Starting Over Read Online Free PDF

me.”
    Alex got an
uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sharon had told him half
a dozen times that running the inn was a full-time job. How could
his wife expect to be an innkeeper if she was living in another
state? Unless… “Okay, what do you want to do?” Alex wasn’t in a
strong position to negotiate. If she was determined to keep it,
they would simply have to find a way to make it work. According to
Sharon, Dan was a competent manager, but Alex would never let him
work closely with Eve while they were trying to rebuild their
marriage. He trusted his wife, but he knew her former boyfriend
would trash-talk him the second his back was turned.
    “I need to stay
here.”
    Alex took a few
deep breaths, knowing his blood pressure must be dangerously high.
During his last examination, his doctor had told him it was
high-normal and he needed to learn to manage his stress unless he
wanted to go on medication. Eve had taken Alex from terrified to
elated and back to panic in the span of an hour, and he knew he
needed to take control of himself before it got worse. He prayed
she would tell him she just needed a few more weeks to tie up some
loose ends and then she would come home. “For how long?”
    “I don’t know
yet.” Bringing her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms
around her legs with her back facing him. “I’m still reeling from
my aunt’s death. I didn’t expect to see you today, and I certainly
didn’t expect this.”
    He refused to
allow her to write off their intimacy as a mistake when he
considered it the smartest decision he’d made in months. He placed
his hand on her back, hoping to regain some of the tenderness
they’d shared only moments ago. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I
didn’t mean to pressure you.”
    “It’s not your
fault,” she said, sighing. “You have every right to expect answers.
It’s not fair to expect you to live in limbo forever. That’s not
what I want either.”
    He hadn’t felt
as though he’d been living in limbo because he’d never believed his
marriage was in jeopardy. He knew they were going through a rough
patch and feeling disconnected, but he’d never considered, even for
a second, that they might be at the end of their story. “I know
what I want, Eve. You. I want to be married to you. Period.” It
really was that simple. He was willing to compromise, but not if it
meant letting her go.
    She propped her
head on her arms. “There was a time when I would have given
anything to hear you say that.”
    “I’m saying it
now.” He waited for some response—a smile, a sigh, anything that
would give him a hint as to how she was feeling—but her beautiful
face remained impassive as she looked at him. He used to be able to
read her so well, but he felt as if he was looking into the
lifeless eyes of a stranger he once knew. He wanted his wife back,
the woman who laughed with wild abandon, loved with her whole
heart, and wanted a baby with everything she had. Hoping to bridge
the widening gap between them, he said, “I saw the doctor last
week.”
    “You did?” she
asked, looking hesitant. “What did he say?”
    She’d been
asking him to go for a checkup for the past year. When they weren’t
able to get pregnant right away, she’d feared one or both of them
may have a problem, but Alex brushed her off. He told her they were
both fine and she was worrying too much. His doctor concurred with
his analysis, but he didn’t need to tell Eve that. “He said
everything checks out. Except for my cholesterol and blood
pressure—that was a little high, but nothing to worry about.”
    Eve frowned.
“How high?”
    “One forty over
ninety.” He loved that she cared enough to ask. “But honestly, it’s
nothing to worry about. In terms of getting pregnant—”
    “Please, I
can’t think about that now,” she said, holding her hand up to
silence him.
    She’d once
wanted to talk about little else. In that moment, Alex realized how
much she’d