Finding The Way Back To Love (Lakeside Porches 3) Read Online Free PDF

end, followed by a forkful of home fries.
    At a lull in the conversation, he gave Haley an easy smile and asked her, “So what does your young man think about all this?”
    The wheat bagel, dripping with peanut butter, stopped halfway to Haley’s mouth. She looked left and right.
    Peter glanced at Gwen, his eyebrows pinched together in puzzlement.
    Gwen shrugged. This was new territory for her, too.
    “Rick doesn’t know.” Haley set her bagel on the plate and licked a dollop of peanut butter from her thumb.
    Peter set down his fork and pressed back with an audible exhale. “None of my business, but if I were Rick I would want to know and would want to support you through this and would feel betrayed if you left me out.”
    Haley did not move a muscle, but tears slipped from her eyes. She choked out, “But I can’t.”
    Peter’s shoulders bunched and his hands made fists, but he held his emotion in check when he said to Haley, “I am guessing you and Rick love each other. If so, whatever promise or fear is holding you back can’t trump your responsibility to the father of this baby.”
    “If I saw him, I would not be able to give up the baby.” Haley’s voice was tremulous. “He would want us to get married, and that would be so unfair to him. He’s worked so hard on his engineering degree. I can’t take that away from him.”
    “Haley, if I were Rick I would want the chance to decide that with you.”
    Haley’s forehead creased in pain, and her face turned red. “Excuse me.” She slipped off the stool and fled from the kitchen before either of them could reach out.
    Gwen held onto the island with both hands to keep from rushing after her. She knew the right thing was to give Haley time alone to wrestle with this new input. Peter was right. Haley and Rick together needed to decide the next steps.
    “I apologize,” Peter told her. “I had no business saying any of that.”
    “Don’t apologize. She needed to get that out, and she needed to hear what a man thinks. Haley and I both dance around things. It might have taken us days to get to that. And anyway, what do I know about a man’s point of view in a situation like this?”
    Peter picked up half of his buttered bagel, tapped it on his plate, and let it drop again. “So, she hadn’t told you. And when I was online last night, working on the report, I noticed her Facebook page went silent more than three months ago. She’s been trying to deal with this by herself too long.”
    “I could learn a few things from you,” Gwen said with admiration in her voice. Deirdre’s right about my being stuck in the last millennium . “All I know is she was waitressing in Saratoga Springs until last week. I don’t know why she quit. Maybe they didn’t want her belly in the high-class dining room anymore.”
    “Or she finally realized she needed help and knew you were the one she could turn to.”
    Gwen took a nervous sip of almost-cold coffee. “I’m sure her mother was no help. Ursula is completely self-absorbed. She probably threw Haley out on the street.” She used a piece of bagel to push the rest of her omelet into the center of the plate and rested the bagel on top. “Haley and I didn’t get into the hard questions last night. All I know is she came here by bus with a duffle full of dirty clothes—none of them maternity clothes—and a stash of cash.”
    “She said last night she walked here from the bus station.”
    “I didn’t even know she was coming.” Tears burned Gwen’s eyes. “I realized this morning, she had left me about six messages from four o’clock on. I should have been here for her.”
    “Gwen, you were here for her.” Peter’s voice was gentle. “Your timing was just off a little. And maybe it’s not a bad thing that the police confronted her for breaking in last night. It’s a wake-up call that she’s making some desperate decisions. Bad ones.”
    “You’re a wise man, Officer Shaughnessy.” Gwen dabbed at her