Free The Endless Knot by Gail Bowen Page B

were emerging: eerily human, ghostly figures pointing our way home in grey morning light.
    When I got back to the cottage, I checked on Taylor and Isobel. They were sleeping the sleep of young women who had eaten pizza, watched DVDS , and giggled far into the night. In our room, Zack, who slept five hours a night whether he needed it or not, was propped up in bed, peering through his glasses at the contents of a file folder. When he saw me he placed his file on the nightstand and motioned me over. “Did you two have a good run?”
    “We did,” I said, bending to kiss him.
    He shuddered. “Cold lips.”
    “Cold everything,” I said. “It’s chilly out there.”
    Zack held up the covers. “Then get in here with me.” I took off my jeans and slid in close.
    “Better?”
    “Much,” I said.
    Zack rubbed my shoulders. “Do you know what I want to do?” he asked.
    I groaned. “If it involves a feat of athleticism, you’re going to have to give me time to catch my breath.”
    “No heroics required,” Zack said. “I want to keep doing what we just did. I want to go to bed with you at night, fool around with you in the middle of the night, and wake up with you in the morning.”
    “I want that too,” I said.
    “Good, because I’ve started looking for a house for us – an accessible house where I can trail around after you to my heart’s content.”
    “You want us to move in together?”
    “I want us to get married.”
    “We’ve only known each other three months.”
    His eyes were searching. “You’re not sure about us.”
    I met his gaze. “I’m sure,” I said. “I’m just not ready.”
    “Fair enough,” he said. “So I’ll keep looking for a house and when you’re ready, we’ll get married and move in.”
    “You make it sound so simple.”
    “Life is simple. You decide what you want and you go for it.”
    “Right now, I want to eat.”
    He chuckled. “Go for it.”
    I made coffee and porridge, and we took our breakfast into the sunroom so we could watch morning come to the lake. Peter and Greg were down at the dock putting fishing gear into the boat, shrugging on their life jackets.
    “Charlie isn’t going fishing?” Zack asked.
    “No, and it’s probably just as well. He sets Greg’s teeth on edge.”
    “Bad chemistry?” Zack said.
    “Bad chemistry exacerbated by bad timing,” I said. “Mieka’s going through a rough patch in her life.”
    “I wondered about that. There were times this summer when she had that five-mile stare. So what’s the problem?”
    “Do you remember that Peggy Lee song ‘Is That All There Is?’ ”
    “Sure.” Zack sang a few bars in the boozy bass of a lounge singer.
    I shook my head. “Is there no end to your talents?”
    “Give me fifty years and I’ll show you.”
    “In fifty years, I’ll be a hundred and six.”
    “And I’ll still be crazy about you. But we were talking about Mieka.”
    “Right,” I said. “Lately I’ve had the sense she feels the walls are closing in on her. She and Greg have been married since she was twenty-one, and she’s been running her business since she was nineteen. Catering’s not easy – the hours are unpredictable and customers can be fractious. Mieka loves the girls, but according to Greg the business is really taking off, and the company needs to expand. It would be a major commitment for them, and I think Mieka’s wondering if it’s a commitment she wants to make.”
    “And while Mieka’s wondering, along comes Charlie.” Zack sprinkled brown sugar on his porridge. “Is it a romance?”
    “I don’t think so, but in a way that would be easier to handle. Mieka’s relationship with Charlie goes deeper than sex. When they were kids, she and Pete and Charlie did that blood kin thing – you know, where each kid cuts his finger and they let their blood flow together. I’m sure most children forget all about it, but with those three it seemed to take. They share a history, and last night