Dream of You by Lauren Gilley

Author:Lauren Gilley [Gilley, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-11-18T06:00:00+00:00

24

“I promise things aren’t always this crazy around here,” Jo said as she chased a blue crayon across the coffee table. Her arms weren’t long enough and it rolled right off the edge. She tucked her hair behind her ears and glanced up over the back of the couch in apology. Tam’s friend from school, James (she’d nearly done a cartwheel to hear that Tam was doing so well at school he’d made an actual friend) had come to the house so the two of them could build spreadsheets together for class, thinking Casa de Walker would be quieter since James had two kids and a wife at home.

Ha.

Jo had Chase and Logan for the evening, because even if Walt didn’t want to claim her as a sister any longer, she was still good enough to babysit his children. And Beth was starting dinner, which meant the kitchen was full of onion smell and mother-in-law chatter while the guys had worked. Jo felt embarrassed for Tam, but her hubby had seemed unconcerned about his coolness. That was one of those things she sometimes took for granted about him, but shouldn’t have; such a starved puppy all his life, he loved her parents, loved that they were one of those obnoxious, in-your-face families, and was never apologetic for them.

“It’s fine,” James assured. “I’ve got kids, I know how it is.”

He couldn’t have been more dissimilar – at least outwardly – from Tam. Broad and crew cut, made of muscle stacked on muscle, serious and looking every inch the cop Tam had said he was, he could have been the arresting officer come to haul away her skateboarder.

“We’re gonna go up to the boys’ old room,” Tam said, and she nodded.

“Good idea.”

“Aunt Jo!” And she was ensnared by Logan’s plaintive wail over the crayons.

Gwen was taking culinary classes at the Y on Monday nights, and the teenage girl who lived down the street from them and normally watched the boys was sick with a stomach flu. So it had been Aunt Jo to the rescue again, as usual. Gwen had looked lovely – a cream cardigan that looked new over pressed khakis and a black shell, her soft brown hair piled up on her head with a clip – and her face had been creased with the kind of gratitude that couldn’t be faked. “I swear, I wouldn’t have asked if I’d had another choice,” she’d said out in the drive as the boys had come tumbling out of her Yukon like Lab puppies. “I just hate to be a bother, Jo.”

“It’s no bother,” Jo had assured with a smile she hadn’t quite felt. She liked Gwen. Once, before Ireland and the revelations the castle had generated, she might have even said she loved Gwen. After all, she, just like the boys, couldn’t be held responsible for the cold cunning of her husband. But something about knowing what Walt had done to her, and thinking that Gwen loved him the way she did…it had put up a wall.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.