Read Online A Mother's Homecoming by Tanya Michaels - Free Book Online

a slight breeze outside and the sun had set enough for the temperature to dip below baking.
    â€œPerfect! I want to hear about everything you’ve been up to since you left,” Dawn enthused as they headed for the front door.
    â€œUm … not much to tell, really. You witnessed the pinnacle of my ‘fame.’” She made air quotes with her fingers, shaking her head at the memory of PJ the VJ. She settled into one of the creaky rockers on the porch, and Dawn sat on the padded striped bench across from her. “After the video jockey gig, I tried a few things that didn’t really work out. But tell me all about you! Are you even still Dawn Lewin, or is it Mrs. Some-Lucky-Guy now?”
    Dawn’s cheeks grew rosy. “Not yet, but I’m hopinghe’ll pop the question next month. I’ve been dropping hints that an engagement ring would be a very nice birthday present. You don’t know him—Jerry Price. He moved here about five years ago.”
    Pam nodded politely, although it was still an adjustment to consider Mimosa a place people would move
to;
for her, the town had always been something to escape. Of course, now that she’d actually seen Nashville and Los Angeles and myriad places in between, she had to admit some of the destinations she used to dream of weren’t all they were cracked up to be. And she’d seriously missed the food at Granny K’s.
    Leaning forward on the bench, Dawn asked, “What about you? Got a special man in your life?” She bit the inside of her cheek. “I feel silly bringing this up—it was all so long ago, you probably don’t even think about him these days—but you do know Nick Shepard is in town? If I were you, it’s the kind of thing I’d want a friend to tell me. That way you can run out for groceries in cute shoes and lipstick. Just in case. I mean, because you’re over an ex doesn’t mean you want to bump into him on laundry day when the closest you’ve come to a hairstyle is a ball cap. Am I right?”
    â€œAbsolutely spot-on.” She considered sharing with Dawn her embarrassing encounter from that morning. Joking with the cheerful brunette about it might even make it seem funny. But Pam found the words wouldn’t quite come. It was still too fresh.
    Dawn twined a strand of her dark hair around a finger, looking tentative. “We were friends a long time, so I hope this won’t seem like stabbing you in the back. But I sort of made a play for Nick myself. You’d been gone for months, and no one knew if you’d be back, so …”
    â€œYou don’t owe me any apology for that!” Pam assured her friend.
If I’d wanted him, I should have kept him.
Except it had never been about not wanting Nick. It was just the rest of the package—his unwelcoming parents, this suffocating town. The baby. “I left. Nick was completely available.”
    And based on what he’d said that morning, he was again.
    â€œWell, it’s not like anything ever happened anyway. We went out once or twice, but he had his hands full. I haven’t even seen him since he moved back.”
    I have.
An awkward silence descended.
    Dawn nibbled at the bright lipstick on her lower lip. “If you’re looking to meet a guy, Jerry has a few single friends.”
    â€œThanks, but I’m not staying,” Pam said quickly. Did she really seem so pathetic that someone might think her only prospects for a relationship would come from a total stranger? “I’ll probably just be in town a few days.” She’d use the time to try and forge a bond with her aunt and uncle and find a competent real estate agent to list Mae’s—
my—
house.
    Was there a property version of selling a broken-down car for parts? Because Pam couldn’t imagine anyone actually living in the neglected home she’d seen yesterday afternoon.
    â€œOh, right.” Dawn