Free Luke's #1 Rule by Cynthia Harrison Page A

Google it.”
    “Thanks. I’ll keep you in the loop.”
    Bettina thought about calling 9-1-1. What would she say? Something like “My husband is unconscious.”
    And they’d ask “Is he breathing?”
    Then she’d have to admit he was snoring. Can someone who has overdosed snore?
    When Bettina searched online for “medication from different doctors” she found an article about “pill shopping” and it fit close enough to Spence’s case. The person buying the pills got charged with a misdemeanor. Surely, if she turned him in, a judge would have mercy on a man with a wife about to give birth to their first child? But maybe not. She was so scared, she didn’t know what to do. She had nobody to ask without jeopardizing her husband’s freedom.
    The next question Bettina asked herself, sitting with her fingers over the keyboard, is would six weeks be long enough? The answer was no. Spence had a bad relapse problem. So he’d likely miss the baby’s first weeks at home, too. Then she thought about leaving a six-week-old baby with an addict. Even an addict in recovery.
    Her slippery slope thinking stopped. She’d tell him to get clean or they were over. She’d find a nanny for the baby. She loved Spence, but she loved her baby more.
    ****
    After Sunday’s baseball game, Luke kept busy in the backyard. They’d gone back a step. But it wasn’t. Not really. They’d shared a day, not a date. And Luke had work to do. The boys were busy with school. Her mother made frequent trips to Blue Lake, slowly emptying her home in Sterling Pines of a lifetime’s worth of treasures. Everyone around her being all active and engaged while Chloe dangled, her time loose. When had she last been so free of responsibility? Maybe when Josh was born.
    Chloe jogged. She practiced yoga. She went online to search for houses in Seattle. Nothing appealed to her. Kristy had set Chloe and the boys up in a corporate condo for as long as she needed it. She had no pressing engagements and nothing to do with her time but paint her toenails bright red.
    As she sat on a kitchen chair, hunched around her toes with a tiny brush full of red polish ready to go, Luke came into the house, startling her into painting her entire baby toe. She let out a little yelp of frustration.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    She tightened the brush into the bottle of polish and got her feet under the table where he couldn’t see them.
    “Yeah, you just startled me.”
    “Sorry.” He stood on the landing, so she wasn’t sure if he meant to head downstairs or up, but his eyes were trained under the table, assessing her botched pedicure. “Red, huh?”
    Yep. He’d noticed.
    “I need a little color in my life.”
    He came into the kitchen, poured a tall glass of water, and sat down across the table from her.
    “Are you a, what do they call it, stay-at-home mom?”
    She smiled. Yes, for the moment. And she really enjoyed it. Most of the time.
    “I start my new job after Mom moves to Blue Lake.” Should she say it was in Seattle? No. Why would it matter to him? “The boys and I are taking our usual vacation up there after school lets out.”
    “Will you stay with your mom?”
    “Usually we do. But it’s crowded, and I want to try that new place with the cottages.”
    “Blue Heaven. I went to high school with the owner. You should book it soon. Those cottages fill up quick.”
    “I’ve been meaning to do that,” she said.
    “I can check for you.” He hit the keys on his cell.
    He seemed more interested in her vacation than asking where or what her job involved. Fine with her. But why? Was she afraid if she told him about Seattle, he’d lose all interest in her? It wasn’t like he’d really shown all that much anyway. Until now. Now he wanted to make sure she had a place to stay when she came to his town.
    “All full,” he said, showing her the picture on his phone of the cottage schedule for Blue Heaven.
    “Darn. I guess we’ll be cooped up with Mom again. I