The New Hope Cafe Read Online Free PDF

end.
    “You used to let me cook with you,” Beth Ann said.
    “I did.” Thankfully, Beth Ann had been out of hearing range for
the fight. Barrett had swept everything from the counter, shattering Beth Ann’s
special cooking bowl.
    Cara didn’t want to think of that. “Anyway, my grandma was a
great teacher. So patient. No matter what little dish I helped make, she always
said it was the best part of the meal.” Dinners at her grandmother’s had been
celebrations, warm with love.
    “I wish I could have met her,” Beth Ann said.
    “She would have adored you.” Cara swallowed against that
sadness. Losing her grandmother had sunk her very low. It was only when she went
to work at Dolly’s that she bounced back. Dolly picked up where her grandmother
had left off, teaching Cara tons about the restaurant business, too. Cara had
soaked it up like a sponge.
    “I miss Grandma Price,” Beth Ann said. “I miss her disco
songs.” All those nights her mother spent with men in clubs had come to some
good, Cara thought. At least her mother had been good to Beth Ann.
    “And I miss Serena…so…much.” Tears welled in her eyes, and
Cara’s heart ached for her. “Can I call her one time?” Beth Ann pushed up onto
her elbows. “I could use the phone in Rosie’s kitchen. Just for three minutes.
Please?”
    “You might slip and say something about where we are and Serena
might slip and talk to Grandma Price or your father.”
    “We won’t. We’re good at secrets. Please, please. ” The agony in her daughter’s face was almost more than Cara
could bear. Beth Ann had lost so much already. She was so vulnerable, so shut
down, unable to talk with Cara about what had happened.
    What could it hurt? One three-minute call
on a stranger’s phone?
    “We can’t risk it.” The domestic violence counselor had told
her of women who’d made one quick phone call home and been caught. If Cara let
Beth Ann break the rule once, her daughter would push for more. Better safe than
sorry.
    Before they left Barstow, she’d broken apart their cell phones
and thrown the pieces in different Dumpsters because of the GPS locators. She’d
closed out their email accounts, too.
    “You’re mean.” Beth Ann flopped back into the pillow, angry
now.
    “I’m keeping us safe.” Beth Ann didn’t understand the extent of
the danger. Barrett was a family lawyer. He hired investigators all the time.
His wealthy mother would spare no expense in helping him track Cara down.
    P.I.s had access to all kinds of databases and tricky ways to
glean information. Barrett had once crowed that he’d located a deadbeat dad
through the man’s subscription to a hunting magazine.
    She couldn’t take a chance. They had to stay invisible.
“Remember what we agreed. If you have to tell anyone where we’re moving, say
Denver, okay?”
    Cara should have told Rosie that right off. People in small
towns were nosy and Cara had roused Rosie’s curiosity by evading her
questions.
    She sighed and reached for the cord to close the blinds. Out
the window, she saw Jonah sitting on a wooden swing on his deck. A black cat
stalked toward him.
    “Look at that,” she said, pointing. “A cat’s sneaking up to
Jonah.”
    Beth Ann turned her body to look out the window.
    “Jonah’s pretending not to notice.” He stared steadily
ahead.
    The cat slinked up until its head was under Jonah’s dangling
hand. Without looking, he scratched the cat. From here, she could see he was
smiling. Cara felt a rush of tenderness.
    “Do you think I can pet the cat?” Beth Ann asked.
    “You can ask Jonah tomorrow.” She dropped the blinds, then
gazed at her daughter, who still seemed nervous. “Would you rather sleep with
me?”
    Beth Ann took a deep breath and made herself be brave. “No,
thanks.”
    It broke Cara’s heart every time her daughter refused her
comfort. She’d never forget when Beth Ann visited the hospital after Cara came
out of the coma. Cara had held out her arms