Product Description

Dear Reader,

I have something to confide in you. I think my husband, Dave, might be having an affair. I found an earring in his pocket, and it's not mine. I'm also worried because some jewelry was recently stolen from an old woman—and Dave used to visit her a lot.

You see, he's a pastor. And a good man. I can't believe he's guilty of anything, but why won't he tell me where he's been when he comes home so late?

Reader, I'd love to hear what you think. I also want to tell you what's going on with your other friends in Cedar Cove. Like Sheriff Troy Davis, to mention one. His long-ago love, Faith Beckwith, just moved here!

So come on in and join me for a cup of tea.

Emily Flemming

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7304 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780778325789
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Debbie Macomber, the author of Twenty Wishes, Back on Blossom Street, Between Friends, and the Cedar Cove series, is one of today's leading voices in women's fiction. A regular on every major bestseller list with more than 100 million copies of her books in print, the award-winning author celebrated a new career milestone in September 2007, when the latest in her Cedar Cove series, 74 Seaside Avenue, scored #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and Bookscan bestseller lists. Her popularity is worldwide with her books translated into twenty-three languages. Debbie and her husband, Wayne, are the proud parents of four children and grandparents of eight grandchildren. They live in Washington State and in the winter they live in Florida.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
They say the wife is always the last to know.

Except that Emily Flemming did know and she'd known for more than a week. Dave, her husband, was involved with someone else. Only Dave wasn't just Dave Flemming. He was Pastor Dave Flemming. The thought that her husband loved another woman was intolerable, unthinkable, unbearable. Dave's betrayal was bad enough, but disregarding his moral obligations to his congregation and his God—she could hardly believe it. This shocking secret was completely inconsistent with everything she knew about her husband.

Ever since the night of their anniversary dinner, Emily had carefully guarded what she'd learned. She'd been in the church office, waiting for Dave, and had reached for his suit jacket, which hung on the back of his door. When she draped it over her arm, a diamond earring had fallen out of the pocket. Later she'd discovered the second one in the other pocket. Emily had certainly never owned anything as extravagant as this pair of large, diamond-studded pendant earrings.

In the beginning Emily had assumed the earrings were an anniversary present; however, she quickly realized they couldn't be. For one thing, they weren't in a jeweler's box. But even if they had been, it wasn't possible. Dave could never have afforded diamond earrings on their tight family budget.

Emily should have asked immediately…and hadn't. She'd been afraid of ruining their special evening with her suspicions. But almost at once, other details had begun to add up in her mind. She could no longer ignore the fact that Dave so often worked late, especially since the private hour they'd shared after dinner had gone by the wayside. It might've been her imagination but he seemed to take extra long with his grooming, too.

Her suspicions doubled and tripled. She held them close to her heart, examining them over and over, trying to make sense of her husband's behavior. Whenever she asked where he'd been, Dave's answers were vague. Another warning sign…

"Mommy, when's Daddy coming home?" Mark, the younger of her two sons, asked as he looked up from his plate. He was eight and his dark brown eyes were identical to his father's.

Emily had the same question. "Soon," she said as reassuringly as she could. Two or three times a week, Dave didn't get home until well after dinner. At first she'd made excuses for him to their boys. Now she didn't know what to tell them.

"Dad hardly ever eats with us," Matthew complained, sitting down next to his younger brother.

Dave's lateness had started gradually. He used to make a point of being there for the evening meal. As she stared into space, Emily couldn't help wondering if he was having dinner with some other woman…some other family. She chased away the thought with a determination that stiffened her spine.

For the sake of her children, Emily dragged out her standard excuse. "Your father's been busy at the church."

"Every night?"

Her sons echoed Emily's own dissatisfaction. "It seems so," she returned lightly, pretending all was well as she joined them at the dinner table. They automatically clasped hands and bowed their heads while Emily recited grace. Silently she added a prayer for herself, asking for courage to face whatever the future might hold for her marriage.

"Shouldn't we wait for him at least one night?" Mark said as he reluctantly picked up his fork.

"You two have homework, don't you?" she asked, ignoring his question.

"But Dad—"

"Your father will eat later."

"Will he get home before we go to bed?" Matthew, her sensitive son, asked.

"I don't know," she said, swallowing hard.

She made a pretense of eating. Her appetite had disappeared the minute she'd found those diamond earrings. That was the start—the wake-up call she'd ignored for months. Naturally, she'd told herself, there could be any number of explanations for those earrings. She'd intended to ask him about it the very next day…and hadn't.

Emily knew what held her back. She didn't want to hear the truth; she simply wasn't ready for it. She dreaded the consequences once she did finally confront him.

