After the Storm: Midseason Episode 1 (Rising Storm) Read Online Free

mental breakdown in the middle of it all might be something her mother couldn’t come back from. Lacey nodded. “I’ll try, but normal might mean something different now.”
    Her father shook his head, his weariness beyond obvious. “Yes. But some things never change. Some things stay the same no matter what happens to us or how we age. No matter what pain we feel.”
    What was he talking about? Sometimes it seemed like her father was so strong. Strong? That wasn’t the word she’d used all the time. Sometimes it seemed as if Jacob had died and her father hadn’t noticed. He’d gone back to work and stayed there. Same as always.
    What if her father didn’t feel too little? What if he felt far too much?
    She’d noticed yesterday that the minute Dakota made her big announcement, everyone had looked at her mother. All those sympathetic eyes had turned on Celeste Salt and not a single person she’d seen or heard had spoken to Travis Salt except to ask about how they could help with Celeste.
    Her father lost a son, too. He’d lost his potential grandchild and no one comforted him. Lacey took the single step that brought her to her father and wrapped her arms around him. How long had it been since she’d done this? Years perhaps. Not since she was a little girl.
    “I’m so sorry this happened, Daddy.”
    He hesitated as though uncertain of what to do, and then finally his arms came around her. “We have to think of your mother.”
    She was about to argue when the doorbell rang. Lacey stepped back and nodded, saving the discussion for another time. “I’ll see who it is.”
    Travis frowned. “Likely it’s some nosy biddy using a Jell-O mold as an excuse to come and see the freak show.”
    Lacey winced, but there was some truth to it. After Jacob had died there had been endless rounds of ladies and men who came to “visit.” They brought offerings of cakes and casseroles, but mostly they’d quizzed her parents about the details. And of course, they’d wanted to know all about how Ginny had come to live with them. When they’d needed peace most, they’d gotten a sea of “concerned” folk.
    She would get rid of whoever was there.
    Unless it was Jeffry. God, she hoped it was Jeffry. She needed to know he was all right. He might not have worshipped the ground his father walked on, but she couldn’t imagine how hard it was on Jeffry to watch everything collapse around his dad. She opened the door and her jaw dropped open. “Ginny? Oh, you can’t be here.”
    Ginny stood in the doorway wearing a simple dress and sensible shoes, her hair pulled back in a bun. She looked shockingly young and innocent for the most scandalous girl in town.
    But then Lacey had held that title not too long ago.
    Ginny’s dark eyes seemed so very sympathetic. “I came by to pick up my things and I was hoping to see how your parents are doing. And you.”
    Lacey shook her head. “That’s nice, but it’s not a good time.”
    “Oh, I think it’s a perfect time.” Her mother stood behind her. “Come in, Ginny. I have a few things to say to you.”
    Lacey opened the door fully to let Ginny inside and prayed this didn’t end in another scandal.
     
    * * * *
     
    Celeste watched as Ginny Moreno stepped into her home. It was something she’d done a hundred times before. A thousand, likely. She used to show up on her doorstep looking for Jacob and asking Celeste if she’d made those chocolate cookies she loved. Ginny had been a little girl in pigtails, sitting at her breakfast table giggling with her children.
    Now that image was forever replaced with one of Ginny Moreno spreading her legs for Sebastian Rush.
    “I assume you’ve come for your things,” Celeste said, not recognizing the sound of her own voice. It was husky, as though she’d smoked for years. That wasn’t true, of course. A lady didn’t do that. But a lady did cry enough over her dead boy and lost grandchild that her voice was hoarse and crass the next