Bring on the Blessings Read Online Free

later, his second walk to the altar with bookstore owner Mia ended after only six months. She and his business partner had been conducting an affair right under his nose, and the sense of anger and betrayal made him chuck life in the fast lane and move back to the place where he’d been born, a place where he could go to ground and lick his wounds. A place he’d sold.
    He sat up and looked out of the window at the sun coming up. The decision still weighed on him. Intellectually he knew selling had been the only option, but it didn’t salve the guilt he felt inside from being unable to keep the town going. Henry Adams had been handed down for five generations, and no matter what life or the country threw at it, it had survived. Until now. Now there was no tax base, no population, no schools. Farms had gone under, elders had died. The young people who’d left in search of real lives and never returned. Except for him, of course, but this wasn’t about him. It was about legacy and family and a way of life that would be no more. Back in the day, his great great-great-grandmother Olivia Sterling July had been Henry Adams’s mayor. She’d loved her town and her people. Now, because of him, she was probably spinning in her grave.
    Trent sat in the half dawn for a few moments longer,then got up to start the day. He was due to pick up Ms. Brown at the airport that afternoon, and frankly he wasn’t looking forward to it.
     
    After her flight from Kansas City to Hays, Bernadine walked into the terminal and followed the other passengers from the small jet to baggage claim. While waiting for her luggage to show, she glanced around for Trent July. Although she had no idea what he looked like because her lawyers had handled everything so far, she assumed he’d be Black but saw no one fitting that description.
    Once the bags arrived she grabbed her two sand-colored suitcases off the belt and followed the exit sign to the doors leading outside. After being cooped up in airports and planes since early that morning, the fresh air felt good; it was hot though. From the discreet stares she received from people walking by, she assumed they didn’t get too many folks at the airport who looked like her, but she didn’t let it bother her and continued her visual search for the man she was supposed to meet. As time passed and no July, she wondered if he’d forgotten about picking her up or just running late.
    She was digging around in her handbag for her phone just as a big black pickup eased up to the curb. A tall dark-skinned Black man wearing shades, jeans, a worn green plaid shirt, and a straw cowboy hat stepped out and went inside the terminal.
    A few moments later he returned. He glanced at his watch and then at the faces of the few people milling about as if searching for someone in particular.
    “Mr. July?” Bernadine asked, hope in her voice.
    He hesitated, looking her over. “Yes. I’m July.”
    She stuck out her perfectly manicured hand. “B. E. Brown. Pleased to meet you.”
    His jaw dropped. “You’re Brown? Nobody told me you were—”
    “Black?”
    “Well, yeah.”
    “Does it matter?”
    He sized her up. She sized him up.
    “No. No it doesn’t. Just surprised I guess. How about I pull my foot out of my mouth and we start over?”
    She decided she liked him. In this day and age, some people would rather lose a limb than own up to an apology—for anything. “I’d like that. I’m Bernadine Edwards Brown.”
    “And I’m Trenton July. Most folks call me Trent. Welcome to Kansas, Ms. Brown.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Let me take those bags and we’ll head out.”
    Bernadine let out a sigh of relief. First hurdle passed.
    “Watch your step.”
    He opened the door and she stepped up as gracefully as she could in her dark green Italian suit and matching pumps and settled into the seat.
    “Buckle up.”
    She reached for the seat belt and he closed her in.
    Bernadine had never ridden in a pickup. The interior was