Her Second Chance Family (Contemporary Romance) by Holly Jacobs

Author:Holly Jacobs [Jacobs, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Romance, Fiction, Family Life, Second Chances, Tragic Accident, Foster Children, Teenager, Teaching Lesson, Superhero, Break-In, Community, Small Town
Goodreads: 24871094
Publisher: Harlequin Superromance
Published: 2015-08-03T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

AUDREY OPENED HER front door on Sunday morning and the first thing that struck her was Ava hadn’t changed at all in the past decade. The woman could still walk the halls of any high school and easily get mistaken for a student.

The second thing that struck Audrey was the white box with the telltale logo that her friend was holding. The doughnuts were from a locally owned shop that had been a favorite place to hang out when they were younger.

“Ava, you look wonderful,” Audrey said by way of a greeting. Ava’s hair was shorter, more sophisticated than it had been in high school. It brushed against her shoulders now instead of her hips. Her dark eyes were no longer hidden behind glasses. She’d either had corrective surgery or started wearing contacts.

But her smile was the same as ever.

“Come in,” Audrey said. She led Ava back to the kitchen. “The kids are still asleep.”

“Really? Teens who don’t want to get up early on a weekend?” Ava asked with sarcasm.

“We’ll probably see Clinton and Bea sooner rather than later, but Willow will squeeze in every second of sleep she can get. Coffee?”

Ava took a seat at the kitchen table and said, “Black.”

Audrey nodded. She wished Ava wanted something in the coffee, something that would fill up more time. She felt awkward and didn’t know what to say to this friend she’d once been able to talk to all day at school, then hours on the phone in the evening.

“So how are things?” she finally settled on as she set the cup of coffee down. Awkward. Yeah, that sounded totally awkward.

Ava sighed. “Good. And you?”

“Very good.” Audrey grappled for a next topic. “How long are you in town for?”

“Maybe permanently. I’ve put out applications at a few practices here in town.”

“You’re done traveling?” Right after college, Ava had volunteered in the Peace Corps. Then she’d worked for a traveling nurse agency overseas and helped out in clinics—free of charge—during her down time.

Audrey took the seat across from Ava.

“I just got back from South America,” she said. “It was rewarding, but...”

“But?” Audrey prompted, happy to let Ava talk for as long as she was willing.

“I went to bed one night in my room, which was a cot in a makeshift surgery. We’d been doing operations on clefts that visit. Like I said, it was rewarding, but I suddenly longed for my own bed in my own house. I realized I’d been traveling for a decade and I was hit with the most acute case of homesickness. I wanted to come home. So here I am.”

Audrey didn’t know what to say to that. She put her hand on Ava’s and simply waited.

“I wanted to see you and Merrill and go to the reunion. I thought I’d stay with my dad for a while before deciding what to do next. Then I found this.” She reached into her giant purse and pulled out a small cardboard box. “Dad had it stashed in his office.

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