BYGONES

By the author of Forgiving and other romances, a sizable stretch of musing and talk as a couple, divorced six years before, find their way back together. Bess Curran, 40, is a successful interior decorator in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area--in spite of her bitterness that ex-husband Michael, in their married days, had offered no support at all for her career. Michael is sour, too, but he's most hurt by the absolute hatred of their son Randy, who at 19 has left school, lives with Mom, plays drums, and smokes pot. It's daughter Lisa, though, who brings Bess and Michael together at a dinner when she announces that she and Mark Padgett--a clean-cut young man, so athletic his muscular forearms ""appeared unable to comfortably touch his sides""--will marry soon and are expecting. Bess and Michael approve of the new in-laws--friendly and wholesome (Mr. Padgett toasts with iced tea)--and Randy is attracted to Mark's sister, Maryanne, who asks Pa before accepting a ride home and won't stand for cussin'. Meanwhile, proximity works its magic: Michael asks Bess to decorate his condo, and grandmother Stella (a dismally sexy old babe) reminds Bess of her part in the breakup. It all ends with two hospital whammos: Lisa's birthing and Randy's maiden trip on cocaine. But, of course, there's a happy close. Apart from some frantic sex, it's as sunny and bland as milk pudding--though with a selling uplift message.