She'd questioned her husband, more than once, about his late nights. But Dave brushed aside her concern and offered ambiguous excuses, mentioning people she'd never met and meetings she didn't know about. He almost seemed to resent her asking, so after a while she'd stopped.

She supposed she had her answer. Since the discovery of the diamond earrings, she had a perfectly clear picture of what was happening—what had already happened. Sadly, pastors were as susceptible to temptation as anyone else. Like all sinners, they, too, could be lured into affairs. They, too, could make irreparable mistakes.

If Emily had hoped this was just a misunderstanding, that she'd allowed it to grow out of all proportion in her mind, those hopes had been destroyed. Earlier in the week, she'd run into Bob and Peggy Beldon at the grocery store. They owned the local bed-and-breakfast, Thyme and Tide. As the three of them stood in the middle of the aisle exchanging pleasantries, Bob casually said that he missed playing golf with Dave.

As long as the weather permitted, the two of them had played weekly for the past three years. In a matter of minutes, she'd ferreted out the information she'd been afraid to learn. Dave had given up golfing more than a year ago. A year! Yet every week last summer, he'd loaded up his golf clubs on Monday afternoons and driven off, supposedly to meet Bob. Obviously he'd been meeting someone else.

Emily sighed. She couldn't continue to let her mind wander down this well-traveled path of doubt and suspicion. Half the time she acted the role of the quiet, unassuming wife; the rest of the time it was all she could do to refrain from demanding an explanation. She wanted the truth no matter how painful it might be—and yet she didn't. What wife ever did?

So far she'd remained silent. She was astonished by how good she'd become at pretending everything was fine. None of her friends suspected. What bothered her almost as much as her suspicions was the fact that Dave didn't seem to have any idea that she'd caught on. She wondered if he'd broach the subject. Maybe if he knew she'd figured out what was going on… Perhaps that was what she'd been waiting for. She wanted him to ask her.

But Dave never asked. If she managed to put on a marvelous performance, then so did her husband. Last Sunday he'd actually spoken from the pulpit about the importance of marriage, of loving one's spouse.

Emily felt like the most unloved woman in the world. She could barely stop herself from breaking into heart-wrenching sobs right there in front of the entire congregation. Naturally everyone must have assumed she'd been overcome with emotion, since Dave's sermon, by implication, had honored her. She wanted to tell them that, beautiful though his words were, that was all they were. Words.

It was hard to believe this could be happening to them. Emily had always been so sure they had a solid marriage, and that Dave was her best friend. Apparently she was wrong.

The door leading to the garage opened and to her surprise he walked into the house.

"Dad!" Mark slid out of his chair, running toward his father as if he hadn't seen him in a year.

"Hey there, little man, how's it going?" Dave reached down and swung their son into his arms. Mark was too big to be picked up like a child, but he craved the attention from his father.

Dave kissed Emily on the cheek, then ruffled Matthew's hair before he sat down. "I'm glad I made it home in time for dinner tonight."

"Me, too," Mark said, his eyes glowing.

Despite everything, her own happiness sprang to life again, and Emily got up and brought a fourth place setting to the table.

When she passed him the enchilada casserole she'd made, he took a heaping serving, then grinned over at her. "You fixed one of my favorites," he said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She met his look, letting him know with her eyes how much she loved him. Maybe, regardless of the evidence, all her unhappy suspicions were wrong.

"Can you help me with my homework after dinner, Dad?" Mark asked.

Their younger son was the top student in his class, far ahead of the other second-graders. He didn't need any assistance. What he really wanted was time with his father.

"You promised to throw me the football, remember?" Matthew said. Never mind that it was late November and already dark outside,

He, too, wanted time with Dave. The children weren't the only ones; Emily needed all the reassurance he had to offer. Hard as she tried to cast aside these doubts, they refused to die. She didn't want to lose her husband. She loved Dave no matter what and was determined to keep her marriage together—or at least make every possible effort.

"Hold on, hold on." Dave laughingly raised both hands. "Give me a minute to catch my breath, would you?"

Both boys stared expectantly at their father. Emily couldn't bear to look at their eager faces. Seeing the love for him in their eyes made her feel like weeping.

"Let your dad eat his dinner," she said.

"After that, I'll help you both, but I'd like a few minutes alone with your mother first," Dave said, glancing at Emily.

A chill raced down her spine, and she was afraid to meet his eyes.

"Aw, Dad," Mark whined.

"It won't take long," he promised. "Eat your green beans."

"Okay."

Emily handed Dave the bowl of buttered beans with sliced almonds. He took a small portion. Green beans weren't his favorite vegetable, either, and this was her way of suggesting he set a good example.

