Anything for His Son

9780373692736_PL.inddExtracted 1 threads from 9780373692736-exw.PDFUntitled Article 01: UntitledJesse hated the dark. Rebecca Matalon had learned to hate it, too. Her five-year-old sons cry in the night had woken her the evening before, and shed spent hours trying to convince him that no monsters lurked in the shadows. The insufferable sudden blackout that had hit Boston last night had continued into the day. So had Jesses crankiness. She stared outside through the fifth-story window of the Ritz-Carlton, stunned that it was already 2:00 p.m. and the power still had not been restored. Never had she seen the city such a madhouse of chaos and ill tempers. Useless air conditioners, ac- cidents due to nonfunctioning traffic lights and van- dalism had turned normal decent people into irritable, aggressive, paranoid, violent citizens. If she were in L.A., shed be at work reporting the mess. Instead, she was trying to keep her five-year-old son entertained and happy without the joys of tele- vision, electronic gamesor his father. Ethan hadnt even been able to go to the Red Sox game with her and Jesse yesterday. And Ethan and Jesses common love of baseball had assured her theyd always remain close. In spite of the fact that shed moved thousands of miles away. She dressed in the coolest linen skirt and cotton blouse shed packed, swept her long blond hair into a chignon and clipped silver loops in her ears. A simple assessment in the mirror assured her that she looked fine. Not that she was primping for this dreaded rendezvous with Ethan, her soon-to-be-ex, but she hated to face him looking like a bedraggled sleep-deprived maniac. After all, she was the mother of his child and had been his lover. And they had had a solid marriage once. Truth be known, they still remained friends. They just couldnt live together. Memories assaulted her, launching her back to a time when theyd first met. Theyd shared an instant attraction, fallen in love overnight and married a year before hed enlisted in the military. Shed survived the separation, but when hed returned hed been wrapped up in building his now-megamillion-dollar computer software company. On top of that was the covert work he did for Eclipse. Secret missions that he couldnt talk about. Dangerous jobs that sent him all over the world. Shed never quite known if hed come home dead or alive. Her heart raced at the realization that she had liked that dark, dangerous side of Ethan. The mystery, ex- citement, suspense had been a turn-on. But it was no way for a family to live. Besides, shed put her own career aspirations on hold for too long. After having Jesse and practically raising him alone, then working in menial jobs, she hadnt been able to turn down the L.A. job. A TV journalisther lifes dream. In a bicoastal marriage, she and Ethan had drifted apart till shed filed for divorce. Now it was time to sign the damn papers and finalize the end of their marriage. oeMommy? Rebeccas heart squeezed at the sight of JesseHerron, Rita is the author of 'Anything for His Son ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373692736 and ISBN 0373692730.