Carry Me Home (The Home Series: Book Three) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her and I saw one of the nurses, a sweet girl named Paula, walking towards us.
    “Barbara,” Paula said in a sweet voice, resting a hand on my grandma’s shoulder. “It’s your turn for a haircut.”
    “Didn’t I just have a haircut?” she asked, confused. 
    “It’s time for another, Grandma,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. 
    “Well, okay,” she agreed as I walked her over to where a woman from a local salon had set up shop. 
    “I’m gonna go now,” I said to her after I’d eased her into the chair and then she cocked her head, looking at me peculiarly and I knew the light was out and she didn’t know who I was.
    “Excuse me?  What’s your name again, honey?”
    “I’m Riley,” I said, smiling at her, even though I felt the tears forming in my eyes, just like they always did when she forgot who I was.
    “Nice to meet you,” she said, smiling at me, even though her eyes were vacant. 
    It was hard visiting my grandma.  Sometimes I wanted to drive away from the nursing home and never come back.  It would’ve been easier that way.  I wanted to remember my grandmother the way she’d been, not who she had become.  I couldn’t do it though.  Even though it was hard, I didn’t want her to appear as one of those old people who had no one that loved them in the world.   She was loved and because of that, I’d keep going.
    As I drove towards my house, I was tired.  It’d been a long day at work and I wanted to get home and rest, but then I remembered how bare the fridge was.  Mom had been working crazy hours at the hospital and I didn’t feel like having another sandwich for dinner.  I made a right turn and headed to Dillon’s. 
    I ha ted going to the grocery store and I walked up and down the aisles mindlessly, filling the cart with anything that looked good.  It was always a bad idea to go shopping when hungry and the contents of my cart reflected that.  I walked down the cereal aisle and my eyes found the Lucky Charms. I smiled and stopped, picking up a box and looking down at it.  It’d been at least two years since I’d had a bowl of it, but it used to be my staple breakfast food.  When I’d first moved to Carver, my grandmother had loaded the cupboards with it since I’d loved it so much as a kid.  When I left for college though, my days of Lucky Charms had practically ended.  They looked good though and before I could give it a second thought, I put the box in the basket.
    I looked up and started pushing the cart, but then I froze and it felt as if everything around me stood still, like one of those scenes in a movie where the world was spinning around the character nonsensically.  The soft music playing fro m the PA system went mute and the other shoppers were nonexistent.  My heart started pounding and I felt the breath escape me and all I could see were his gray eyes.  I saw him, but I knew it couldn’t be him.  He’d disappeared from my life…from everyone’s life.  No.  It couldn’t be him, but then I heard his voice, and it sounded just as I remembered.
    “Riley.” His voice was low and nervous and I knew it was him.  I’d already known, but when I heard my name float off his lips, I finally believed it.  I’d always loved the way my name sounded when he said it.
    It had been nearly four years and he stood only yards away from me now.  I’d wondered where he was and if he was okay and now I knew.  He was here, standing so close I only needed to take a few steps to be next to him again, but I didn’t move.  I stayed still, taking him in.   He looked even better than I remembered.  He looked more mature and I didn’t doubt he was.  Everything he’d been through the summer his dad died and time in the Marines would force anyone to grow up.  His dark hair was cut shorter than I’d ever seen it with a perfect fade and trimmed sideburns.  He was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt, which showed he’d bulked up since