BooksBarbecue
Back When She Returned Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Will wasn’t convinced, but I eyed the rest of the circle to see the others’ reactions. Doubt shone on most of their faces too. I turned to Margo, like I did for most things. She’d grown to be my voice of reason. She appeared unmoved, waiting on Ray with an expectant look on her face. Maybe this was some kind of test that she’d already figured out. If she wasn’t shocked or surprised about Ray having a gun, then I wasn’t either. After all, she knew him better than I did.

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-TWO

ABBI

NOW

I quietly knocked on Mom’s door. It had been two nights since I’d been in her room. I didn’t know what to say to her after everything that had happened. I still didn’t, but I missed talking to her at night. Our interactions weren’t the same when we were around everyone else. She relaxed with me in ways she didn’t with them. Mom opened the door, and Shiloh smiled when she saw me.

“Oh my gosh, Mom!” I squealed. “She smiled at me, like really smiled at me.”

“You’re her sister,” Mom said. She gave me a quick hug before moving to the side so I could get through the doorway. I scooped Shiloh from her arms and brought her to me. I sniffed the top of her bald head. She always smelled so good after she came out of a bath.

“I wonder when people start stinking?” I asked.

Mom laughed. It was different than how Dad described her laugh, but most things about her were. There wasn’t much of anything he’d said that was true about her anymore, but you couldn’t go through what she’d gone through and not become a changed person. Dad had always said her laugh was loud and boisterous, like an old fat man’s. Not anymore. It was quiet and gentle, tinged with guilt, like she wasn’t supposed to find things funny anymore or enjoy life.

“I can’t remember when it happened with you. One day you had the new-baby smell, and the next day you smelled like the food you’d smeared all over your face.” She smiled at the memory.

I climbed on her bed with Shiloh, laying her on her back while I rested on my elbow above her. She kicked and flailed her arms wildly. I giggled as I stroked her cheeks. Mom sat behind me and rubbed my back.

Her eyes misted. “I’m sorry for all this. Everything. Leaving. Not coming back.”

“Please stop saying you’re sorry, Mom.” My words hung in the air. Hanging out with Mom had forced me to get comfortable with silence. It was amazing how long she could go without saying anything. I wasn’t there yet. “What made you stay with them for so long?”