Chapters (43)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Epilogue
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- Readers Guide
- QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
She pulled back and swallowed. “I didn’t come here to fight.” Her spine drew up tall when she asked it to, her body strong despite her lack of sleep. “I just wanted to say goodbye. I’ll call, but I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “I need to start running toward something, Daddy,” she whispered. “Not away.”
She turned and dashed down the stairs.
“Andra.”
She almost didn’t stop, but she’d been listening to that voice for too many years not to. She turned back with her hand already on the doorknob.
Dad cleared his throat and paused, like he was weighing his words. “He hasn’t lived here that long, honey. There are probably a lot of things about him you don’t know about. And okay, maybe you’ve got a crush on him, but—are you sure it’s a good idea to just go showing up down there?”
She pressed her lips together so they wouldn’t wobble. “No, I’m not sure. But I’m going to find out.”
• • •
“You’re a fool, LJ Delisle.”
LJ nudged the water glass a little closer to the bed, the ever-present knot in his stomach loosening at the evidence that Mama was feeling well enough to lecture him. “Your pills are right here, but I’ll wake you up for your next dose, and I’ll make fresh applesauce with bananas for lunch. Dropped a little bit of basil in your water so you can’t taste the tap. You want to hit the bathroom before you go to sleep?”
Mama glared at him, the creases alongside her eyes deeper than he remembered. “You drove all the way across the country to make me applesauce? I can make my own dang applesauce. And everybody else’s, too, for twenty-eight long years so you could have choices in front of you instead of somebody’s dirty dishes.”
He winked. “Not a problem. I did the dishes earlier, so there’s not a dirty one left.”
“Don’t you sass me, LJ,” she warned. Her throat shook as she held back a cough, or maybe a laugh. He was hoping for the second.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I have choices,” he said. “And one of them is to come back and see my mama whenever I please. Don’t fuss yourself too much. I haven’t been fired yet.”