Read Online Feels Like Home: A Southerland Family Contemporary Romance Book 1 by Evelyn Adams - Free Book Online Page A

popsicles, Magnum bars for
her and Summer and a bottle of wine. She’d also stopped at the
town’s only Redbox and picked up a Disney princess movie for Abby
and a completely girlie romantic comedy for them to watch on the
old DVD player her siblings left behind in their scavenge.
    When she came into the kitchen carrying her
loot, Summer was transferring the load from the washer to the dryer
and filling the washer with her own clothes. She looked miserable.
Autumn wanted desperately to ease some of her burden.
    Growing up, Summer had been light and sunny
like her name. That memory was hard to reconcile with the sad,
tired woman standing in front of her. She must have heard her
because she turned from a t-shirt she was smelling to face her.
    “ I hope you don’t mind.”
She motioned to the washer. “My clothes stink of it,
too.”
    “ Course not. This is your
house.” She understood why Gran had left her the house instead of
leaving it to Summer, but it didn’t matter whose name was on the
deed. In her mind it belonged to both of them.
    Summer smiled a sad, small smile. “It’s not,
but I appreciate it. I appreciate you letting us stay.”
    Autumn wanted to grab her sister and hug her,
tell her to leave the ass and live here. Summer looked so fragile
she was afraid to spook her. “I’m glad you’re here. I get lonely.”
That was at least part of the truth, even if she didn’t say
everything she wanted to say.
    She started unloading the grocery bags. Thank
God for her job at Jude’s. She wanted to feed her sister and Abby
and make sure they had everything they needed. She would have
happily blown through her savings to take care of them, but the job
meant she didn’t have to. She could hold onto, at least for now,
the tiny nest egg which was all she had left from her big career in
the city.
    She paused in loading the frozen treats into
Gran’s ancient top door freezer. The loss of her job didn’t feel so
raw anymore. If she still had the job, she wouldn’t be here with
Summer and Abby. There’s no way she could have taken off this much
time to spend with her family. This was better, she thought,
smiling to herself. This was much better.
    Abby came padding barefoot into the kitchen,
wearing Princess Sofia jammies. Her sandy blonde hair stuck up on
one side and she had a wrinkle from the pillow on her face, but her
breathing was even and quiet with no sign of the cough.
    “ Hola Abracadabra. Did you
have a good nap?” Autumn swung the little girl up onto a stool at
the work table in the center of the kitchen.
    “ I know that word. It’s
Spanish. It means hello.”
    “ Right you are,
kiddo.”
    “ That was a lot of talking
and no coughing.” Summer kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Think the
frog is gone?”
    “ I think I still need
icicle pops to be sure.” She looked expectantly to her
aunt.
    “ Coming up.” Autumn held up
one each of the grape popsicles she’d bought and watched in delight
as Abby’s eyes lit up. “Which one?”
    “ Can I have two?” She
looked to her mother for permission and Summer kissed her again
smiling.
    “ One at a time. You can
have one now and one after dinner.”
    “ Score,” Autumn said with a
wink. “Which first?” Abby pointed and Autumn cut the top off the
chosen pop before handing it to her. “How about you? I got big girl
ones, too.” She waved the box of chocolate Magnum popsicles in
front of her sister.
    Summer laughed. “Maybe after dinner.”
    “ I think we need to do
both, too. Just to keep the frogs away. One before and one after.”
She took two of the decadent treats out of the box and handed one
to her sister before opening her own. She took a bite of the
popsicle and moaned in pleasure at the creamy ice cream wrapped in
caramel and good chocolate. “God, I love these.”
    Summer took a bite and let her eyes drift
closed. “I forgot how good these were.”
    The three of them munched in companionable
silence around the table. When