Back for Seconds Read Online Free Page A

nodded, but still looked uncertain and out of place. Joely turned to Granny Faye. “I could sure use one of those,” she said, referring to the hug. Granny Faye was all too happy to accommodate.
    “I have some hot chocolate,” Lillian announced as she put her arm around Nash. “Any takers?”
    Both kids looked to their mother, who shook her head. “It’s getting late and it’s been a pretty exhausting day.”
    What she couldn’t say was that she was tired of wearing a smile and pretending everything was okay. She wanted to have a proper breakdown, and she couldn’t do it in front of the kids.
    With nary a bit of grumbling, both Nash and Kari headed upstairs to their new rooms. They had barely gotten out of sight before the tears finally fell. Lillian pulled her daughter into a hug. “Oh, honey,” she crooned. Granny Faye patted her on the back as they stood there together in a strong circle, holding her up.
    Finally they ended up on the sofa and Granny Faye disappeared to the kitchen. She returned with a small tumbler of whiskey, which made Joely laugh through her tears. “Getting me drunk, Granny Faye?”
    “Sometimes it helps,” she told her.
    Joely nodded and sipped the amber liquid. It burned as it went down her throat, which oddly felt good. She needed it to burn. She wanted it to hurt. It took the focus off of her shattered heart. Granny Faye sat on her other side. “So what now?” Lillian asked.
    Joely’s lip quivered. “I don’t know. What else is there?”
    Lillian brushed her daughter’s hair back. “Life,” she answered softly. “Sometimes you get this amazing chance to start over. Best not waste it.”
    Joely leaned on her mother’s shoulder, cradling her drink in both hands. She finally made it to her own room a little after eleven that night. She stood at the edge of the queen-sized bed. How big it looked for just one person. More tears fell as she changed into a long nightgown and crawled between the sheets. She stared at the ceiling, feeling more alone than she’d ever felt in her life. When Hannah joined her a little after one o’clock in the morning, she was quick to cuddle her close, reassured by her warm little body pressed up tight against her.
    Then, and only then, did she finally drift to sleep.
    The next morning, both Lillian and Faye had headed back to the restaurant for the early shift. People came from far and wide for Granny Faye’s homemade biscuits. The breakfast crowd kept the place jumping seven days a week and Granny Faye never missed one day. Te house in Old Elmwood was quiet that Sunday morning when Joely padded to the large country kitchen for a very necessary cup of coffee. She found a note for her on the refrigerator. Lillian had taken Kari to the restaurant with them.
    It was just as well. Joely still felt like a raw, exposed nerve. She wasn’t ready to go another nine rounds with her petulant daughter. She wanted to scream that none of this was her fault. She hadn’t asked to have her life uprooted. It was Russell’s fault… but Russell wasn’t around to deal with the consequences.
    Typical.
    Despite her understandable bitterness, her mother had already warned her not to drag her kids into her marital conflict. “Don’t make them take sides,” she told her. “They’re going through enough.”
    So Joely suffered silently, which was also typical. She’d had a lot of time to think about things in the last week and a half, and it always seemed to go back around to that same, recurring theme.
    She returned upstairs to get Hannah ready for the day. Joely was pleased to find that her youngest looked much better. Her face was no longer ruddy from crying and the light had come back into her bright blue eyes, the ones she had inherited from her father.
    Fortunately Joely was completely crazy about Hannah, so she wouldn’t hold that against her.
    She knocked on Nash’s door next. His voice was muffled and sleepy as he said, “What?”
    “Time to get up,”