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

nothing was left but sticky fingers
Autumn saw Abby looking at her sister, gauging her mother’s
response.
    “ After dinner,” Summer said
before the little girl could ask.
    “ Go wash your hands. You
can help fix dinner. I got stuff to make pizza.”
    “ Yeah!” she yelled and then
had to stop to cough. Still it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had
been.
    “ Easy there, Abracadabra.
Go wash up.” Autumn turned to see her sister watching her with
tears in her eyes. “What is it? The cough isn’t too
bad.”
    “ It’s not that.” She swiped
her hands at her eyes. “I don’t know what it is. I’m just glad
you’re home. I missed you.”
    Autumn took her hand and gave it a squeeze as
her own eyes filled. “Me too. I missed you , too.”
    Abby came back into the room and looked from
her mother to her aunt, her brow wrinkling. “What’s wrong?”
    “ Nothing, honey.” Summer
helped her climb back into the stool while Autumn went to fetch the
ingredients for the pizza. “Everything is fine.”
     
    They watched the credits roll as the hero and
heroine drove off into their happily ever after. The pizza was
nothing but crumbs and empty popsicle sticks, juice boxes, and an
almost empty wine bottle littered the coffee table. Abby slept
wedged in between them on the couch, her head on Summer’s lap and
her little feet pressing into Autumn’s thigh.
    Summer sighed. “Did you ever think it could
be like that?”
    “ Like what? Crazy family,
big wedding?”
    “ Like one guy willing to do
anything to help you, to love you.”
    Autumn thought for a minute before she
answered. She wanted to believe in true love and happily ever
afters, but the truth was she wasn’t sure any more. Nothing had
worked out the way she thought it would. What if believing in one
true love was like putting her faith in Chase and Maxwell?
Regardless, she knew there were lots of choices better than Dwayne
Foster.
    “ Yes. I guess I still do.”
Saying it out loud felt almost like making a wish.
    “ Maybe it’s Dr.
McHottie.”
    Autumn was shocked by how much she wanted
that to be true.
    “ No, even if I was
interested, which I’m not,” she lied. “There’s no way he’d get
serious about me. I’m not doctor’s wife material – at least not in
this town.”
    She didn’t have to explain why to Summer. She
understood exactly how far apart her world was from Jude
Southerland’s. They shared a crazy family.
    “ I’m not sure that’s true
anymore. Momma’s been dead for years and people in this town really
loved Gran. She belonged to the Garden Club and the Ladies
Auxiliary until she got too sick to go to meetings. You might be
surprised.”
    “ She knew who her family
was back generations. I don’t even know my grandparents except for
Gran.”
    “ That doesn’t matter.” But
Autumn heard the doubt in her sister’s voice.
    “ It does. The Southerland’s
are a founding family. I can’t think of anything more respectable
than them. They can trace their family back to Europe before
Columbus. I don’t even know who my father is.” It had been a long
time since she’d felt the stigma of that, but she felt it now. “Why
are we talking about this? Jude Southerland isn’t interested in me
and I am not interested in him.”
    “ If you say so,” said
Summer, clearly skeptical.
    “ I’m not.” Maybe if she
said it often enough she could convince herself.
     
    “ I am so glad you could see
me today Doctor Southerland.” Old Mrs. Morris settled herself in
the exam room chair, clutching her handbag in a death grip on her
lap in case a purse snatcher jumped up from behind the table. “I
need to get my flu shot before it’s too late.”
    “ Of course, Mrs. Morris.
I’ll be happy to help you with that but you didn’t need to make an
appointment for a flu shot. You could just walk-in or even get it
at the Wal-Mart out on 460.”
    She looked at him with the same expression
she’d used when he and Adam ran through her flower