The Back-Up Plan Read Online Free PDF

was nothing but a jerk. If Donna never saw him again it would be too soon. He could take his pro ball career and…
    Patty slid her arm around her sagging shoulders. “Honey, despite the horrid experiences you had, all jocks aren’t low life bastards. If you hadn’t avoided the male species other than Melissa’s father and your partner these last few years you might have learned that by now.” Patty gave her a squeeze. “You shouldn’t hold Hank’s physical attributes against him. Besides, Melissa absolutely adores him, and he’s a wonderful teacher.”
    “If you’re trying to reassure me, it’s not working.” Donna dropped into a padded, gray chair. On some level she understood her sister was right but that didn’t make her feel any better at the moment. “What I’d like to know is how did this man—this coach —end up teaching kindergarten?”
    “I don’t know all the details. Hank was hired by Mr. Taylor, the principal who died last spring. I think maybe it has something to do with the interim principal, Ms. Masters.” Patty shrugged. “She’s a real—well, you know. She’s smart, beautiful, and she likes things her way. Rumor has it she does everything she can to make Hank’s life miserable. I’ve heard she’s a cougar and wants…well you know.”
    Donna closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. She didn’t even want to consider what her daughter’s teacher had done to make the principal dislike him so. “I came here to get away from all the stress and insanity.” She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. “All I want is a nice, quiet life. No big staff meetings. No cocktail parties. And no hidden agendas like insurance fraud.”
    “I know.” Patty sat down beside her. “But no place is perfect.” She took Donna’s hand in hers. “No matter how it looks at the moment, coming here was the right thing to do.”
    Donna looked directly at Patty. “Starting over is the pits.”
    “You chose the path that matters. You needed a fresh start for your career. Melissa needed a safe, happy environment to grow up in. I think you’ll find both those things here in our not quite perfect little town.”
    Melissa’s unexpected daddy question elbowed its way to the front of the issues lined up on Donna’s plate. “You aren’t going to believe what Melissa asked me this morning.”
    Patty made a face. “What?”
    “She wants to know when she’s going to get a daddy like her cousins and friends.”
    “Oh, my.”
    “I knew it would happen eventually; I just hoped it would be later rather than sooner.”
    “Maybe it’s because she spent the last couple of weeks with us. Sam spends a lot of time with the girls. And starting school changes things, too. She probably hears the other children talking about their daddies.”
    “Now, I have to decide what to tell her.” Did being a mom ever get easier?
    “Don’t make too much of it just yet. Wait and see if she mentions it again. Five-year-olds are like butterflies, they flit from one fancy to another.”
    “I hope you’re right.”
    It started with a rumble. Donna frowned. The sound or the feeling got closer and closer until it felt as if the whole building was shaking. A whistle like shriek filled the air.
    Donna straightened away from the vibrating wall. “Is that a train?” She vaguely remembered crossing tracks somewhere on the way from Patty’s house to here.
    “Yeah.” Patty winced. “I forgot to mention the train. It comes through about nine every morning.”
    The rumble faded and the room fell calm again but the full realization was only then fully setting in for Donna. She turned on her heel and marched out the front entrance and around the corner of the building. Sure enough there was that train track cutting right through the already harvested cornfield not a dozen yards from her clinic.
    Maybe she and Melissa should jump on that track and start walking. They could just keep going until they reached the