Pam Andrews - Hometown Reunion

“Why didn’t you?” Lori said.

“I don’t know. It’s hard to talk about her, especially when Joey is listening.”

“I’m sorry you lost someone you loved.”

“I don’t want sympathy. I mean, it was more than three years ago. My son and I have moved on.”

Scott wondered if she could ever understand. It was tempting to pour out all his feelings. Lori was the best listener he’d ever known, but sometimes words weren’t enough.

Joey yelled out to him, and Scott followed Lori to the edge of the sandbox. Scott bent down to brush some sand off his son’s hair. Lori said goodbye to them and started walking home alone.

He watched her disappear from sight. Every instinct urged him to go after her, but even if he caught up, what then? He had nothing to offer her. He’d loved her once, or so he thought. Could they even think about a future together?

PAM ANDREWS

is the mother-daughter writing team of Pam Hanson and Barbara Andrews. Barbara makes her home with Pam and her family in Nebraska. They have written numerous books for such publishers as Steeple Hill Books and Guideposts. Pam’s background is in journalism, and she and her college-professor husband have two sons. Barbara, the mother of four and grandmother of seven, also writes articles and a column about collectible postcards.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

After all, every house is built by someone,

but God is the builder of everything.

—Hebrews 3:4

To friends, near and far.

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

Epilogue

Questions for Discussion

Scott Mara started walking toward his pickup, holding the small, damp hand of his four-year-old son, Joey. He was about to open the door and boost him up to his car seat when he caught a glimpse of a woman walking toward him on the sidewalk. At first he paid no attention, anxious to finish his errands and get to Joey’s dental appointment. As a single father, he was hard-pressed to keep up with all his son’s needs, especially those that kept him from work, but he was a little worried about one of Joey’s baby teeth, wondering if it should be pulled to make room for the new one bulging in his jaw.

The woman had to be a stranger in town. He had lived in Apple Grove, Iowa, all his life and knew everyone by sight, if not by name. Still, there was something familiar about her. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks, because she reminded him of someone he’d known a long time ago.

She started to cross the street, and he impulsively scooped up his son to cut her off on the other side. It was unlikely that Lori Raymond was back in town, but his curiosity got the best of him.

“Daddy, I can walk,” Joey noisily protested.

“Sure you can,” he said, depositing him on the sidewalk a few yards in front of the woman.

“Scott!”

It was a voice that made his spine tingle.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” she said.

He pulled off his straw Western-style hat and kept one hand on Joey’s shoulder so he wouldn’t wander off.

“Lori, I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I’m visiting my aunt.”

“Of course,” he said, feeling awkward because he hadn’t immediately connected her to Bess Raymond.

“How’ve you been?” she asked.

It was the kind of casual question people asked each other all the time, but coming from her, it made him want to answer honestly.

Instead he said, “Fine. How about you?”

“Good, although I’ve gotten myself in something of a predicament.”

“Oh?”

Joey was squirming. Scott knew that he should cut the conversation short and get to the dentist, but Lori used to be his favorite person to talk to.

“Aunt Bess has drafted me to help restart the Highway Café. I keep telling her that I won’t be here long, but you know how she is.”

She still had the same mischievous little grin, and when she looked up at him, he remembered how she’d always made him feel better about himself.

“I sure do.” He smiled, recalling how his favorite teacher, Lori’s aunt, could put him in his place when he deserved it. “You’re on vacation from your job?” He knew it was none of his business, but he’d often wondered what had become of her after high school, if she’d gotten married, had a family.

“Afraid not. I came to a parting of the ways with the head chef at the restaurant where I was working. I’ve been offered a job in a new restaurant that’s opening after Labor Day, if I decide to go back to Chicago. What about you? I saw you coming out of the hardware store. You always did like building things. Are you doing it for a living now?”

“Daddy!”

“Sorry, I’m forgetting my manners. This is my son, Joey. Joey, this is Miss Raymond—it is still Miss, isn’t it?”

She bent and offered her hand to his son. Much to his father’s satisfaction, Joey responded with grave courtesy.

“I’m so happy to meet you, Joey. You can call me Lori.” She smiled and straightened. “And it is still Miss.”

He wanted to say that the men in Chicago must be blind to let her slip away, but he squelched the impulse. It had been nearly ten years since he’d last seen her. He remembered her question and gave the shortest possible answer.

“I have my own contracting business, but most of the time, I’m the only employee.”

“Somehow I didn’t expect…”

She trailed off, uncertain how much she should say, but he could guess. She hadn’t expected him to stay in Apple Grove.

Some things were best left unsaid.

“You look good, Lori.” It sounded lame, but it was all he could think of saying.

What a feeble compliment, he thought. She looked terrific. Her dark brown eyes sparkled. Her cheeks were rosy, and her thick chestnut curls were spilling out of a ponytail, the way they had in high school. He’d been a fool not to tell her how he’d felt about her back then, but the gulf between them had been too wide. He didn’t want to think about how different his life might be if he hadn’t been constrained by her strong faith, one he couldn’t share.

“Daddy, we’re going to be late!”

Joey impatiently tugged on his pant leg. If there was one thing his son hated, it was being late.

“We’re on our way to the dentist,” Scott explained. “It’s been nice seeing you, Lori. I hope you enjoy your time here.”

“Thanks, Scott. It is good to be back.”

As soon as Joey was settled into his car seat, Scott started thinking of all the questions he should have asked. But maybe it was for the best. He and Lori had taken different forks in the road. He had too much on his plate to torment himself with what might have been.

Lori spent the time before her aunt came home from school organizing the cheerful second-floor bedroom that had always been her home away from home, but her mind wasn’t on the task of unpacking. She’d been so surprised at seeing Scott again that she hadn’t asked any of the things she wanted to know. Had he married someone she knew? Did they have other children? Why did Scott decide to stay in Apple Grove? Surely he could have found better opportunities in a larger town.

She couldn’t get him out of her mind as she filled drawers lined with tissue paper and hung the rest of her clothes in the closet. He’d never been what high school girls called cute, but his clear blue eyes and high cheekbones made his face memorable. Now, at twenty-nine, two years older than her, he had a brooding quality that made her want to know if everything was well with him.