Following dinner, the boys cleared the table, then went to their room for study hour. This had been Dave's idea. Whether they had homework or not, Matthew and Mark were to spend one hour every night reading, writing or reviewing their schoolwork. The television wasn't allowed to be on, nor were video games permitted.

As the boys trudged to their room, Emily made a pot of coffee, keeping her back to Dave as she worked. Asking to speak to h...

Customer Reviews

Always a Pleasure to Return to Cedar Cove
Cedar Cove has become a favorite city for thousands of readers like me who enjoy gossipy writing, small towns filled with good-spirited characters, and a little romance and drama to keep things interesting.

Debbie Macomber does not disappoint with this eighth installment set in the soap-opera like town. Emily and Dave Flemming take center stage in this novel as the local pastor keeps important information from his wife. With his much-later-than usual hours and the discovery of some diamond earrings in his jacket, Emily believes Dave is either an adulterer or a thief. Old friends Roy McAfee, the local private investigator, and Sheriff Troy Davis will get involved before this is all put to rest.

In the meantime, Sheriff Davis has some important personal challenges to face as he anguishes over lost love Faith Beckwith and grapples with his daughter Megan's health issues. Old friends like Olivia and Jack Griffin, Grace Harding, Teri Polgar, Christie Levitt, and Rachel Pendergast reappear and let the reader share what is happening in their lives. In addition, new characters like Tanni Bliss and her mom, fabric artist Shirley Bliss, appear and begin what will undoubtedly be the fodder of future sagas.

My only complaints with this installment are: first, my personal favorite, Mary Ellen Bowman, only got a brief mention; second, the mystery surrounding Pastor Flemming was one I figured out very early in the book (maybe I trust him more than his wife does) ; and lastly, I want another Cedar Cove book immediately. They are addictive! Fortunately, in just another month we will have a Cedar Cove Christmas, but must wait a full year to find out more about what will transpire at 92 Pacific Boulevard, the home of Troy Davis.

Another good entry in a good series
It's almost Christmas in Cedar Cove and Pastor Dave Flemming has plenty on his mind - the Christmas pageant (with live animals!), sermons to write, sick parishioners to visit and more. He's a busy man, but his wife Emily suspects something else is going on and begins to think her beloved husband is up to no good. Other residents of Cedar Cove have their own issues to deal with. Sheriff Troy Davis is pining after long lost love Faith Beckwith; Christie Levitt is fighting her attraction to limo driver James Wilbur; and Olivia Lockhart Griffin is fighting breast cancer. As each of them and other residents of Cedar Cove deal with their problems, they realize how much family, friends, and neighbors mean to them.

"8 Sandpiper Way" is the eighth book in Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series - a series that is a lot of fun to read. While the book definitely has a soap opera feel - complete with a large cast of characters - Dave and Emily's problems are very real and very timely in today's world. At times I wanted to yell at Dave for not confiding in Emily, but his keeping his problems to himself is also very real. Besides David and Emily's story line, there are several other story lines going on and the one that I like the most, more so in fact than Emily and Dave's, was the interaction between Christie and James (and Macomber drops a bombshell in this plot line). Chess player Bobby Polgar never seems quite real to me as a character but James his driver does.

If there is a fault in this entertaining series, it is that Macomber has too many characters in it. Because of this, some of the characters that featured prominently in past books in the series - for example Maryellen and Jon Bowman, the Cox family, and Justin and Seth Gunderson are either barely in the book or just mentioned in passing. This can be disappointing, especially since Macomber introduces some new characters - Shirley Bliss, her daughter Tanni, and Shaw Wilson. While I realize Macomber wants to keep the series fresh and Tanni and Shaw's story does end on a cliffhanger that helps set up the next book in the series, neither of them do much for me as characters.

"8 Sandpiper Way" is a nice cozy book to read. It's not terribly deep, but Macomber seems to have had a lot of fun writing it (I suspect her tongue was firmly in cheek more than once) and it is a lot of fun to read, especially during these cool autumn nights.

Surprised how much I didn't like it....
I absolutely love Ms. Macomber's Cedar Cove series. She is an excellent writer. However, with this book, it didn't contain her usual depth of characters and there were way too many of them! It's like planning on enjoying a family Thanksgiving gathering and having all the extended relatives and neighbors show up!

It felt very rushed and the characters were just not fleshed out like in her other books. I also thought it very light on romance. I really did have to make myself finish it.

If this is your first Macomber book, please give her another try...she really is wonderful. If you are a faithful Cedar Cove wannabe like me...let's hope the next book centers on just a few main characters that we can once again bond with!

Bring back the Cedar Cove we know and love :)