Read Online Homecoming by Amber Benson - Free Book Online

okay . . .”
    â€œWhat are you gonna do?” Carole asked, using her
I’m a mother, so don’t bullshit me
tone. “How long are you gonna be out there?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Lyse said, running her hand along the front of a tall redwood fence while she walked. “I guess I’ll talk to her doctors, see if there’s anything she hasn’t told me. Figure out what I can do to make her happy while she’s . . . you know.”
    â€œDamn, Bear.”
    An older man was leaning against his chain-link fence, watching Lyse as she talked. It made her feel exposed, standing there on the sidewalk, so she decided to walk faster.
    â€œI don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Lyse said. “Talking about it just makes me want to cry—and I don’t want to do that right now. Tell me about the house, okay?”
    â€œSure thing,” Carole said—the last bit of
thing
cut off by a loud screech on Carole’s end of the line.
“Bemo, no! I said no cookie right now—”
    Lyse couldn’t help but smile. The thought of Bemo—Carole’s ridiculously adorable hellion of a three-year-old—standing in the middle of the kitchen, hands on hips, shaking his auburn curls, and demanding his mama’s attention was just too damn wonderful.
    â€œI miss Beams already,” Lyse said, feeling an ache in her heart the size and shape of Carole’s toddler.
    â€œYou want him? I’ll put the little monster on a plane to Los Angeles right now.”
    She knew Carole was only teasing. Bemo was the greatest thing that’d ever happened to her best friend, and she would never let him out of her sight. Still, the thought of Bemo hanging out with Eleanora was, like, the best thing ever.
    â€œI’ll take him,” Lyse said. “Eleanora would love to have him come stay.”
    â€œYeah, he is pretty damn adorable,” Carole said, and Lyse could hear the pride in her friend’s voice.
    â€œHe’s the best,” Lyse agreed, wishing she were back in Athens with Carole and Bemo instead of hiding out in Los Angeles. In many ways, Carole and her son were as much a part of her family as Eleanora was. She’d been there holding Carole’s hand when Bemo was born, so if that didn’t count for something, she didn’t know what did.
    â€œHere, take the cookie. I need quiet while I talk to Bear,”
Carole said to Bemo. “Jeez Louise, that kid has
energy
! Okay, so where were we?”
    â€œDo I need to do anything about the house?”
    â€œThey broke a window, but I’ve got a glazier coming,” her friend replied, and Lyse could hear the strain in Carole’s voice as she hoisted Bemo onto her hip. “Beams and I can go over there tonight and start putting it back together for you.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t mind?” Lyse asked, surprised to find herself standing in front of a tiny modern glass-and-metal coffee bar that definitely hadn’t been there when Lyse was growing up.
    â€œOf course. It’s my job to help my best friend out,” Carole said. “And please send my love to Eleanora, okay?”
    â€œI will,” Lyse said, peering around the row of hedges separating the coffee bar from the local elementary school. “I just wish she were a little easier to reach. It’s difficult to really break through to her.”
    â€œShe raised you, and she loves you,” Carole said.
    â€œI know.”
    There was nothing to add. Carole had called it: Eleanora loved her and she loved Eleanora. Lyse just needed to hold on to that and let it help her through the messed-up times.
    â€œHey, I need to run, but thank you. For letting me know what’s going on,” Lyse said. “Am I terrible? I just can’t even think about what’s happening back there right now. And you can handle the nursery on your own for a while?”
    â€œI can run the