Where There's Hope (A Well Paired Novel) by Marianne Rice

Author:Marianne Rice [Rice, Marianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: small town, second chance love, family life, Romance, contemporary romance, series
Publisher: Star Hill Press
Published: 2018-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

SATURDAY MORNING CAME before Hope was ready. The rest of the week flew by with the crazy business of the usual: dance class carpooling, homework help, day shifts, night shifts, birthday party planning and shopping, and silly texts from Cameron throughout the day.

He came by every shift she worked, whether it be to sit at the bar and order a sandwich during his lunch break, or sip on a beer as she closed up for the evening. Other than a few stolen kisses here and there, they kept their passion simmering on the back burner.

With her mind now occupied with thoughts of Cameron and buckets of lust, she kept forgetting items on her mental list of things to do. She focused on the big—work and Delaney’s twelfth birthday party—and skipped the minutia like filling up the salt shakers, rolling silverware, locking her door.

Having busted them making out in the car, Mia had been surprisingly quiet about it all week, preferring to drop subtle hints and teases instead. “That defroster working yet in your car?” or “How’s my favorite jailbait doing today?”

Most were responded to with an eye roll or a friendly smack upside the head. One thing Hope needed to work on though was her work schedule. It was one thing to leave Delaney at home when they lived with her parents, but she was too young to stay home at night while Hope worked. A few hours alone after school was about all either one of them could handle. And with the sun setting around five these days, darkness fell much earlier.

Delaney didn’t like to be home alone at night, especially in a new house. Mia always had Friday night off and worked Saturdays so Hope could spend a good chunk of the day and night with her daughter.

People had been telling her for years that she worked too much, and now she realized how true it was. Her parents had done more than just watch Delaney when Hope worked; they were co-parents as well. And while she appreciated and loved them to the moon and back, she needed to give them a break and not rely on them so much.

Which made the work situation a mess. She’d have to hire more help so she could be home, yet the slow season was coming up and she couldn’t afford it.

Being a single parent sucked. Somehow she’d make it work.

“Happy birthday, twelve-year-old. Time to get up.” Hope crawled on top of the covers and spooned Delaney. Pretty soon her daughter would be too big for this, so she cuddled with her as often as possible.

“No,” she mumbled.

“Well, then. You know what I have to do.”

“No.” Delaney buried her head under her pillow.

Hope laughed and cleared her throat. “Happy birthday to you,” she sang in her best worst opera voice. It was a joke they started years ago when Delaney got her first role in the Nutcracker at the age of six.

One of the women learned it was Delaney’s birthday during practice and sang to her in a beautiful soprano voice.

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