Always on My Mind Read Online Free PDF Page A

smile, one that seemed to light her up from within. “I’ve hoped,” she said, “oh how I’ve hoped. But he’s always got some silly woman in his sights, and you’re never here, and plus you’re both so damn stubborn—”
    The bakery door opened, the bell dinged, and Dee whirled around to face her son. “Oh, Jack! Oh, sweetheart, I’m so happy.”
    This clearly surprised the hell out of Jack. He stood there taking in his mom’s expression, obviously trying to figure out what had happened in the span of the five minutes he’d been outside that could have changed her mood so drastically.
    And also her appearance, Leah realized. Because Dee was…glowing.
    “You should have told me,” Dee said, practically vibrating. “Did you think I wouldn’t have been thrilled to hear that you and Leah are together?”
    Jack’s gaze locked on Leah, brow raised.
    Okay, so maybe he was going to find out.

Chapter 3
    Y ou and Leah are together … Jack’s mom’s words bounced around in his head like a Ping-Pong ball as he stared at Leah for an explanation.
    She had a hell of an explanation if her blush was any indication. “It just sort of came up,” she said, nibbling on her lower lip.
    He recognized the tell. She nibbled on her lip whenever she stepped in the proverbial pile of shit. “It just sort of came up,” he repeated, nodding like this made perfect sense to him. But then he shook his head because it made absolutely no sense at all. He knew he was off his game big-time, crazy with worry over his mom, but this was not computing. “What exactly sort of came up?”
    “Why, you and Leah, silly,” his mom said with a delighted laugh.
    A laugh.
    Jack hadn’t seen her so much as crack a smile in weeks.
    Maybe months.
    And here she was, laughing. Had it been only a day ago that she’d been lying on her couch in her Sunday best, arm poised dramatically over her eyes, as she told him that she was just going to die quietly and try not to make a mess “so don’t mind me.”
    “Me and Leah,” he said slowly, aware that he was starting to sound like a parrot. “What?”
    “Honestly, Jack.” His mom was still smiling easily, like she had in the old days. The very old days, before his dad had died. “I’m the shaky one today,” she said. “Turn on your brain.” She was beaming with joy.
    And Jack got his first real sense of doom. It started deep in his gut and ended up dead center between his eyes as a tension headache.
    Back in the spring, when they’d first gotten his mom’s diagnosis, his summer goal had been simple—get his mom through it. The goal was now in sight, the light at the end of the tunnel visible. It was August and she was beating the cancer, though granted the treatment was now the one endangering her.
    But he should have known nothing was ever as simple as it looked.
    “It’s so wonderful,” his mom said, hands clasped together. “I was just telling Leah that I’d always secretly hoped, but you two seemed so set on ignoring all the chemistry between the two of you. Remember back when Leah graduated high school, sweetheart? You were home from college for the summer, just before she left town. Remember how much she loved you back then?”
    Leah made a sound of embarrassment and started to turn away, but Dee smiled at her. “It’s true, honey, you know it is. You used to do his homework for him, remember? He was perfectly capable of doing it himself, except that he hated English and history. He needed to keep his GPA up for that scholarship and you…well, you remember.”
    Yes, it was clear by the look on Leah’s face that she remembered exactly. Two grades behind him, she’d managed to save his ass and keep up with her own school load—and since her father had required straight A’s of her, not to mention the hours of filing and other administrative work she’d had to put in every day at his dental practice as well—this had been quite the feat.
    “And then when Jack Senior