One Last Weekend

By Linda Lael Miller

Previously published in SUN, SAND, SEX
 
Stranded together
Once passionately in love, college sweethearts Teague and Joanna Darby never imagined they’d end up on the brink of divorce. But the success they’ve found in their careers has taken them on different paths, and maybe it’s time to go their separate ways.
 
But before they do, a friend advises them to spend one last weekend together, at the very least so they can agree on who gets the dog. When a ferry strike leaves Teague and Joanna stranded together at their beloved beach cottage, it promises to be the most awkward weekend ever. Or the perfect chance to fall for each other all over again . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyrical Press
• Release date: Aug 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781601839206

Linda Lael Miller

Linda LaelMiller is a #1 New YorkTimes and USA TODAY bestselling author of morethan one hundred novels. Long passionate about the Civil War buff, she has studied theera avidly and has made many visits to Gettysburg, where she has witnessedreenactments of the legendary clash between North and South. Linda exploresthat turbulent time in The Yankee Widow.

Book preview

978-1-6018-3920-6

Chapter One

One last weekend, insisted Ted Brayley, the Darbys’ longtime friend and now their divorce lawyer, facing the couple across the gleaming expanse of his cherrywood desk. Just spend one weekend together, at the cottage, that’s all I’m asking. Then, if you still want to split the proverbial sheets, I’ll file the papers.

Joanna Darby sat very still, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw her soon-to-be-ex husband, Teague, shift in his leather wingback chair, a twin to her own. Distractedly, he extended a hand, not to Joanna, but to pat their golden retriever, Sammy, sitting attentively between them, on the head.

I don’t see what good that would do, Teague said. At forty-one, he was still handsome and fit, but he was going through a major midlife crisis. He’d sold his highly successful architectural firm for an obscene profit and bought himself a very expensive sports car, and though there was no sweet young thing in the picture yet, as far as Joanna knew, it was only a matter of time. Teague was a cliché waiting to happen. We’ve settled everything. We’re ready to go our separate ways.

Ted sat back, cupping his hands behind his head. Really? he asked, with a casual nod toward Sammy. Who gets custody of the dog?

I do, Teague responded immediately.

Not in this lifetime, Joanna protested.

Teague looked at her in surprise. It always surprised Teague when anybody expressed an opinion different from his own; he was used to calling the shots, leading the charge, setting the course. Somewhere along the line, he’d forgotten that Joanna didn’t work for him. "I was the one who sprang him from the pound when he was a pup, he argued. He’s my dog."

Well, Joanna answered, making an effort not to raise her voice, "I’m the one who house-trained him and taught him not to eat sofas. I’m the one who walked him every day. I love Sammy, and I’m not about to give him up."

Joanna, Teague said darkly, be reasonable. Translation: Agree with me. You know I’m always right.

I’m tired of being reasonable, Joanna said, examining her unmanicured fingernails. I’m keeping the dog.

Teague rolled his blue eyes and, shoved a hand through his still-thick, slightly shaggy dark hair.

A corner of Ted’s mouth quirked up in a smug little grin. They’d both known Ted since college, and they both trusted him, which was why they’d decided to let him handle the divorce. Now Joanna wondered if a stranger would have been a better choice, and Teague was probably thinking the same thing. "I guess you haven’t settled everything, Ted said. Sammy wouldn’t be the first dog in history to be the subject of a custody battle—but would you really want to put him through that kind of grief?"

Joint custody, then, Teague grumbled, a muscle bunching in his cheek. We’ll share him. My place one week, Joanna’s the next.

Oh, right, Joanna scoffed. I’d never see him unless you had a hot date.

Sammy whimpered softly, resembling a forlorn spectator at a tennis match as he turned his head from Joanna to Teague and back again. He wasn’t used to harsh tones—the Darby marriage had slowly caved in on itself, by degrees, after Teague and Joanna’s only child, Caitlin, went off to college. There had been no screaming fights, no accusations—or objects—flying back and forth. This was no War of the Roses.

It might have been easier if it had been.

One weekend, Ted reiterated. He gestured toward Elliott Bay, sparkling blue-gray beyond his office windows. You’ve got that great cottage on Firefly Island. When was the last time you went out there, just the two of you? Walked the beach? Sipped wine in front of the fireplace? Really talked?

Joanna felt a sharp pang, remembering happier times. She hadn’t been to the cottage in months—not once since she’d holed up there the previous summer, after Caitlin’s wedding, to finish her latest cookbook, with only Sammy for company. Teague had gone on a sailing trip, off the coast of Mexico. It had been a lonely time for Joanna, endurable only because she’d been buried in work.

Now Teague got up from his chair, went to the windows, and stood with his back to the room, looking out over downtown Seattle and the waters beyond. Are you a divorce lawyer or a marriage counselor? he muttered.

Sammy started to follow Teague, paused in the middle of the spacious office, then turned uncertainly to look at Joanna.

She blinked back sudden, burning tears. Gestured for Sammy to go ahead, to Teague. Instead, he came back to her and laid his muzzle on her lap with a sad sigh.

As Joanna watched her husband, an unexpected question popped into her mind. When did we lose each other?

She’d loved Teague Darby since her first day of college, when he’d knocked on her door in their coed dorm and introduced himself. They’d married early in their senior year at the University of Washington, and Caitlin had been born a week after graduation. Joanna, having majored in business and intending to attend culinary school after college and eventually open her own restaurant, had happily set aside those plans to stay home with Caitlin and help Teague start his company. The early years had been hard financially, but he’d worked out of their