Moms Night Out Read Online Free PDF Page B

glances. Was the slightest motion of Sondra elbowing her daughter’s ribs just her imagination?
    “Or whether you’re really a good mother by some measure that you’ve created in your mind. So as we get started today what I want to say to every mother here is that there is hope for you. I want all of you to focus in on what the Lord is saying to you—”
    “Allyson!” It was Izzy’s loud whisper that interrupted.
    Allyson turned and noticed her friend standing at the end of the pew. Izzy crouched down in the aisle, uncomfortably close to the bald guy whose cheeks turned yet another shade of pink.
    “Look, I know you didn’t want to be paged,” Izzy whispered, “but Beck has an especially large head and those are especially small pottys in the children’s wing.” Izzy winced. “But the good news is that we found the screwdriver and we got the seat off the toilet, but we don’t know how to get it off Beck’s head.”
    “What?!” Before she could stop herself Allyson’s scream split the air. Somehow this made the salmonella incident seem like a cakewalk.
    Pastor Ray turned her direction, and she could tell he was trying to keep his train of thought. “Our music minister, uh, he is going to come and, uh, lead us in song, and we are going to continue in worship . . .” Pastor Ray managed to say.
    Allyson clenched her fists, and lifted her face to the ceiling— to God—breathing out a quick prayer for strength. Did He see her? Did God really see her efforts? Did it matter?
    She released a shuddering breath and rose.
    Happy Mother’s Day.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Sean held the bouquet of flowers in one hand, and carried his overnight bag in the other as he entered the house. The room was dim. The moonlight from the windows bathed the living room in a soft gray. For a moment he wondered if he had the right place. To say their home was a mess was an understatement. Every toy in the house was scattered over the living room, their extra blankets, and plastic cups, plates, bowls were too. Couch pillows made up a leaning fort that looked ready to tumble at any moment.
    “Hey, Hon?” Sean called. “Ally?”
    He noticed something else, on the floor a trail of chocolate wrapping papers led the way to their bedroom, and then into the closet. He peeked in. Ally was inside with her computer. There was a picture—a video maybe—of a bird on the screen. The door squeaked as he opened it farther.
    He stepped into the closet. “Hey!”
    Allyson was heaped on the floor. She cowered down as the light shined in, clutching a bag of dark chocolate.
    She glanced up at him, and her lips curl up in a slight smile. “You’re home, hi.” Her voice was soft and raspy.
    “What happened?”
    Ally gave the slightest of shrugs. “Just taking a little break. Mommy time.”
    He slid down the wall and sat beside her. “Okay.”
    Allyson lifted the bag of chocolate up to him. “I ate the wholebag”
    “That’s okay.” He tried to reassure her, and then breathed out. Sean cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously, the whole bag? Really?” “Uh-hum,” she muttered, appearing half-asleep. Or maybe in a chocolate coma. Yes, he thought it to be the later for sure.
    “Actually, I’m hiding,” she admitted. Her face looked beautiful in the glow of the computer screen, even with rumpled hair and a smudge of chocolate on her lips.
    He reached up to brush a curl from her cheek. “From what?” “The house. It’s awful.” She moaned.
    “It’s not awful.”
    Allyson tilted her chin down. “It’s awful . . . it’s so bad.” “Well, it’s bad, but it’s not awful . . .” He let his voice trail off. She looked at him in disbelief, and he offered a slight smile. “Well, some of it is awful.”
    He noticed then what she was watching. It wasn’t a video but rather a Ustream of an eagle’s nest. “What do you have there?” Allyson looked back to the screen. “Sondra posted it. I can’t stop watching, and I—I don’t know why.”
    He