Home to Stay (The Long Road Home #2) - Maryann Jordan Page 0,33

the class, he continued. “I do have to say that sometimes, even with teammates, it can be lonely, and the letters you sent as well as the goodie packages made my service time this past year a lot better.”

He looked back at her and she smiled again, this time less forced. “Okay, class, that’s enough questions for now. How about we offer Sergeant Roster some food to commemorate his being back home?”

The children lined up at the back table where Mrs. Farthingale had placed several platters of brownies, chips, and cookies. They waited while she invited John to go first and then he delighted her when he sat with the kids at their tables, answering more questions and making the kids feel important.

“He’s something else, isn’t he?” Mrs. Farthingale asked as she and Lucy stood at the table munching.

Nodding slowly as John spoke gently to one of her students who was shy. “Yes, he is.”

“Do I detect a little spark there?”

A rueful snort escaped. “I think he needs more time to discover who he is outside of the Army first.”

“I think that’s a very wise intuition.” Mrs. Farthingale nodded, patting her arm.

Lucy remained quiet but could have easily refuted that it was not her intuition. More like a hard-learned lesson.

The bell soon rang, and the kids headed out the door with the aide, leaving Lucy alone with John. She had no idea what to expect, thinking he might hurry out with them, but instead, he remained behind, uncertainty in his eyes.

Approaching, she smiled. “Thank you so much for coming. They enjoyed hearing your stories.”

“It was my pleasure. It was easier this time. Last week I was nervous about coming here. But I wanted to make sure they knew that I appreciated their bringing a bit of home to me when I was serving.” He hesitated, casting his eyes downward before lifting them to hold her gaze. “I know the class project was your idea, so I need to let you know I’m grateful as well.”

“It was good for all of us, too.” A flash of his photograph on her nightstand flew through her mind, but she simply smiled, her hands clasped in front of her.

“Listen, Lucy, I need to apologize for the way I left your house—”

“No, you don’t. It was fine. I’m sure you were very tired and… um… it was fine.” His lips pressed tightly together, and she hated the look of doubt in his eyes. Sighing, she placed her hand on his arm, wanting nothing but honesty between them. “John, I’m sure that being back home has created a mixed bag of emotions. You get to be with your grandfather again but listening to you today made me realize that you had to say goodbye to many of your friends, and I know that was hard. You’re going through a lot of changes right now, and… Well, if you ever need a home-cooked meal, you’ve got my number.”

Relief flooded his face, and he nodded. “I have a line on a possible job. I met with the owner of the business, and I’ll have the opportunity to meet some of the other people on his staff tomorrow. I don’t know if anything will come from it, but… Well, I just wanted you to know.”

With her hand still on his arm, she squeezed gently, smiling. “That’s wonderful. I hope it’s something that you’d like to do and it turns out in a positive way.” His lips curved slightly, and even a little smile from him made her day brighter.

“So, do you have any home projects this weekend you’re going to work on?”

Chuckling, she said, “While there’s always a project ready to be worked on, I’m going to go to a concert in Canada with my friend Paula this weekend. We’ll leave on Saturday morning and get back very late Saturday evening.”

His brow lowered and he opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut. She waited to see what he wanted to say but had a feeling she knew where his thoughts had gone. “I know she didn’t make a good impression on you the other day, but it’s just a music concert in Sherbrooke. Only about a four-hour drive. We’ve gone to these before, and it will be fine. To be honest, I asked her about the biker she was with. While I wasn’t crazy about her answer, she admitted that this trip was for the music only.”

For the next several minutes, he helped her straighten the room,