You Can Go Home (Christian Second Chance Romance) Read online

  You Can Go Home

  Hayley Wescott

  Copyright © 2018 Hayley Wescott and Sweet River Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Any references to names, characters, organizations, places, events, or incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  I’m so happy to be able to share my first story with you. It almost didn’t happen.

  I’ve been writing for a while, but I was too timid to share what I wrote with anyone. One day my sister, Jana, insisted I show her one of my stories. After much arguing, I gave her my latest story. She loved it. She started right then encouraging me to keep writing and to find a way to publish it. So, this is that story.

  So this is for Jana. My encourager, my coach, my cheerleader.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  About Hayley Wescott

  Sweet River Publishing

  1

  A gust of wind blew through the hallway. The front door slammed. Jamie-Leigh sighed heavily. “Please, Casey. Shut the door, properly. Don’t just let it bang like that. We’ll have no house left,” she called. Casey had already made it half way upstairs and didn’t even turn around.

  “Sorry, Mom,” she said in a sing-song voice. “I won’t do it again.”

  Jamie-Leigh wondered why she bothered sometimes. Everyone told her that this kind of petulance wouldn’t happen until the girls were in their teenage years, but Casey seemed to have been thrown into a severe case of hormonal angst two years early. For a moment she pondered whether to go upstairs and try and talk to Casey again, but Jamie-Leigh knew that there was nothing she could say to make things better.

  She picked up Casey’s school bag, and hung it on the peg, rummaging through the pockets to make sure there were no notices from the school. Her daughter was notoriously bad for only remembering she needed permission slips, or money for trips at the very last minute and Jamie-Leigh hated to look like she was disorganized. The teachers, and the other mothers, at the school were already pretty condescending. To her face, they offered their half-hearted condolences at the break-up of Jamie-Leigh’s marriage, whilst they gossiped maliciously behind her back.

  She’d been the last to know of Hank’s affair, and she felt betrayed by the women who had claimed to be her friends. Not one of them had even so much as hinted to her that he might be straying, but now they were all experts on his peccadilloes.

  “Mommy, can we have pancakes,” Emily said, tugging on Jamie-Leigh’s pants.

  Looking down at the golden curls and big blue eyes of her youngest daughter, Jamie-Leigh was glad that she never really had the chance to dwell on what had happened. Her children kept her going, and for all of Hank’s failings, she was so glad that her relationship with him had produced both Emily and Casey. No matter how tough it was being a single-parent, she wouldn’t trade her girls for anything.

  “Of course, we can, sweetie,” she said and was immediately rewarded with a mega-watt smile from her eight-year-old cherub. Sometimes, Jamie-Leigh wished she could make time stop, and keep Emily just as she was. She bent down, and picked the little girl up, smothering her face in kisses. “Just promise me you will never be as grumpy as your big sister!”

  But, she couldn’t really blame Casey. For both of the girls, the entire world had been thrown into a tailspin when Hank moved out. Casey was such a Daddy’s girl, and she was still struggling to forgive Jamie-Leigh for his absence in their daily lives. In her eldest’s eyes, it was all her fault. Hank had gotten away with no scars or crosses to bear. It made Jamie-Leigh’s blood boil. She’d done nothing wrong, yet she was the one being made to pay for his indiscretions over, and over again.

  “Now, you can get out the flour and the eggs,” Jamie-Leigh said to Emily as she set her daughter back on her feet in front of the large pine table that stood in the very center of the kitchen. Emily ran to the pantry, and came out carrying the large earthenware jar that contained the flour. With her tongue poking out, she walked carefully back to the table, and pushed the jar in front of Jamie-Leigh.

  “How many eggs, Mommy?”

  “I think three should do it, don’t you? And then, you can get me some buttermilk, too.”

  Emily made her way to the refrigerator, while Jamie-Leigh began measuring out the flour. The little girl very carefully selected three eggs from the door, and brought them over to her mother, then returned to get the blue and cream striped jug that held the buttermilk. Jamie-Leigh added all the ingredients to a bowl, as Emily clambered onto a chair beside her. “Want to stir?” Jamie-Leigh asked. Emily nodded and took the spoon from her.

  Adding just a touch of cinnamon, Jamie-Leigh held up a package of blueberries and a bag of chocolate chips. “Which of these shall we go for?” she asked.

  “Hmmm,” Emily said, her little face scrunching up as she tried to decide.

  “Chocolate chip,” Casey’s voice said from the doorway. Jamie-Leigh grinned at her.

