Jennifer Slattery - Hometown Healing

She’s home again, but not for long...

Unless this cowboy recaptures her heart

Returning home with a baby in tow, Paige Cordell’s determined her stay is only temporary. But to earn enough money to leave, she needs a job—and her only option is working at her first love’s dinner theater. With attraction once again unfurling between her and Jed Gilbertson, can the man who once broke her heart convince her to stay for good?

JENNIFER SLATTERYis a writer and speaker who’s addressed women’s and church groups across the nation. As the founder of Wholly Loved Ministries, she and her team help women rest in their true worth and live with maximum impact. When not writing, Jennifer loves spending time with her adult daughter and hilarious husband. Visit her online at jenniferslatterylivesoutloud.comto learn more or to book her for your next women’s event.

Also By Jennifer Slattery

Restoring Her Faith

Hometown Healing

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Hometown Healing

Jennifer Slattery

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09734-5

HOMETOWN HEALING

© 2019 Jennifer Slattery

Published in Great Bri tain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

Change of font size and line height

Change of background and font colours

Change of font

Change justification

Text to speech

“You hungry?”

Paige hesitated. Her heart still hadn’t recovered from their lunch after their museum trip. Sitting across a table from Jed a second time sounded much too intimate. Especially after their little shopping experience. She hadn’t had that much fun in some time.

Never could she have imagined Jed Gilbertson swapping his jeans and boots for flared polyester.

She worked to suppress a giggle.

“What’s so funny?”

Taking the hand he offered, she climbed into his truck. “Just thinking what a girl could do with thrift-store-shopping photos.” She held up her phone and wiggled it.

His eyes widened. “You didn’t. You wouldn’t.” He reached for it.

She inhaled sharply, her pulse accelerating as his gaze held hers.

He stepped back. “On second thought, I should get back to the theater.”

She straightened and nodded. “I should get home, too.”

She would not let him break her heart again...which was the only possible way things could end.

Dear Reader,

I visited my first murder mystery dinner theater around twenty years ago. I was newly married, went with my husband, and laughed and laughed when he was unexpectedly pulled into the performance. Since then, we were hooked and have sought out various dinner theaters while on vacation. They combine two of my loves—story and food!

As I was considering both Jed and Paige’s problems, an idea formed that merged the two aforementioned loves with a third—my affinity for all things Texas. The result: a small-town story centered on Texas-sized dreams and the love that ties them both together. I hope you enjoy Hometown Healing and feel inspired to pursue your own dreams.

Jennifer

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

—Isaiah 49:16

To my husband—you’ll always be my hero.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Paige Cordell felt as if she had regressed back to that awkward, frizzy-haired bookworm who’d left Sage Creek, Texas, fourteen years ago. With no intention of ever returning.

And yet here she was. As a divorced unemployed single mother no less.

Nothing screamed failure like sitting in Mom’s driveway with all of her belongings crammed into a U-Haul hitched to her car.

She glanced back at little Ava, sleeping soundly in her car seat. She looked so peaceful with her rosy cheeks, the halo of red curls and the slight part of her lips. As if she hadn’t just spent nearly an hour fussing, not that Paige could blame her. They’d had quite the drive. Traffic, work zones, an accident just outside of Houston.

Her phone rang. Paige glanced at the screen. It was Mira, her old high school friend.

“Hey.”

“Just checking you made it into town okay. And to see if maybe you’d like to stop by my place for a nice cold milkshake.”