have to run. I don’t want to be late for work.”
    “Listen, Susan,” he said stopping me. “I’m on vacation next week. I’m leaving Monday morning for Florida. Come with me. It’ll do you good to get away from here, and you can clear your head and decide what to do while taking a breather on the beach.”
    “I don’t know,” I told him. “That’s a tempting offer. Let me think about it, and I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
     
    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
     
    I slipped behind the counter at the club right on time. I tossed my gym bag against the back wall. I wasn’t playing tonight, but the bag had several freshly washed outfits I wanted to put in my locker if I had time.
    It was Saturday n ight, so I could only hope Mick wouldn’t make an appearance. Samantha and Larry were on court number three playing doubles with another couple. From the looks of Samantha’s hair and the lack of dry spots on Larry’s clothing, I assumed they had been playing for quite some time.
    The local cable company had booked a private party for some of their employees which gave them exclusive use to five of the ten courts and the pub upstairs. By the sounds coming from the pub, the party was in full swing. I looked over the court reser vations for the day and saw Husky had been in earlier in the afternoon, so I wouldn’t be seeing him this evening.
    For the next two hours, I didn’t have time to think about the events of the day. Party-goers always had more demands than the regular club members, and I spent extra time off-and-on in the storage room to get clean towels for the front desk and sodas for restocking the coolers. It would have been helpful to have another set of hands.
    Samantha came out of the locker room at 10:30 and perched on a stool at the counter. “What’s up, Susan? What’d you and Mick do today? Do we have court time for tomorrow? Can I get an apple juice?” Samantha and I both had a bad habit of peppering people with questions. It seemed easier to get them all out at one time and then wait for the answers. I ignored half of her questions.
    “Oh, Sam, you’re not going to believe what happened today,” I told her. I had to fight back tears as I poured an apple juice over ice for each of us. “Mick isn’t the person we thought he was, and I don’t think I’m going to see him anymore.”
    Between handing out towels and locker keys, and selling extra beer to party-goers, I filled Samantha in on most of the details. I could tell she was heartbroken for me.
    “Would you mind running back to the storage room and grabbing another stack of clean towels for me?” I asked her. “I need to stay here since so many people from Cable Connect are getting ready to hit the showers.”
    I passed out the rest of the towels on hand and started a quick close-out of the register. Jerry would be here in a few minutes to relieve me.
    Samantha put the clean towels in the bin and launched into her next set of questions. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Susan? And why didn’t Husky say anything to any of us? Have you talked to him? For cryin’ out loud, he works with Mick,