New Uses For Old Boyfriends Read Online Free Page A

opportunity to get out of small-town Delaware and meet her daughter for restaurant Thanksgivings in New York and Philadelphia. They’d had Christmases in Colorado, Easters in West Palm Beach and the Bahamas, August getaways in Maine and Vermont.
    But even though she’d barely set foot here in ten years, she knew exactly what to expect. This town was her safety net, her fallback plan, her last resort she could always depend on when the rest of the world failed her. As she drove down Main Street, sherecognized the familiar standbys: the candy shop that sold hand-pulled saltwater taffy, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, the white gazebo and bronze dog statue in the town square. Of course, a few businesses had changed hands since she’d graduated from high school. The old ice cream shop had been replaced by an antique store. The diner where she and her friends had hung out on Friday afternoons had been deposed by a bar called the Whinery. There was a bookstore now, and a boutique called Retail Therapy.
    But everything important, the essence of Black Dog Bay, remained unchanged.
    And Ben was back.
    As the first wisps of fog rolled in from the sea, Lila pulled up in front of the huge white house where she’d grown up. Her father had built this home as a wedding present for her mother, and her mother had spent the past three decades customizing the mansion on the beach. Over the years, the eighties architecture and decor had been remodeled to reflect a more historical sensibility, and now, thanks to endless updates, the house looked as if it had been there for centuries.
    A bronze-accented light glowed warm and bright on the wraparound porch. Lila parked the FUV on the gravel driveway, left her belongings in her car, and sprinted through the rain to the house.
    Before she could make it up the wooden steps, her mother flung open the front door. Even in a bathrobe, Daphne Alders looked perfectly put together. She had modeled in New York for several years before she got married, and she’d never lost her sense of chic, her smooth complexion, or her lithe physique.
    â€œSweet pea!” Daphne threw both arms around her daughter. “You’re here!”
    â€œI’m here.” Lila closed her eyes and breathed in the faint notes ofjasmine from her mother’s perfume. “I made it.” When she opened her eyes, she glanced around the foyer and living room. Her mother had gone on another redecorating binge. Lila recognized the abstract bronze sculpture on the mantel and the vintage candelabra hanging from the ceiling, but the living room wallpaper—finely woven grass cloth that looked almost like burlap—was definitely new, as was the retro gray settee that looked like it had been stolen from the set of
Mad Men
. But everything somehow worked together, punctuated by green glass vases of white hydrangeas, to create a balanced, beautiful tableau.
    â€œThank goodness. I’ve been waiting all night for you.” Daphne pulled out of the hug, grabbed a stack of mail from the hall table, and handed the pile to Lila. “Here. You’ll know what to do with these.”
    â€œI will?” Lila shuffled through the stack, glancing at return addresses from utility companies and banks and health insurance corporations.
    â€œYour father paid all the bills online, and you know I’m hopeless with a computer.”
    Lila flipped over an envelope. Some of the postmarks were from months ago. “You haven’t opened any of these?”
    â€œI just can’t bear to. You know the finances were your father’s department.”
    â€œYes, but what about the attorney? I thought you had set up a trustee?”
    Daphne dabbed at her eyes. “And the registration for his truck is due. I have no idea how to renew it.”
    â€œOh, well, we can just—”
    â€œAnd the water heater’s broken.”
    â€œThe water heater?” Lila stopped thumbing through the stack of