Page 40 of The Breakdown Lane


  Then I reach for Matt, and wake him, even if I know he has surgery in the morning. I shake him awake and ask him, “Are we still married?”

  And he mumbles, “Yes, Julieanne. We’re married. Go to sleep. We’re still married. I’m here.” If I’m lucky, I fall back into a kind of slumber, a sweaty and shuddering simulation of rest. I hold Matt’s leg, to make sure he hasn’t gone somewhere I can’t go.

  But when I wake, in the morning, I can smell the coffee brewing. He’s still there. I’m still there. One more morning.

  July 4, 2004

  Cape Cod, Massachusetts

  About the Author

  JACQUELYN MITCHARD is the author of Twelve Times Blessed, A Theory of Relativity, and The Deep End of the Ocean. She lives in Oregon, Wisconsin, with her family.

  Don’t miss the next book by your favorite author. Sign up now for AuthorTracker by visiting www.AuthorTracker.com.

  Other Books by Jacquelyn Mitchard

  Fiction

  CHRISTMAS, PRESENT

  TWELVE TIMES BLESSED

  A THEORY OF RELATIVITY

  THE MOST WANTED

  THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

  Nonfiction

  THE REST OF US

  Credits

  Jacket design by Patti Ratchford

  Jacket photograph © Lisa Spindler/Graphistock

  Author photograph by James Schnepf

  Copyright

  THE BREAKDOWN LANE. Copyright © 2005 by Jacquelyn Mitchard. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © MARCH 2005 ISBN: 9780061842092

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Mitchard, Jacquelyn.

  The breakdown lane / Jacquelyn Mitchard–1st ed.

  p. cm.

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

  Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900

  Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraph

  Contents

  One: Genesis

  Two: Numbers

  Three: Judges

  Four: Gabe’s Journal

  Five: Exodus

  Six: Ecclesiastes

  Seven: Gabe’s Journal

  Eight: Lamentations

  Nine: Gabe’s Journal

  Ten: Gabe’s Journal

  Eleven: Job

  Twelve: Gabe’s Journal

  Thirteen: Psalm 55

  Fourteen: Ruth

  Fifteen: Gabe’s Journal

  Sixteen: Gabe’s Journal

  Seventeen: Gabe’s Journal

  Eighteen: Proverbs 24

  Nineteen: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty-One: Second Samuel

  Twenty-Two: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty-Three: Amos

  Twenty-Four: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty-Five: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty-Six: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty-Seven: Psalm 78

  Twenty-Eight: Gabe’s Journal

  Twenty-Nine: Daniel

  Thirty: Proverbs

  Thirty-One: Gabe’s Journal

  Thirty-Two: Psalm 37

  Thirty-Three: Song of Solomon

  Thirty-Four: Gabe’s Journal

  Thirty-Five: Gabe’s Journal

  Thirty-Six: Psalm 65

  About the Author

  Other Books by Jacquelyn Mitchard

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

 


 

  Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Breakdown Lane

 


 

 
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