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.
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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
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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