Page 107 of Yours and Mine (Friends with Benefits)

“Feeling any better?”

“Sort of. Thanks for doing this. I hope you’re going back to bed after we leave.”

“Anytime, and no, I’m not. I promised Mrs. Gladstone I’d fix the farm gate. She’s afraid Tank will see Betsy escape one day and he’ll run wild.” He slid over the floor in his socks, pulling a Tom Cruise move, and I smiled as he kissed me on my cheek. “Good morning.”

“It is now.”

He pointed to the table. “Sit and eat.”

“I think I’m coming down with something.”

“I know a couple are burnt, but the stove’s been acting up again.”

“I promise it’s not your cooking. My stomach’s upset.”

“Coffee, then?”

Ha! That was like asking an addict if he wanted another drink. I didn’t even have to answer him, and Carter already knew that my mood would be better after a strong cup of java.

“Thank you. If I don’t leave in the next five minutes, I’ll be late.”

“Say hello to Marge and your dad for me.”

“Will do.”

I hugged him, then stilled as he looked at me from above. He had that adoring way of looking at me all the time that I couldn’t get enough of. He was truly one of the best friends I’d ever had. “Maybe I’ll stop by the bakery later and bring you lunch.”

“You’re too good to me.”

“That’s impossible, Jo, and you know that.”

“Thank you. I’ll see you later?”

“Definitely.”

“Mamma, Mamma, look what I found!” Mackenzie ran in from the front door through the living room toward me, carrying something in the palm of her tiny hand. I hoped it wasn’t another toad. Last time she’d surprised me with something new that she found, I nearly had a heart attack when the green amphibian jumped on my head. Then there were the spiders she was housing in a jar that had escaped through the holes she’d asked Carter to make in the lid for her creatures. We didn’t realize her new pets would include six- and eight-legged critters.

This morning, when she opened her palm, I felt my knees give in. Filling almost her entire hand was a flat stone.

“Where did you get that?” I picked it up with my fingers, certain that it was the same stone I’d given Nick for his birthday. When I turned it over to have a closer look and saw the “N” I inscribed there, I almost fell over. It was impossible for an identical one to exist, wasn’t it? Especially one that had an engraved ’N’ right in the middle. This one was faded, but it was certainly the same one I’d given Nick.

“It was on the front porch. It’s perfect for stone skipping isn’t it? Can we go to the lake to skip it?”

Instead of answering my daughter’s question, I ran to the front door, swung it open, and looked both ways down the street – no one was there, except for Mrs. Crafton, who owned the general store down the street. She was walking her Yorkie.

Mackenzie pulled on my jeans and I looked down. “What’s wrong, Mamma?”

“Honey, is this one of the stones you found down by the lake?”

It was possible that Nick had used it, although I didn’t know why he’d do it without me, and it had washed up on shore again.

“No, Mamma. All my good stones are under my bed. Remember, we’re waiting for our tournament.”

I’d promised Mackenzie we’d go stone skipping again this weekend. It was one of those things I wanted to make sure she knew how to do well, like her father.

“It wasn’t there last night and then it was there this morning, like magic.”

Goosebumps covered my arms and I shivered as the hairs at the back of my nape stood tall. Despite it being morning, it was already hot outside, and I couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that I should be somewhere else at the moment.

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