Read Online Small-Town Mom by Jean C. Gordon - Free Book Online Page A

of.
    “What exactly did you say to Mr. Payton?”
    “I told him that if you liked him… You do like him, don’t you?”
    “Yes, I like him.” She did like him, even if they had their differences.
    “I said if you liked him, he could be your boyfriend, and he could take me and Rose to the dance.”
    No wonder Eli sent Opal back up the hill with Sara. He probably needed to recover from that bomb.
    “You are such a baby to tell him that,” Rose said.
    “Am not.”
    “Rose, no name-calling.”
    “But, Mom. Can you imagine what he thought?”
    Jamie could imagine, and that was a problem.
    “Let your sister finish.”
    Rose leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms in front of her.
    “And Mr. Payton said he would take you to the dance?”
    “No.” Her answer was almost inaudible. “He said he couldn’t be your boyfriend just because I wanted him to be.”
    “I told you it was a dumb thing to say.”
    “Rose,” Jamie warned, “you’re close to losing your TV privileges.”
    Her older daughter snapped her mouth shut. They’d just gotten a movie on DVD this morning that Rose wanted to see.
    “So, Mr. Payton didn’t say he would take you and Rose to the dance, did he?”
    “No, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t.”
    Rose snorted.
    “Let’s stick with our original plan,” Jamie said.
    “We’ll see,” Opal piped up from behind her.
    Jamie bit her lip to keep from laughing at how much her daughter’s response sounded like her.
    “Mom, don’t forget the pizza,” Rose said as they approached DC’s Pizzeria on Route 9.
    Jamie flicked her directional. “Don’t worry.” But she had forgotten, which wasn’t like her. She didn’t know what was making her so scattered these days. Or did she? Ever since she’d met Eli Payton, her whole life had been a little out of step.
    * * *
    The kitchen door opened, letting in a blast of cold night air. “Hey.” Myles surveyed the pizza boxes. “Did you save any for me?”
    Jamie looked up, her gaze bypassing Myles to Eli walking in behind him.
    “Mr. Payton brought me home.” Myles strode over to the table to more closely inspect the pizza situation.
    “So I see.” She smiled at Eli, who was still standing by the door, to let him know she wasn’t going to light into him again over driving Myles home.
    “Want to join us?”
    “Thanks, but I just wanted to check on Rose.”
    “No, stay,” Opal prompted. “You can sit next to Mommy.” She pointed at the empty seat by Jamie.
    Jamie felt her cheeks flush. “Rose is fine. The physician’s assistant popped her kneecap right back in place. I wasn’t able to this time.”
    Eli winced, and Jamie bit back a smile.
    “Seriously, join us. There’s plenty.”
    Myles’s expression questioned that, but she ignored him and moved her chair toward Opal’s so Eli could take the seat next to her.
    “All right. I’d like that.”
    “Myles, take Mr. Payton’s coat.” She eyed her son’s coat slung on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. “And hang it and yours up.”
    He grabbed Eli’s ski jacket and hung both on the coat pegs by the door.
    Eli sat down and reached over to take a slice of pizza from the box in front of her.
    He seemed to take up so much space at the table. She wrapped her ankle around the chair leg and scooted the chair to the right.
    “Mommy, you’re squishing me.”
    Jamie’s face grew warmer. Maybe Eli would think her cheeks were perpetually rosy.
    He placed his pizza on the paper plate Rose had slid over to him and bent his head.
    “What are you doing?” Opal asked.
    “Giving thanks.”
    “We don’t do that anymore. Mommy said our food comes from the grocery store and not God.” The little girl shot a glance at Jamie. “But when we did, my favorite was ‘God is great. God is good. So we thank Him for our food. Amen.’”
    Jamie braced herself for disapproval. But he looked sad rather than condemning.
    “That grace has always been one of my favorites, too,” he said.
    She