the tunnel or road, or whatever it was called, was still just a dot out there on the horizon.
Kayla felt like a kid with a five-dollar bill in a candy shop when she pushed a cart into the grocery store that morning. She didn’t have to keep a running total of what she spent in her head so that she wouldn’t spend too much. Too many times, she’d had to decide what to put back, but not today.
She was reaching up for a bag of flour when a strong male voice behind her said, “Let me get that for you, miss.”
“Thank you.” She turned around only to end up face-to-face with Will Barton, the shyest kid and the biggest geek in high school.
“Is that you, Kayla?” he asked.
“Yep, it’s me,” she answered. “What happened to your thick glasses?”
“Traded ’em in for contacts right after high school.” He smiled. “You and Denver moved back to this area?”
“No, only me. I’m at Birthright with Miss Janie,” she told him.
“I heard she had Alzheimer’s and cancer. Sorry to get that news. She was a lively old girl, even after she retired. She used to come in for groceries every week and tell me how proud she was of me,” he said.
“You work here?” she asked.
“Yep. I manage this store and do the buying for the other three in the chain,” he answered. “Is Denver joining you later?”
“I hope not,” she spit out so fast that it shocked her.
Will chuckled. “Never did see what a pretty girl like you saw in that loser anyway. Well, I got to get back to the office. Good to see you again—tell Miss Janie I said hello. Hey, are you going to the ten-year class reunion?”
“I didn’t even realize we’d been out of school that long.”
Will flashed another grin. “I’m sure they’ll miss us both terribly if we don’t show up.”
“Yeah, right.” Kayla smiled back at him. “They’ll all mourn our absence.”
He was still chuckling when he headed back down the aisle and turned the corner. Kayla wished she’d taken a picture of him. No way was Teresa going to believe that the biggest nerd in high school had turned out like that.
She had a cart full of groceries and almost fainted when the cashier rang up the total. Never in her entire life had she spent nearly two hundred dollars on food that only had to last a week. The back seat was completely full and two small bags rested in the trunk of Miss Janie’s old 1976 Ford Maverick when she pulled out of the parking lot. The old baby-blue vehicle might be close to antique status, but it still drove like a charm.
Will’s clear blue eyes still teased her mind as she drove home, and she liked the fact that he had a sense of humor. Why hadn’t she noticed either of those things when she was in classes with him? Most likely, it was because back in high school he always sat on the front row. Even with his glasses, he had trouble seeing the board.
And you had your mind so set on Denver that you couldn’t see anyone else, the voice in her head reminded her in a blunt tone.
“Guilty as charged,” she said out loud as she drove through Birthright.
Miss Janie had told her that at one time the town had been known as Lone Star and that it had a school. Her aunt Ruthie had been one of the students in the last graduating class in 1948. Kayla didn’t know why she remembered that bit of trivia. Now the town had a population of forty—well, maybe forty-three since Kayla, Teresa, and Noah were living there again.
“Population explosion,” Kayla whispered as she parked as close to the back door of the house as she could get.
Teresa met her in the kitchen with a worried look on her face. “Thank God you’re home. I need help.”
“What happened?” Kayla asked.
“Miss Janie is sitting on the floor beside her bed. She says her legs don’t work anymore, and I can’t lift a deadweight,” Teresa answered.
Kayla followed her across the kitchen and the hallway and right into Miss Janie’s room.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Miss Janie frowned.
“I’m here to help Teresa get you into bed. What happened?” Kayla sat down on the floor beside her.
“My legs don’t work no more.” Tears flowed down Miss Janie’s face. “Please don’t take me to one of them homes.”