Read Online Larkspur Road by Jill Gregory - Free Book Online Page A

topic of Travis had always been pretty much avoided by all three of them by unspoken consent.
    That had been easy to do while he was away at college and then living in Arizona, far from Lonesome Way. It might be a bit more tricky, Mia realized with a sinking feeling, now that he was back.
    If he really
was
back.
    “Of course we don’t have to talk about him.” Sophie turned to slice two generous wedges of banana bread from the loaf beside the coffeepot. She set one slice on a pretty yellow plate for Mia and the other on a plate for herself. “If I wasn’t so wiped out, I’d know to just stay out of it.”
    “Nothing to stay out of.” Accepting the plate Sophie offered her with a smile, Mia slipped into a chair and popped a bite of warm banana bread in her mouth.
    “I’m a big girl, Soph. All grown up. Not that lovesick kid who cried like a baby for three days after Travis broke up with me. Considering my divorce from Peter and that mess when I ended things with Zeke, what happened with Travis was a mere blip in the grand scheme of things.”
    “You’re due for something good to happen. For someone new to come into your life.”
    “Someone has. In a way.” Mia smiled. “Guess who’s spending the summer with me? Here’s a hint. She used to call you Aunt Soapy.”
    “Brittany?” Sophie looked astonished. “I thought she was staying with her dad while Sam’s off on her honeymoon.”
    “Apparently Brittany loathes that idea. I’m still not sure why. But Samantha wants her to find a summer job. So I was wondering…” She shot her friend a hopeful glance. “Do you by any chance have any openings at A Bun in the Oven?”
    “Since two of my high school kids up and quit the daybefore yesterday, I actually do.” Sophie sank into a chair, shaking her head. “Those two seemed to think all they’d have to do to work at a bakery was eat brownies, drink coffee, and flirt with every guy under thirty who came in the door—not actually, you know,
work.
When Gran let them know otherwise, they walked. So Brittany can start tomorrow, if she’d like. Eight thirty A.M .”
    “I owe you, Soph. Big-time.” Polishing off the last crumbs of her banana bread, Mia carried her plate to the dishwasher and leaned down to set it inside. Much as she’d like to stay and chat with Sophie, she had places to go—and a grumpy old woman to see.
    And Travis could be coming back down those stairs any minute now.
    “Are you sure you don’t mind my taking that pie for Aunt Winny? Let me pay you for it.”
    “Don’t be an idiot.” Sophie scooped up the box and thrust it into Mia’s hands. “Maybe some pie will sweeten her up. Honestly, I don’t know anyone who’s ever seen Winona Pruitt give so much as a hint of a smile when she’s come to town. Martha Davies told me a few months back that she was beautiful when she was a young girl. And wild…wild as one of those mustangs in Coldwater Canyon, she said.”
    “Was she? Really?” Mia stared. Mia and Sam had never found so much as an old photograph of Winny when they’d pored through their grandmother’s things. Martha Davies, the owner of the Cuttin’ Loose hair salon and the treasurer of Bits and Pieces, apparently knew more about Mia’s great-aunt than Mia ever had. “I knew Martha and Gram were friends,” Mia said slowly, “but Martha’s never mentioned Aunt Winny to me.”
    None of Gram’s friends ever had. No one ever seemed to talk about her. Except to comment on how unneighborly she was, having nothing to say to anyone in town, never pausing to speak to a soul on the rare occasions she drove into Lonesome Way.
    “I think half the time people forget about her—she comes to town even less these days than she used to. And now with the accident and all…” Sophie shook her head. “Between poor Winny and Brittany, you have a lot on your plate right now, don’t you?”
    “Not as much as you do.” Mia glanced at her friend sympathetically as the wail of a