Sage Creek Read Online Free

hit the porch and she stopped swinging. She was about to rush inside when she heard her mother’s voice, calm and faint above the wind.
    “No, no, I haven’t told her yet.”
    Then, surprisingly, what sounded to Sophie like soft laughter. “Yes, we had a nice dinner. Everything’s fine. She’s going to be just fine. I didn’t have an opportunity to mention anything to her. . . .” A sudden gust of wind drowned the next words. Then: “I know, but there’s no rush. . . .”
    Uncomfortable, Sophie pushed off the swing and slipped inside. She didn’t want to eavesdrop. But as she hurried up the varnished stairs, she wondered about what she’d heard.
    Had that been Gran on the phone? Or Wes? Or one of her mother’s friends? And what didn’t her mother have the opportunity to mention to her yet?
    They’d spent the entire evening together, and she could have brought up anything on her mind while they were clearing the table, tidying up the kitchen, and having coffee in the living room for almost an hour before Diana invited her out to the old barn—which was now her mother’s workroom—to show Sophie her latest project.
    While Sophie was growing up, most of her friends’ mothers had hobbies like reading, knitting, or gardening, but for as long as Sophie could remember, her mother had made things. All sorts of things. Beaded jewelry, fabric purses, decoupage frames and mirrors, scented soaps, and potpourri.
    Now though, Diana had thrown herself into crafting wind chimes.
    The one tinkling from a hook on the porch was one of her newest creations—a pretty, delicate thing made of dangling copper tubing and nuggets of stained glass, shells, and colored beads.
    There were a half dozen others on her worktable, some constructed of sleek metal tubes, others of wood. With pride, her mother had shown Sophie the finished pieces, each one unique. She’d explained that she planned to sell them at the upcoming fund-raiser for the Lonesome Way Public Library, which was badly in need of renovation.
    But she hadn’t mentioned anything out of the ordinary during the entire evening—so what was that phone call all about?
    By the time Sophie sank into bed, she was too tired to wonder anymore. Except for bathroom breaks and fastfood runs and five hours’ sleep in a dingy motel outside Salt Lake City last night, she’d driven nonstop almost two days straight from San Francisco to Lonesome Way.
    For the first time in months, the moment her cheek touched the pillow, she sank into sleep.

Chapter Two

    “Sophie, look at you. It’s not fair—you’re as gorgeous as ever. And I’m . . . a cow.” Lissie Norris laughed as she threw her arms around Sophie’s neck and held her close in the wide paved drive of the colonial house on Old Creek Drive.
    “I’ve missed you, Soph. Your mom said you were due in last night. It’s a good thing you called first thing this morning or I’d have come hunting for you.”
    Lissie didn’t look to be in much shape for hunting anything besides a dish of ice cream topped with pickles. Her belly was huge, and she was glowing, her dark hair swept into a ponytail and off her pretty oval face. She wore maternity jeans and a big floaty white lace top, with red sneakers on her feet, and her lilting laugh was just as rich and warm as ever.
    She looked beautiful.
    Sophie hugged her back, taking care not to spill the basket of home-baked muffins she’d brought with her. “When is this little munchkin due to make an appearance? In the next hour?”
    “No such luck. Still seven weeks to go—can you imagine? I’ll be the size of a truck.” Lissie grinned. “Come on in and tell me everything. I can’t believe you brought banana walnut muffins. I’ve been craving them for months. I was going to ask your Gran to make me some, but I couldn’t bring myself to bother her. What did you do, get up at dawn?”
    “Something like that. But I always do anyway.” It was true. Sophie hadn’t slept all the way