Just Like Heaven

Table of Contents

 

 

“Bretton, with her insightful observations, gets to the core of her characters in this novel about the many roles women play—wife, daughter, sister, mother, lover—whether by choice or by the force of circumstance. Commitment, avoidance, love, and guilt—Bretton, a master storyteller, superbly dramatizes a great range of emotions in this compelling tale.”—
Booklist

 
“Readers who appreciate a powerful character study that digs deep into cause and effect will want to read Barbara Bretton’s fine, convincing tale.”—
The Best Reviews

 
CHANCES ARE

“A fine follow-up to
Shore Lights
. . . salt-of-the-earth characters . . . Alternately poignant and humorous, this contemporary romance gracefully illuminates life’s highs and lows.”—
Publishers Weekly

 
“Barbara Bretton’s myriad of fans will appreciate this solid contemporary sequel to
Shore Lights
. . . two delightful protagonists. Ms. Bretton provides a fine return to the Jersey shore with this warm family drama.”

—
Midwest Book Review

“A moving romance . . . Barbara Bretton provides a deep tale of individuals struggling with caring connections of the heart.”—
Midwest Book Review

 
“A book readers will want to savor.”—
Publishers Weekly

 
“Insightful . . . Bretton excels at women’s fiction that engages the emotions without manipulating them . . . I highly recommend that discriminating readers pay a visit to these
Girls of Summer
.”—
The Romance Reader

“Barbara Bretton is a master at touching readers’ hearts. Grab this one when it hits the shelves! A Perfect 10!”

—
Romance Reviews Today

 
SHORE LIGHTS

“An engrossing tale of hope, promise, heartache, and misplaced dreams . . . Its uplifting message and smooth storytelling make it a pleasant read any time of year.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 
“Bretton’s warm, wonderful book presents complex familial and romantic relationships, sympathetic characters, and an underlying poignancy, and will please fans of Kathryn Shay and Deborah Smith.”—
Booklist

“Entertaining . . . Barbara Bretton bestows a beautiful modern-day romance on her audience.”

—
Midwest Book Review

 
“Her women’s fiction is well written and insightful with just the right blend of realism and romance . . . [
Shore Lights
] may be her best novel yet . . . A rich novel full of wry humor and sweet poignancy . . . The novel’s magic comes from the author’s ability to portray the nuances of human relationships at both their worst and best . . . powerful.” —
The Romance Reader

“Bretton’s characters are always real and their conflicts believable.”—
Chicago Sun-Times

 
“Soul warming . . . A powerful relationship drama [for] anyone who enjoys a passionate look inside the hearts and souls of the prime players.”—
Midwest Book Review

 
“[Bretton] excels in her portrayal of the sometimes sweet, sometimes stifling ties of a small community. The town’s tight network of loving, eccentric friends and family infuses the tale with a gently comic note that perfectly balances the darker dramas of the romance.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 
“A tender love story about two people who, when they find something special, will go to any length to keep it.”

—
Booklist

 
“Honest, witty . . . absolutely unforgettable.”

 
“A classic adult fairy tale.”—
Affaire de Coeur

 
“Dialogue flows easily, and characters spring quickly to life.”—
Rocky Mountain News

 
“No one tells a story like Barbara Bretton.”

—Meryl Sawyer

JUST LIKE HEAVEN
SOMEONE LIKE YOU
CHANCES ARE
GIRLS OF SUMMER
SHORE LIGHTS
ONE AND ONLY
A SOFT PLACE TO FALL
AT LAST
THE DAY WE MET
ONCE AROUND
SLEEPING ALONE
MAYBE THIS TIME

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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 
JUST LIKE HEAVEN

 
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author

 
PRINTING HISTORY
Jove mass-market edition / March 2007

 
Copyright © 2007 by Barbara Bretton.

 
All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-0-515-14262-4

 
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One

Kate French shifted the phone from her left shoulder to her right and plunged her hand deeper into her lingerie drawer.

“Mom!” Her daughter Gwynn was no longer a teenager, but you would never know it from her tone of voice. “Are you listening to me?”

“I heard every syllable.” Kate pulled out an orphaned hand-knit sock and a silky pink camisole carbon-dated from the disco era and tossed them onto the bed behind her.

“So what should I do?”

Unfortunately Kate had shifted into maternal autopilot five minutes into the conversation and had lost track. Was Gwynn still debating her roommate Laura’s excessive devotion to the New York Giants or had she segued into an old favorite of all the French women: a dissection of Kate’s nonexistent love life?

She bent down and peered deeper into the perfumed recesses. One pair of plain cotton panties. Was that too much to ask for? “Run it by me again, honey.”

“I know what you’re doing,” Gwynn said. “You’re answering e-mails while I’m pouring out my heart to you. I really wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“Gwynnie, I’m not on the computer.”

“I can hear the keys clicking.”

“What you hear is the sound of your mother searching her lingerie drawer for a pair of—”

“Hold on! I have another call.”

The distance between the thirteen-year-old girl her daughter used to be and the twenty-three-year-old woman she was hadn’t turned out to be quite as wide as Kate had hoped. She glanced over at the clock on her nightstand.
Come on, Gwynnie. I have things to do.

“That was Andrew.” Gwynn the daughter had been replaced by Gwynn the girlfriend. She sounded almost giddy with delight. The sound hit Kate’s ears like fingernails on a chalkboard. “He called from the boat! Isn’t that the—”

“I’m going to hang up now,” Kate said. “I have an appointment down in Princeton and I’m running late. We can pick this up another time, can’t we, honey?”

“But, Mom, I still haven’t—”

“I know, I know, but this can’t be helped. I want to hear everything you have to say, honey, but not right this minute.”

“You’re going to Princeton?”

“Yes, but not if I don’t get out of here in the next ten minutes.”

“If I leave now I could meet you for lunch at the Mexican place and I can tell you my news in person.”

“I thought you were working lunch shift at O’Malley’s during the week.”

“Mondays are slow. They won’t miss me.”

“You can’t just not show up, Gwynn. That’s how you lost your last job.”
And when you do show up, you’re always late. That’s not how you get ahead.

“You always do that to me.”

“Do what?” She glanced at her watch. Was she the only one in the family who believed in punctuality?

“Keep score. Why can’t you just accept that my career path isn’t like yours and let me live my life my own way?”

“Gwynnie, do we need to have this conversation right now?” She was still on London time and not up for a discussion of individual rights and freedoms with an independent young woman who still expected Mommy to foot the bill for her car insurance.

“You sound pissed.”

“What I sound is jet-lagged.” She waited for the appropriate response from her only child, but none was forthcoming. “Did you forget I’ve been in England for almost ten days? I’m still on London time.”
Does any of this ring a bell, Gwynn?
She liked to believe most daughters would notice when their mothers were out of the country.

“You’ve been gone forever. That’s why I have so much to talk to you about.”

“Honey, this can’t be helped. I really have to go.”

“Are you okay?” Gwynn asked. “You’re not acting like yourself.”

“We’ll talk later, honey,” she said and then disconnected.

Normally Kate would have felt guilty for cutting her daughter short, but today she only felt relieved. She loved Gwynn more than life itself, but her daughter’s melodramatic outbursts had a way of sucking the oxygen right out of her lungs.

“Okay,” she said as she tossed the cell onto the bed. “Let’s get down to business.”