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?
The fan blew strands of hair ticklingly across her nose, and she pushed them back. “Yes, of course. Well, I mean, it could be under better circumstances.” She forced a tiny smile, trying to ignore the part of her that was waiting for Mona to turn cold again. “But however it happened, I know LJ was a little homesick, so it’s nice for him to have a few days back here.”
“Louisiana sure is a long way to drive for a man you haven’t been dating more than a few months.”
She set her drink back on the table and lifted her eyes to Mona’s. Andra had been training horses long enough to know when someone was testing her. “It’s not so far to drive for someone you care about. I wanted to meet his mom anyway. And see his home.”
A smile played around Mona’s mouth, deepening creases around her lips that showed she’d had many years of smiles before this one. “I didn’t expect you to notice that. Rose said you were quick, though, and as sentimental as she can be, she’s rarely wrong.”
Andra’s back stiffened. She didn’t want to sit here and be insulted, but she also didn’t want to make an enemy of Rose’s friend. “To notice what?”
“That this will always be his home.”
Her belly flinched at the words, but she only sat up taller.
Mona looked down and straightened the place mat, brushed away a few crumbs. “Rose and I have been friends for thirty-some years, did she tell you that? We were schoolgirls together, in the days when bussing was an idea everybody thought would pass.”
Bussing? She almost asked before she realized Mona meant the desegregation of schools.
“The day she found out she was carrying LJ, she was in my bathroom over on Deslonde.” Mona tipped her head to indicate the direction.
Andra smiled stiffly, though she wasn’t sure it was the proper response.
“Things were all mixed up for Rose back then, but we couldn’t have known what a blessing he would turn out to be. He’s helped my son out of a tight spot or two, I don’t mind telling you. LJ’s driven nails in half the roofs on this street, and after Katrina, he kept the weeds and critters out of the vacant lots around our houses. It took alligators and wild dogs moving in before the city sent people out to do the same for everybody else.”