1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [92]
This scattered behavior was odd for his practical, even-keeled wife. Roy walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet to pour them each a glass of cold water. “Okay, what’s wrong?”
She didn’t deny that she was upset. “I ran into Gloria at the grocery store.” She paused as though to collect her thoughts.
Roy knew better than to prod her. She’d tell him when she was ready.
“I know Linnette so well,” she said, although Roy had no idea what Linnette had to do with this. “I would’ve realized in a heartbeat that she was pregnant the moment I looked at her.”
“It’s a bit more difficult over the phone,” he agreed, although he didn’t know what that had to do with meeting Gloria in the Safeway store.
“She’s upset about something and—”
“Linnette is?”
“No, Gloria.”
Roy was beginning to get her drift now. Corrie had talked to Gloria and couldn’t read her the way she could their daughter. Except that Gloria was their daughter, too. Their first daughter.
“I asked her to dinner on Sunday.”
“Good.” Spending time together was the key. There were wounds to heal and relationships to build. He wanted Gloria to feel part of their family because she was family.
“She can’t.”
“She’s working?” Roy knew that as the most recent addition to the sheriff’s department, Gloria pulled the less desirable shifts. She’d been on duty over the Fourth of July, and was probably working weekends, as well.
“She didn’t give me a reason.” Corrie was putting away the groceries. “I suggested a weekday as an alternative and she said she’d get back to me, but I’m afraid she won’t.” Corrie shook her head. “She’s avoiding us.”
That was one possibility but his wife could be exaggerating, making unwarranted assumptions. He didn’t want to say that, though. Gloria was still a sensitive subject for them.
“Do you know if she’s seeing anyone?” Corrie asked him out of the blue.
“Dating, you mean?”
“Yes, dating.”
“Not really. She hasn’t said. Did she mention anyone to you?”
Corrie nodded. “But not his name.”
“So you think this might be about relationship troubles?”
“Well, isn’t it always?” she challenged.
That seemed to be the end of the conversation.
Roy spread the Cedar Cove Chronicle out on the kitchen table and opened it to the crossword puzzle.
Suddenly Corrie exclaimed, “It’s that doctor!”
Roy glanced up.
“What doctor?”
“The one Linnette was so keen on. At the clinic. I remember that he seemed more interested in Gloria, and that really bothered Linnette.”
Roy managed to conjure up a hazy memory of this. Linnette had liked some doctor but then given up on him and fallen for that horseman, instead. Cal Washburn, his name was.
Roy returned to his crossword as his wife washed fresh herbs and rolled them in a paper towel to store in a refrigerator bag. He had one corner of the puzzle completed when Corrie interrupted him again.
“Todd,” she announced triumphantly. “No, not Todd. Tim.”
“Tim?”
“Timmons,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “Chad Timmons. Dr. Chad Timmons.”
He looked up and saw her watching him intently. Apparently something else was required of him, although he couldn’t figure out what. “You think Gloria’s seeing this doctor and having problems with him?”
Corrie nodded. “I’m afraid she’s having major problems.”
“But Gloria doesn’t want to talk about it.”
Abruptly Corrie turned away, then plucked a tissue from the nearby box and held it to her eyes. Corrie was crying? He got up from the table and stood behind her, clasping her shoulders.
“It hurts that our daughter can’t talk to us, doesn’t it?” he said quietly.
She sniffled, then turned and slid her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest.
“Everything will work out,” Roy murmured, hoping he sounded reassuring. Corrie’s feelings had been hurt, and while he wanted to comfort his wife, it was understandable that Gloria would choose not to share her emotions with them. If she’d had a falling-out with Dr. Timmons, then either the two of them would resolve