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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

“Abigail!” He only used my full name when he was really upset. “Apologize to Meredith immediately.”

Meredith tugged on his arm. “No, honey, it’s fine. Really it is.”

“No, it isn’t. That’s unacceptable, and she knows it.”

“I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just telling the truth, and you know it.” Tears flowed down my face. I always cried when I was angry. I hated it. “This is between us. Why does she get a say in where I live? She’s not my mom.”

He pointed to the stairs. “Go to your room now.”

I couldn’t remember the last time he’d sent me to my room. I shook my head, refusing to go. “You can’t treat me like I’m a kid. I’m sixteen years old, and I’m living with Mom when she moves out.”

THIRTY-SIX

THIRTY-SIX

MEREDITH

NOW

The three of us sat unmoving in the kitchen after Abbi had stormed upstairs. My head was pounding with a headache, and it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet. There was nothing that sounded better than hunkering down with Scott, but Kate wasn’t stable enough to take care of Abbi, and the mother in me wouldn’t do that to her, no matter how much it might serve me.

It wasn’t a coincidence that she’d announced leaving the morning after I’d caught her in a lie again. She might be able to lie to everyone else, but she and I knew the truth, no matter how she played it off to the others. Besides the fact that you couldn’t trust her, she was nowhere near being functional enough to be a single mom raising two kids.

“Kate, I really don’t think you should leave,” Scott said. He slid into Abbi’s chair and pulled it up alongside her. “Things are weird right now, and it might be that way for a while, but eventually we’re going to figure out how to do this thing. We should give it at least a few more months before we make any decisions, and if we still are having a hard time, then maybe we could even go see our family therapist.” He turned to me as he spoke. “Think about how amazing Dr. Greer was when we were getting married, Meredith. She loves complicated blended families. This would be right up her alley.”

“Live here? All of us?” Kate asked.

“Yes, sweetheart. We can figure this out,” he said, pulling her close to him. She melted into his chest. He glanced up at me with a huge smile on his face, so proud at having worked it out.