her plan permanently. She’d graduated from college with a degree in business she didn’t want, the dream of culinary school in mothballs because of the baby already on the way. While Mac built his resume, she’d wiped snotty noses, organized PTA fund-raisers, and spent a good portion of her day in a minivan toting kids from one event to another.
She’d loved it. She might never have fulfilled her own workday dreams, but she’d settled comfortably into her role as a stay-at-home mom, and the entire Timberlake family had thrived.
And, eventually, outgrown her.
That’s okay, she told herself. It wasn’t like she didn’t have a life of her own separate from the kids. She’d still keep busy. She had her volunteer work. Her classes at the gym. She thoroughly enjoyed her occasional trips up into the mountains to Eternity Springs. She’d find plenty to do to fill the hours now empty of baseball games or debate matches or dance recitals.
Maybe she’d leap headlong into the whole quilting thing. She could join a guild in Denver. Meet a whole new group of friends. Except Ali already had lots of friends. She didn’t want more friends. She wanted her family.
She was a stay-at-home mom who’d completed her job. Lost her job. A thundercloud of self-pity built in her emotional sky, but she fled from it, tried to outrun it, by lecturing herself aloud. “You haven’t lost your family. They just don’t live with you anymore. In lots of ways, that’s a good thing.”
She’d no longer have sweaty gym socks stinking up the boys’ rooms or a clutter of makeup spread all across the upstairs bathroom vanity. Those were good things. She wouldn’t have to lie awake in bed worrying until her kids made it home by curfew—or not. Another good thing. And one of her friends had told her that the best thing about having an empty nest was that now she and her husband could have sex on the staircase if they wanted. Personally, Ali couldn’t imagine that being too comfortable, but hey, she was willing to try anything once.
“I’ll just put that on the calendar,” she decided, feeling marginally better.
So she’d finished the stay-at-home mom years of her life. Big deal. She hadn’t lost her family. She still had Mac. Maybe they could use this time to reinvigorate their relationship. Enjoy an empty-nest honeymoon of sorts. Spend time and energy on each other instead of the kids. Why, this could be the best time of her life. Of their lives.
Thank goodness she still had Mac.
“The Desai case?” Mac repeated, one week after his return to work following his Alaskan vacation. Desai was a high-profile case of attempted domestic terrorism. “I thought that went to Judge Harrison.”
The court clerk nodded. “It did, but Judge Harrison had a heart attack this morning on his way in. We heard fifteen minutes ago.”
“Oh, no. How’s he doing?”
“It’s serious. His son took my call and said he’s not out of the woods entirely, but they do expect him to survive.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yes, but the son also said the doctors are talking about retirement.”
Mac hated to hear it. Harrison was a brilliant jurist and an affable colleague. He’d be missed.
“The case has been reassigned to you, Judge Timberlake. You have a hearing that starts in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes! What sort of hearing?”
“The U.S. attorney wants a search warrant executed today. We have FBI, DEA, and the Denver police headed in.” The clerk handed over a file. “It’s a good thing you had your vacation. This thing is liable to have you tied up for months.”
Mac stared down at the bulging file and sighed. He should call Ali and warn her that he might be late. He was pretty sure she’d dropped the word special when she’d referenced dinner tonight.
As he headed for his office to make the call, his secretary, Louise, stopped him with a problem. From that moment on, the Desai case consumed him, and he didn’t leave the courthouse until well after 10:00 P.M. It wasn’t until he walked into his dark house and smelled the faded aroma of his favorite, veal parmigiana, that he remembered that he’d never made that phone call, and his stomach dipped.
Next he recalled that she’d mentioned something about special plans for the evening, and his stomach dropped even more.
Sure enough, when he peeked into the dining room, he saw the table set for two with her mother’s china. Oh, hell.
Mac rubbed the back of his neck and inwardly groaned. He’d screwed up. Big time. He knew this was a difficult time for his wife, and he’d been trying to be extra sensitive to her wishes and desires. Luckily, she’d appeared to be happier since he returned from Alaska and she returned from Tennessee. He had hoped that Ali would find the anticipation of Caitlin’s departure for college more upsetting than dealing with the actual aftereffects of it, and so far, it appeared that would be the case.
But letting her down like this tonight sure didn’t help the situation. “Timberlake,” he murmured, “you’re an ass.”
He slipped off his jacket and loosened his tie as he climbed the stairs to their bedroom. The room was dark, the figure in the bed unmoving. Attempting to be as quiet as possible, Mac readied for bed, then slipped between the sheets.
He breathed in the familiar lavender scent of the lotion she habitually smoothed over her skin before bed and edged closer to her warmth, trying not to wake her as he put his arm around her, seeking, and finding, that sense of homecoming she offered him even after all these years.
“You’re home,” she said.
Mac closed his eyes. Damn. “Sorry I woke you. I’m sorry I’m so late. I know I should have called.”
“Where were you?”
She said it like a question, not an accusation, so he breathed a little easier. “I had a hearing. A new case. We ended up ordering in dinner.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She sounded tired—very tired—so he decided to wait until the morning to offer any further details. He kissed her shoulder and spooned her tight against him. “Goodnight, babe. Sleep well.”
“You too.”
Mac waited for her to continue their usual nighttime ritual, but her regular breathing told him she’d fallen back asleep. Disquieted, he drifted off plagued with a sense of foreboding.
When was the last time they’d gone to sleep together without exchanging the words “I love you”?
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Acknowledgments
Excerpt from Heartache Falls