The Promise of Provence (Love in Provence Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

from James was waiting. She chose not to open it. Later . Instead she read the messages from her colleagues at the office asking how she was feeling and sending a few files for her to take a look at when she felt up to it. They hoped she would be back with them on Monday.
    I will , she told herself. Life goes on .
    Opening iTunes, Katherine considered listening to some music, but every selection brought too many memories. Too soon for that , she muttered as she closed it.
    Next she clicked on the local newspaper websites, attempting to focus on something beyond her own life. Katherine was an admitted news junkie. She began and ended every day with the local online newspapers, as well as the CBC, BBC, and Al Jazeera. It would not be difficult to put in time until Andrea’s arrival. How much of what she was reading today would sink in was entirely another story.
    Random thoughts mixed with doubt, uncertainty, fear, and shock, pushing everything else aside. Concentration wasn’t happening.
    Life can change in an instant, she knew—accidents, test results from your doctor, heart attack, murder, your spouse announcing your marriage is over —but when it actually happened, acceptance was a process more anguishing than she could have imagined.

3
    The doorbell rang and Andrea walked in the front door. Standing in the hall, her eyes met Katherine’s for a split second before they wrapped their arms around each other.
    Andrea burst into tears.
    Katherine did not, astonished at her erratic emotions.
    The first bottle of wine emptied in no time. Andrea pulled herself together and listened in amazement as Katherine related every detail of Wednesday’s events, leaving nothing out. Suddenly, Katherine’s resolve broke and she sobbed, through a flood of tears, the question she simply could not reveal to her mother.
    “What’s wrong with me, Andie? This all somehow has to be my fault. What did I do wrong?”
    Andrea grasped her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake.
    “This absolutely is not your fault, so don’t start beating yourself up. That’s a natural reaction, but let’s just take a look at the facts. You’ll see you are not to blame for anything.”
    The raw shock Kat had suppressed at her mother’s was finally exposed. Like an open wound that had been festering for days, she needed to find a balm for it. Something that might stop the toxins from taking over.
    Andrea listened quietly, sharing that pain as Katherine poured her heart out. How she felt deceived and betrayed. How she railed against the unfairness of her infertility and how her body had failed her. Pounding her fists on the table at times and at others burying her face in her hands, she wondered how she would ever climb out from under the devastation.
    Much later in the evening, Andrea insisted they eat, although neither was really in the mood. Andrea’s potpie with its light, flaky crust accompanied by her sweet and savory flaxseed bread, were nothing less than delicious. “Schmeckt gut!” Katherine murmured with an appreciative look.
    Andrea smiled back upon hearing those familiar words of Elisabeth’s, glad to see that Katherine’s mood had altered somewhat.
    “You and Mom both know how to prepare food that gets right to your soul,” Kat said.
    The wine was making her mellow but not maudlin.
    Slurring ever so slightly, she predicted, “I’m not going to let this beat me down. I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus, but I know I’m strong enough to get through this.”
    Andrea calmly agreed. “I know that too, and even though it won’t be easy at first, you will come through this just fine. I guess it doesn’t really help at this point, but two women in my bridge group have had their marriages end in the past couple of years, and they’re both doing well. Great, in fact.”
    “It’s such a bloody shock, that’s the kicker. I mean, James never stopped acting like things were fine. He’s obviously been deceiving me for a very long