Stormy Surrender - By Nicole Andrews Moore Page 0,22

have been handling every aspect of our life for as long as we’ve been together…maybe longer. I am perfectly capable. I’m simply unaccustomed to this…generosity you are showing me. What aren’t you telling me, Blaine?” She paused and stood still suddenly. “When are you coming?”

Refusing to answer, Blaine side stepped the question. “We’ll have to talk later. I have to see another patient before I head over to the hospital.” And with that, he cut her off.

Marti was fuming. She looked at the now black screen and shook in anger. “Oh, you pompous, over bearing pig of a man!” She shouted at the phone. She never would have had the courage to say what she really thought to Blaine himself. And when she spun around once more, she ran smack into Joe, who was rounding the corner to climb the steps into the bank. “And now you!” She snapped.

Tiny as she was, Marti had simply bounced off his chest. Her head barely reached his heart. And he was confident that he could stand behind her and rest his chin on the top of her head without craning at all. He smirked at the thought. “Shouldn’t you be apologizing?” He asked smartly. “You did run into me.” And he crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for an apology that would never come.

Tears were hot in Marti’s eyes when she looked up at him. Apologize. What was she sorry for? At the moment, she was sorry that she had ever married Blaine, that she had come to this strange town that might as well be a foreign country…and that she had ever laid eyes on Joey Masters. She turned on her heels to hide her eyes, swiped at them as she sprinted up the steps and left Joey far behind her to wonder what had upset her so.

The entire transaction was completed in less than an hour. And though Marti had been so upbeat and positive when she first saw the home, it was beginning to feel like the equivalent of the Titanic to her…this house of dreams that she was going to sink all this money into, but would never house the life she had imagined. Suddenly a line from Under the Tuscan Sun came to mind. She, too, had bought a house for a life she didn’t have. Marti sighed. She was no Diane Lane. And this…this was not Italy. But the possibility that she was getting a divorce seemed suddenly very real to her.

Walking back to Hope House, Marti mused that she had nothing to complain about. She had already acquired everything she wanted when she was dreaming back in Vermont. She had her warmer climate, her change of scenery. She had her big old fixer upper, with plenty of money in the bank to restore it. And she’d only been in town for a day. She wrapped her arms around her body as she trudged to the front door.

Keely was on the phone and waved in greeting as she passed. Marti gave a slight nod and headed up to her room. She walked to the bed and threw herself down. For a moment she considered having a good cry. She had every right to. Yet the tears that accumulated simply did not have enough force behind them to spill down her cheeks. So she sniffled and sat up. Why should she cry? Really? She was in an amazing room. She came back to a nice warm fire. And as she assessed her surroundings further and prepared to count her blessings, there was a gentle knock on her door.

As the door slowly opened, Keely peeked her head in. “I just wanted to see if you needed anything for dinner. I don’t really serve dinner, but I thought you might join me…or I might join you, since we’re the only two single people in all of Hope House.” She raised her arms and dropped them at her side.

With someone as cheery as Keely around, it wasn’t difficult for Marti to manage a smile. “You know what? That would be nice. Want help in the kitchen?” And with that, she hung her coat up in the closet and walked back out of the room with her arm looped through Keely’s before the woman could protest.

As he lay on the couch with his eyes closed, Joe contemplated how he was going to spend his night. It was a half hour drive to Charlotte, North Carolina from New Hope. And