Read Online Blackbird Lake by Jill Gregory - Free Book Online Page A

but I have to see if he’s really okay. And to be with him for his dad—”
    “Go. It’s all right. Everything here is under control,” Carly said soothingly, stepping inside. “Call when you can and let me know how Denny and his dad are doing. Okay?”
    Karla nodded, her thin fair hair swinging forward with the movement. Her eyes were anxious as she hugged Carly and planted a light kiss on the sleeping Emma’s cheek. Only a few years before, Karla had come to Lonesome Way as a single mother, too. She’d first worked as a waitress at the Double Cross Bar and Grill, and then had been hired by Sophie at A Bun in the Oven. Denny McDonald had met her for the first time when he and his father were renovating the former Roy’s Diner, where Sophie was opening her new bakery.
    Denny had been forty-five at the time, shy, never married.But all that had changed after he laid eyes on Karla and her then three-year-old son, Austin.
    “You’re the best friend ever, you know that, don’t you?” Karla murmured gratefully; then, after one more quick, frazzled smile, she was gone, racing toward her car.
    Carly glanced around the neat house with its olive sofa and butterscotch throw pillows, the wide green and tan cushioned armchairs, and a wicker toy chest just like Emma’s pushed against one of the living room walls. She crossed to the sofa and settled Emma on the cushions, then stripped off her own jacket and proceeded to make a safe little bed for Emma.
    Dragging the upholstered cinnamon-colored ottoman over from the deep armchair, she pushed it flush with the sofa and plopped a thick sofa cushion on top of it, so that if Emma rolled over she’d roll into the cushions and the ottoman, not onto the floor. Arranging the throw across Emma’s shoulders, she listened to the sound of her daughter’s soft breathing, then settled down herself at the other end of the sofa.
    Outwardly she was calm, but her brain was spinning. She wondered how badly Sam McDonald was hurt, and if Denny and Karla would need to stay with him at the hospital all night. She could try to sleep sitting up on the sofa eventually, but she didn’t really want to take her eyes off Emma since she wasn’t in a crib. Of course later, if she got sleepy, she could always make a cozy bed for Emma on the floor, with cushions and blankets….
    She wished she’d brought a book. Something to take her mind off the accident and Denny and Sam. And to take her mind off Jake Tanner being in town. She didn’t want to think about that. About having to call Mia and tell her she and Emma wouldn’t be able to make it to Zoey’s birthday party.
    What excuse could she give? What could she possibly say? And was she really going to stay home for the rest of the week, hiding in her house, rather than risk running into Jake somewhere in town?
    Carly straightened her spine.
You’re not a coward,
she told herself.
You’re a strong, smart woman.
Not that terrifiedlittle girl who’d hidden all the time, dodging Phil and his roughhousing friends, crawling under the bed when Uncle Nolan got drunk after lunch and started throwing furniture at the walls, and television sets down the stairs.
    When she heard a soft tap on the front door, she started, then checked her watch. It was almost nine o’clock—who on earth would be stopping by at this hour?
    Still…this was Lonesome Way. Maybe someone—another neighbor—had heard about the accident and wanted to check on Karla….
    Surging to her feet, she glanced over, reassured herself that Emma was still sleeping soundly. Even when the second knock came, a little louder than the first, the little girl didn’t stir.
    I hope Austin and Ashley stay asleep, too.
Her steps quickened as she strode to the door. She guessed it would be Willa Martin on the porch. The rather crotchety older lady lived two doors down from Karla and Denny in the opposite direction. Willa talked loud and listened harder, always wanting to be the first one to know