Read Online Because This Is Forever by Lena Hart - Free Book Online

understand how difficult it is
to lose a parent.”
    Mia
stopped, staring at the older man whose intelligent eyes were filled with a familiar
sadness. She nodded in acknowledgment then, without another word, walked out of
his office.
    She
needed to clear her mind. Since they wouldn’t be able to rely on the insurance
money, she needed to start thinking ahead. And whether Leah wanted to or not,
they were going to figure this out together.
    Mia
pulled up to the pale yellow, single story house that had been her home for the
past sixteen years. It had also been her son’s home since the day she’d brought
him home from the hospital five years ago. Mia could remember how excited
they’d all been to move into their first home. Their mother had worked hard to
purchase this place and Mia couldn’t imagine losing it because she couldn’t
afford the mortgage.
    Mia exited
the suffocating car, vaguely noting the dry, withering grass. Though it had
been the least of her worries, the lawn would soon need some attention.
    As
Mia headed to the front door, she spotted their neighbor, Mr. Wallace, sitting
outside on his front porch, his dark, weathered face breaking out into a big
smile. Mia smiled in return, waving a silent greeting. She loved her
neighborhood, as her mother had, and had no desire to leave.
    Mia
found Mikey sleeping soundly on the couch in front of the television. She loved
watching her son sleep. His small, relaxed form always managed to put her at
ease. She gently ran her fingers through his hair then carried him to his bed. He
had been napping less often lately, leaving Mia exhausted at the end of each
day, but today was an exception. Her little man must have tuckered himself out.
Despite his dark curls, round cheeks, and creamy brown complexion, she could
see traces of his father in him. Mikey had her eyes but everything else bore a strong
resemblance to his father.
    She swiftly
shook the thought away. Right now wasn’t the time to think about him . It would be five years this month
since she last seen Nate McArthur. It was hard enough not thinking about him
when he invaded her thoughts at night, and as Mikey grew older, the task of
forgetting him grew harder.
    She
left her son’s room and found her sister in the kitchen, reading a letter. Leah
looked up when she saw Mia approaching.
    “You
have to read this,” she said, holding out the letter to her. “It just got here
about an hour ago through certified mail.”
    Mia took
the letter. What she read knocked the wind out of her. She fell into the
nearest seat and stared at her sister blankly.
    “They
can’t be serious,” Mia whispered. “We’re only behind by two months.”
    “It’s
June, Mia. I think that put us into three months.”
    Mia
looked down at the letter again. ‘Notice of Foreclosure’ stood out in a bold,
heavy font across the page. She immediately started thinking of the accounts
they could borrow from. Yet even as she thought of their meager savings, she
knew it would barely carry them through the end of the summer.
    Then what? If they used it all to pay the bank that
left them with nothing for basic living expenses. She hadn’t been able to find work
in three weeks. With the fragile state of the economy, it was getting
increasingly difficult to find substantial, consistent work—much less work that
was favorable to single mothers. Mia found herself bouncing from job to job,
limited to jobs that did not require nights or weekends since she couldn’t
afford a babysitter. This schedule worked perfectly as it allowed her to be
with Mikey during those times and Leah would have him during the day. Unfortunately
she had lost her last temp job and now spent her days and nights with her son
while her sister worked part-time as a makeup sales girl at the mall and
part-time as a desk security guard.
    “So what
are you going to do?”
    Mia
looked up at her sister, a little annoyed by the question. “Don’t you mean,
what are we going to do?”