Read Online Christmas on My Mind by Janet Dailey - Free Book Online Page A

but I wasn’t sure you’d want a big breakfast.”
    â€œCoffee’s fine for now, thanks. I’m guessing Ben’s left for work.”
    â€œHe has. And he wanted me to tell you that Silas will be bringing your car around this afternoon.”
    â€œGreat. Maybe after I take Silas back to the garage, I’ll drop by the jail and see my mother. Meanwhile, after lunch, I’ll see what I can do about whittling down your phone call list.” She glanced at Clara’s newspaper. “Does that paper have a classified section?”
    â€œHere you are.” Clara picked up the paper, peeled off the back page and passed it to Jess. “Not much to it, as you’ll see. Branding Iron’s a pretty small place.”
    â€œOne apartment and one job. That’s all I need.” Jess spread the single page on the table, scanning the columns. Many of the ads featured items for sale—cars, appliances, food supplements, a business or two and a house with grazing land. The Help Wanted section was no more encouraging. Besides the usual “make money at home” schemes, which Jess had never trusted, there were a couple of ads for farm workers, one for a truck driver and one for a dishwasher at Buckaroo’s—that might at least be someplace to start. She certainly knew how to wash dishes.
    In the For Rent section there were a couple of possibilities—a small, affordable studio in the basement of a home, and a free room in exchange for taking care of someone’s elderly parents. But neither of these would do if she had her mother with her, Jess realized. For herself and Francine, she’d need a two-bedroom place, and there was nothing like that in the paper.
    Nothing for a struggling single woman and her misbehaving mother.
    The enormity of what she was about to do hit Jess like a rolling two-ton boulder. Taking an emotionally fragile alcoholic under her wing was going to be a huge responsibility. Whatever Francine was surviving on now, probably welfare, couldn’t be much. And even with an adequate place to live, if she had nothing meaningful to do, she could easily go right back to her old habits.
    Ben’s blunt advice had been spot-on. If things didn’t work out with Francine, there’d be nothing left of this well-meant undertaking but two broken hearts. She had just one chance to help her mother. She had to do this right.
    â€œAre you okay, Jess?” Clara was watching her with a worried expression.
    â€œI’m fine.” Jess rose, carried her cup to the sink and began unloading last night’s clean dishes from the dishwasher. “But what I’m about to take on is sinking in. I’ll be dealing with a lot of responsibilities in the time ahead. What I need right now, I think, is a good long walk to clear my head.”
    â€œThat might be just the ticket,” Clara said. “It’s a nice, sunny morning. Go on, I can finish up in here. But wear something warm. Have you got a coat?”
    â€œI left it in the trunk of my car. But I can layer. I’ll be fine.” Jess hurried upstairs to put on her sneakers, warm socks and a merino sweater under her track suit. With a quilted vest to top it off, she felt almost cozy.
    â€œTake your phone,” Clara called up the stairs. “I’ll give you my number, so you can call if you get lost.”
    â€œGot it!” Clara was a dear, Jess thought. But it was as if the woman had missed having someone to fuss over. Ben probably wouldn’t stand for it. Maybe her daughter, Ellie, had resisted being mothered as well. That could be the reason for the seeming distance between them.
    Five minutes later she was out the door, striding along the sidewalk, filling her lungs with the crisp, wintery air. Even as a girl, Jess had relied on walking to calm her nerves and help her think. She could feel how much she needed it today.
    The Marsden home was in a neighborhood of vintage