The Comforts Of Home by Jodi Thomas

Author:Jodi Thomas [Thomas, Jodi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Usenet, C429, Kat, Exratorrents
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-11-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

WRIGHT FUNERAL HOME

TYLER SAT ON THE TINY SECOND-FLOOR BALCONY OFF THE back of the funeral home. The legend in his family was that his grandmother had the balcony built because she hated the smell of the cigars her husband smoked. She wanted the space big enough for the three brothers to sit out on, smoke, and talk business, but not big enough that people would expect to have a party on the balcony. When Tyler was a boy, he remembered meeting old folks who had known his great-grandparents. They said everyone in town called the balcony "the compromise."

Now Tyler might not smoke, but he went out almost every day to think and watch evening move across his town. He was a man of order and routine. It brought peace to his life, and balance.

More than two weeks had rushed by since he'd picked up Kate for her weekend visit. Two weeks since he'd curled around her and held her on his bed. She'd never mentioned it and he'd only referred to it once. He wished he could e-mail her a long note and tell her what that one hour had meant to him, or better yet, he wished he could forget all about it if it was never to be repeated. Holding her, if only for an hour, left a memory across his heart dear and painful.

"You want your supper out here?" Autumn asked from the doorway of the balcony. Tonight she wore a big knit top that hung off one shoulder and jeans with more holes than material, but as always, Tyler pretended not to notice.

"No, thanks, I'll have it in my study downstairs as usual."

She nodded and walked away.

Autumn was still too thin to look healthy. No one would guess she was pregnant. Most of the time she seemed more like a ghost around the place than a housekeeper. He'd expected her to interrupt his world, but surprisingly she'd melted into the woodwork like lemon oil. She moved easily with the pattern of his days. Learning when to interrupt him with questions, when to leave the food on warm, and, most important, during his longest days she knew just when to bring milk and cookies. He'd also noticed she was making the kitchen hers. Little changes were everywhere. A new spice rack over the sink, pots moved from one cabinet to another, and a huge wooden bowl of fruits and vegetables on the counter. She'd even started a small spice garden in the bay window with tiny little pots lined up in an order only she understood.

Autumn Smith didn't know much about the protocol for being a housekeeper. She ate breakfast with him in the mornings, sometimes in her wool pajamas. She appeared now and then in his quarters without knocking, and she wore clothes that looked more like they belonged at Buffalo's Bar than here, but the woman could cook, really cook, and Tyler decided to overlook the rest.

In the days she'd been here, Tyler had noticed other small changes.

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