Seasons of the Heart Series
Love on Mimosa Lane DeStefano 7
them—his expression clouding with longing and doubt and a fierceness she couldn’t describe— she realized she’d underestimated the effect being this close to him would have on her. Or had she? She’d kept her distance for as long as she’d known the Beaumont family. For one thing, he’d been married. And she’d been far too attracted to him, regardless. When his troubles with Libby had come to a head, it had made Kristen even more determined to steer clear—no matter how much she hated seeing the fallout from their split backing up on Law and Chloe. But now that his divorce was final, it had become a bit of a private obsession, wondering if something could really happen between the two of them. Law and Libby’s divorce had been one for the record books. Kristen hadn’t indulged in the gossip flying around about their floundering attempts to co-parent. Still, the more disturbing of the rumors about Law and Libby—mostly of Law, spread by Libby, that he was a heavy drinker and only pretended to care about his child, and had insisted on being awarded time with Chloe in the custody arrangement only to avoid paying more in child support—had been impossible to tune out. More than once, Kristen had overheard Chloe’s mother, a fixture in the tight-knit group of PTA regulars at Chandler, ranting to the other moms. It didn’t seem to matter that her daughter and the other kids could often overhear every word. Libby and her friends actually seemed to prefer it that way. Small towns like theirs could be enchanting, close-knit worlds, particularly to someone like Kristen. She’d grown up in a successful New England family that many had idealized. But her reality had been a much colder, lonelier place than friends and neighbors had known—that is, until everyone had learned every sordid detail of her life in the worst possible way. By then, the