Free Wisdom Tree by Mary Manners

would feel the same.”
    “No?” This was a revelation. “Why not?”
    “Nothing she could put her finger on. She just…had a feeling. You know how Mom was.”
    “Yes, I do.” Carin’s voice caught. “Why didn’t she ever say anything to me?”
    “Because you were in love with him, honey.” Her dad paused. “ Are you still in love with him?”
    “No. I…don’t want to talk about it.” Carin dropped a tea bag into a cup and drowned it in boiling water from the teapot, then stirred in a spoonful of sugar as she watched it steep. “When are you coming for a visit, Dad?”
    “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
    “I can’t. I’m just settling into teaching here. I’m covered up in work.” She had no desire to return to Nashville. There was a good chance she never would…if she could help it.
    “Me, too.”
    “You should consider a vacation. Or you could come to East Ridge and stay with me for a while, and work from here. There’s so much you can do over the Internet. It would be just like working at the office.”
    “Honey, I’m just getting ready to go to trial with a big case. I can’t leave now.”
    “But I miss you, Dad. Mom would have wanted…” She caught herself. Guilting her dad into coming for a visit wasn’t the answer, no matter how much she missed him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
    “It’s OK.” He sighed, and then redirected. “Tell you what. As soon as this case is done, I’ll take a break and come to see you. Give me a couple of weeks—a month, tops.”
    “Promise?”
    “Yes. Of course.”
    “That would be great, Dad.”
    Carin removed the teabag from the cup as an awkward silence ensued. When her dad finally spoke, his voice was low—the voice he used when sharing important, confidential information with a client. “Carin, did you leave here because of Phillip…because of whatever happened there?”
    “Please don’t ask, Dad. I don’t want to discuss it. Not now, at least. Maybe when you come to visit?”
    “Can you wait that long, honey?”
    “I…um…” She choked, sputtered, and bumped the cup so tea sloshed over the side to stain the counter. She quickly changed the subject. “I—I have to go now. I’ve got papers to grade and Hailey’s waiting for me to call.”
    “Well…OK.” She heard the catch in his voice, and it tore her heart just a bit. “I love you, sweetheart.”
    “I love you, too. Come soon, OK?” She pressed the end button and laid the phone on the counter. Oh, how I wish Mama was still here. She’d listen and know what to do. Why hadn’t her mother shared what she sensed about Phillip? It would have made things so much easier in the long run.
    She remembered Cameron’s funeral, and it felt like a dream. Phillip was there, and he portrayed himself as the doting boyfriend, bringing her water, holding her hand. She’d felt comforted, felt like she had an ally as she struggled to keep her dad from collapsing under the stress of losing his only son so soon after losing his wife.
    Then Phillip disappeared, and when she went to the parking lot for a gulp of fresh air—to ease the ache from her heart—she heard his voice carry on the breeze. He was laughing, mocking her voice, nasally with grief-filled tears. As she rounded the corner, she saw the raven-haired woman, too—an intern from her father’s office.
    The two were locked in an embrace, Phillip’s cheek nuzzled in her dark hair. The words he spoke slashed like a knife. “I’ll tell her I’m heading back to the office to finish up some work for her father. She’ll never know the difference. Then I’ll meet you at your place. Give me an hour.”
    The intern giggled as she slipped a hand beneath his suit jacket. “I’ll be waiting…”
    Carin eased back around the corner, caught between staying and fleeing. Phillip appeared suddenly, plowing into her, and bile leapt into her throat.
    “In a hurry?” she asked.
    “I…um…” It was a rare occurrence of