Dune Road Read Online Free PDF

at a table in the corner.
    “Uh oh!” Charlie casts her a sideways glance. “I know that look.”
    “What do you mean? ”
    “I mean that predatory, cougar look. You’ve got your eye on Robert McClore, haven’t you? ”
    Tracy laughs. “Don’t call me a cougar! ”
    “Why not? ” Charlie is all innocence. “It’s a compliment! ”
    “No it’s not. Anyway, isn’t a cougar a woman who goes out with younger men? ”
    “No. A cougar is a sexually active and confident woman who’s a predator. Tell me you’re not flattered.”
    “I’m not flattered.”
    “But you wouldn’t mind getting your hands on Robert McClore? ”
    “Well, he is attractive and single and seriously successful. Why exactly would I not be interested? ”
    “You’re talking about my boss!” Kit says. “I don’t even think of him that way. Anyway, he’s not interested, and why would you be? He’s in his sixties, Tracy! That’s much too old for you.”
    “I’m forty-one,” Tracy says. “And I’ve always liked older men. Just say you’ll introduce me, that’s all. Oh go on . . . please? ” She leans her head on Kit’s shoulder and Kit laughs.
    “Tracy, like you need anyone to introduce you. Men go crazy for you.”
    “In my dreams! ” Tracy snorts. “Since that freaky ex-husband of mine left, I only seem to attract the losers.”
    “Cute losers,” Charlie says and grins, remembering a guy who was with Tracy one time when she and Keith had bumped into them. That one had turned out to be a drug addict who ended his many clean years soon after he and Tracy started dating.
    “Yes, well. I’ve never been able to resist that lethal combination of black hair and green eyes.” Tracy remembers the ex with a shrug.
    “Doesn’t sound like Robert McClore would be your type,” Charlie teases.
    “Maybe he’s not.” Tracy grins. “But I wouldn’t mind finding out.”
    “You’re both incorrigible!” Kit laughs, but she is thrilled to have found Tracy, thrilled that she now feels part of a “gang,” feels like she belongs; and how lovely it is to have someone to share things with, to call up out of the blue or have them drop in unexpectedly for coffee.
    She hadn’t realized, for many years during her marriage, quite how much she had missed her female friends. Not that they fell out deliberately, but she no longer lived in Concord, and nor did any of her school friends, and distance, more than anything else, had forced them to drift apart.
    She was in Connecticut, others were in New York, still others scattered across the United States, and even some in Paris and London. From time to time they exchanged e-mails, and Facebook had done wonders in reintroducing her to faces from her past, but it wasn’t the same as having that close-knit group of friends, people who knew you back before you grew into yourself, people who had known, and loved, you for years.
    Charlie she has known for eleven years. They have shared history, laughter, tears. When Charlie suffered three miscarriages in a row after Paige was born, Kit was the one on whose shoulder she cried.
    And when Emma was born, it was Kit who threw the baby shower, Kit who gathered her friends together and made beautiful favors of miniature bassinets stuffed with embroidered good ies, Kit who took care of Emma when Charlie had to be somewhere for Paige.
    They met Tracy at an event called Cocktails, Creators and Chat, just over a year ago. In aid of one of the local breast cancer charities, it was a monthly event that had guest speakers, and women all over Highfield insisted their husbands get the earlier train home, or found a babysitter, and they filled the hall of the local theater, sipping cosmos and chattering excitedly, so thrilled to be away from their families for the night.
    Tracy stepped up to the stage, gorgeous with her long, blonde hair, her fresh-faced Californian beauty, and she talked about her love of yoga, her journey from being a girl who leaped from one