Julia met me at the door, laughingly telling me the explanation. Soon after I'd left for Aikido, Vanessa had called my mom to say they had too much fo...d, and they needed help to eat it. So my family had come over for dinner. Gina and Leanna had checked with their parents then stayed for dinner too. Last and not least - in terms of girth and importance - Gina's Mom had come over about an hour ago. She'd intended just to collect Gina and Leanna, but she was still holding forth in Vanessa's. All I knew was that I wouldn't be trying to escape if Lynton was in town… and it definitely wasn’t a horse he was riding in my fantasies.“Just a sec, Lynton,” I said, feeling the heat rise in my body as my mouth sounded his name, “I’ll grab my purse.” I never took my purse to the door as I wanted him to have a chance to see my bum and legs as I went to retrieve it. Perhaps I was making a fool of myself but something told me that I should persevere with Lynton.'Something' being Charlotte and. You're going to be all right. We are ALL going to be all right."Dan led Sara to the bathroom.Janie turned to Joel who was seated beside her, put her head on his shoulder and began to weep."God, who was that awful man Joey? What did he want from us?" I heard that kid... what's his name... ?" Kenny, Kenny Packard." Yeah, Kenny. I heard Kenny tell that cop that the guy had been watching the house. The cop told me they think he might have been owed money by Hank." What are the cops going to do to. I was often tempted to leave her. I think I stayed because I thought she needed me. But it may have been something else, a hope that she would someday change. I really did love her, at least in the beginning. Or maybe it was something as simple as inertia.The thing that my marriage didn't survive was retirement. We began to fight constantly. When we finally agreed to call it quits it was a relief for us both. We divided our assets more or less equably and she headed back up north to live near.