The Wishing Tree Read Online Free

hollered. “I’ll keep in mind that I can call on their services if needed.”
    “You really think Elliott would …” April breathed.
    “I don’t know, April.” Ivy found herself backpedaling. “Maybe he was running some papers over to a colleague who’s sick at home.” She could come up with a dozen excuses for what she’d seen, so she was sure Elliott would too. “I’m sure it’s nothing, and I won’t ask. Don’t want to be the crazy accusing wife, you know.”
    A heavy silence fell. Apparently single friends didn’t do too well with news that all was not bliss on the marriage front.
    “Anyway”—Ivy decided to change the subject—”talkingto both my parents in one day has wiped me out. I’m going to eat something and go to bed early so this day can be over.”
    “Ivy?” April said. “Take my advice and don’t answer any more calls from your parents.”
    She sighed. “I wish it were that easy.”
    “Yeah,” April said. “Your life was much easier back when you weren’t talking to them.”
    “Back when you and I were first figuring out each other’s brand of crazy.”
    April laughed. “Did you figure mine out yet? ‘Cause I’d love to know.”
    “Not even close.” They both laughed. Ivy loved how April could always make her laugh, no matter what. It was April, after all, who’d gotten her through that rough patch with her family, helped her see that she could make it even if it meant making it alone. April had taken her back to church, got her praying again, made her see that, really, she wasn’t alone at all. Back then, Elliott and April had seemed more like family than her own blood.
    She leaned her head against the phone, feeling the connection to April that was always there. At least she could count on that.
    “So, what are you going to do?” April asked.
    “Well, I’m going to get out of bed every morning, and I’m going to put one foot in front of the other …”
    “Breathe in and out all day long,” April finished with a giggle.
Sleepless in Seattle
was their favorite movie, and they often found reasons to quote lines to each other. April was convinced that she’d find her Tom Hanks character insome magical way, just like Meg Ryan had. It was Ivy’s job to affirm that she would. But sometimes Ivy wondered if April wasn’t better off single. The trouble with finding Mr. Perfect was that he wouldn’t stay perfect.
    “So are you going to watch your sister on TV tomorrow morning?”
    Ivy laughed. “What do you think?”
    “Guess you have to.”
    “Pretty much. You know I’ll be quizzed on it later.”
    “How bad can it be, right?”
    “Right. I mean, it’s just my sister getting her dream proposal so she can start planning her dream wedding—”
    “The one you were supposed to have,” April interrupted.
    “Thank you for pointing that out,” she replied.
    “Meanwhile your dream has kind of …”
    “Fizzled,” Ivy finished her sentence.
    “Well, just because something fizzles doesn’t mean it can never spark again.”
    Upstairs, in the bonus room they used as a gym, she could hear Elliott running on the treadmill, his feet pounding out a rhythm. Lately he’d become obsessed with working out. She could pick up almost any women’s magazine and learn what
that
indicated. She wondered what kind of spark could possibly ignite the passion between them again. She could hardly admit to her best friend that she was starting to believe there was no hope for her marriage, that the spark she was referring to was impossible.
    “Well, I better go,” she said. “I just heard Elliott’s treadmill switch off.”
    “Look, whatever happens, you know I’m on your side, right?” April’s dogs were getting louder in the background. She had to yell over the barking.
    “’Course I do,” Ivy responded. April was someone who would never lie to her, never throw her over for someone else, never hurt her. She had proven that over and over. But Elliott was her family,