Giving It All Read Online Free Page A

should know about before we get home?”
    Her face fell and she gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles whitened. “Your daddy isn’t the man he was. I want you to be prepared. He still can’t talk, and the whole right side of his face droops. It can be something of a shock when you see him for the first time.”
    “I’ve been researching stroke patients. The most recovery is in the first three months. It’s already been six weeks.”
    “I’m just thinking about today. If I worry about what’s going to happen next month or even next week, I start making myself crazy.”
    “I get it. Have you joined a support group?” Grant wasn’t much for support groups, but the Wounded Warriors Project Alumni groups had kept him sane during a time when he hadn’t known what to do with his life.
    “Yes, the social worker at the rehab hospital practically forced me to go to a meeting before she’d release Dad into home care. I didn’t think I’d get anything out of it, but I did. I’ve made some friends who I see at physical therapy too.”
    “I’m sure you have. Pretty soon you’ll be organizing them into fundraising groups and having bake sales.”
    “This isn’t the Garden Club. We’re all too busy going to doctor appointments, physical therapy, occupational therapy and taking care of our spouses to worry about much else.” She shook her head.
    “Hey, I’m here now. I can help. What do you want me to do? I can take over the physical therapy part if you want. I need to find a gym anyway.”
    “We’ll figure that out when we get home. Mostly, I’m going to need you to help out at the store. I just can’t keep up with the business too.”
    “What about Greg?” he asked, mentioning his cousin. “Didn’t he take over after Uncle Tom died a few years back?”
    “Yes, but he’s not the salesman Tom was. Your dad had taken on more of the business before his stroke, now Greg is floundering without him.”
    “I’ll go down tomorrow to check things out, look over the books.”
    “Take Ellie with you. She’s our accountant. She told me she’d help me with the books if I needed it, but I just haven’t been able to face it with everything else going on.”
    “I’ll handle it.” And he’d make sure Ellie wasn’t screwing over his softhearted mother. “You said she’s renting the apartment over the garage?”
    “Yes. After her grandma passed, I told her she could stay there for as long as she wanted, but she insists on paying rent. Drew up a lease and everything.”
    “Huh.” He grunted. “If I remember, there wasn’t much to that place, just a little kitchenette, bathroom and one bedroom. What is she paying for rent?”
    “I don’t think that’s any of your business, Grant Edward. She’s been a huge help to me, and I won’t have you trying to intimidate her.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
    “I know that tone. I’m not a fool, despite what you or your sister believe. Ellie pays her rent on time every month and helps me with the yard work as well as with your father. She more than pays her own way. Leave her alone.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He’d keep his concerns to himself, for now.
    It seemed to take forever before they escaped the city sprawl and began to see the rolling hills of home. After being in Afghanistan, he really didn’t think of them as mountains anymore. The town of Canton, where he’d gone to high school, had gotten bigger. Some of the places had changed, but a lot were still the same as when he was a kid.
    The last time he’d been in Dale, the place had been two steps from a ghost town. His mom said things were improving though. A horse farm had opened a trail-riding business in town and some of the locals worked there, leading tours through the woods and taking care of the horses. There was even talk of someone opening a new restaurant to replace Sonny’s Barbeque.
    As they wound their way through the hills, Grant felt his anxiety about coming back mix with