  “That okay with you, Em?”

  Emily nodded.

  “Sorry, Mom,” Casey said, coming over and flinging her arms around Jamie-Leigh’s waist. “It’s just so difficult sometimes. Everyone at school was getting excited about having their dads come in on careers day. I guess I just felt rotten, because I don’t even know if Dad will come.”

  “Why don’t you call him up and ask him?” Jamie-Leigh smiled wistfully at her oldest daughter, thankful that she’d opened up a little bit about her thoughts and feelings. “I’m sure he’d love to come to careers day. He can talk about being a firefighter all day long – you know that – and the other kids would love to hear all his stories.”

  “But,” Casey started, but then looked up at Jamie-Leigh, her eyes wide. “Do you really think he’ll come?”

  “Oh, Case. Of course, he will. He loves you, both of you,” she added looking to Emily who looked like she was about to cry. “Very much. Don’t ever think he wouldn’t want to do whatever he could to make you happy. His moving out is not your fault – or yours, Em.” Jamie-Leigh pulled her daughters to her and hugged them tightly. “Go and call him. He’ll probably be at the station now, but he’ll have his cell.”

  Jamie-Leigh finished off the pancake batter and put the skillet on to heat as she listened to her girls on the telephone to their father. She wished she knew what to say to explain it all to them, but she still hadn’t worked it all out in her own head. She didn’t know why Hank had needed to have an affair, and would never understand why she and the girls hadn’t been enough for him. She was a grown woman, so shouldn’t she have figured it out by now? How could she ever expect the girls to make any sense of it all? She was doing her very best to try and be adult about it all, to be reasonable and understanding – but inside she felt so angry, so bitter that he could have done this to her. That he could have don’t it to them all.

  “Mom?” Casey called, holding her hand over the receiver. “Dad wants to speak to you.”

  Jamie-Leigh moved the skillet off the heat, wiped her hands and took a deep breath. She walked slowly to the hallway. “Go upstair
s and finish your homework, then I want you to wash your hands ready for supper,” she said. The girls nodded and ran up the stairs, turning to look back down, where Jamie-Leigh stood waiting until they were out of earshot.

  “What do you want, Hank?” she asked curtly when she finally put the phone to her ear.

  “No need to be so haughty,” her ex-husband said, his voice sounding petulant.

  “That isn’t haughty,” she corrected him. “That is disdain. I have to talk to you for the girls’ sake, but don’t expect me to be happy to hear your voice. You ruined that, the moment you decided to have an affair with Amelia Haines.”

  “You’ll never forgive me, will you?”

  “Unlikely,” Jamie-Leigh admitted, trying hard to disguise the bitterness she felt. “So, what do you want?”

  “This careers day, what do I need to do?”

  “Just show up. Wear your uniform, talk to the kids about fire safety, and tell them some of your stories. Casey will be over the moon, you’ll become the best person in the world, and the kids won’t have to listen to dull accountants and insurance guys all day.”

  “When is it? Casey was pretty vague,” Hank asked.

  “Next Tuesday,” Jamie-Leigh said.

  “Hell, I’m working Tuesday,” Hank said. Jamie-Leigh winced. He’d never been one for using slang or curse words before the break-up. Now, he seemed to do it just to irritate her.

  “Please tell me you can swap shifts if you need to,” she said, trying hard to ignore the selfishness in his response, “because Casey needs you there. Or maybe you can run over to the school for an hour or so. This is tough on them both. They need to know you still love them, even if you don’t love me.”

  “Aw, Jamie, it wasn’t about that, not ever,” Hank said, his voice cracking a little with emotion. Though she was glad to hear that there was still a part of him that felt badly, Jamie had to steel herself not to feel pity for him. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t let him wheedle his way back into her life. She, and the girls, deserved better than that. What kind of a role model would she be if she let them see her take him back after everything he had done?

  “It doesn’t matter now, but the girls do. So, be at the school at two, on Tuesday.”

  She hung up.

  He should have jumped at the chance to be there for his daughter. The old Hank certainly would have moved Heaven and Earth to be there for both of his girls. She truly couldn’t believe how much he had changed - even more so since she’d insisted he move out. He had become so self-centered, and could be almost spiteful at times. Though it hurt her when he behaved that way, it hurt the girls even more. Why couldn’t he see that?

  Her heart was pounding, and Jamie-Leigh felt like she might cry. She could kill him for having brought so much pain to their little family – and for what? A quick and sordid affair, with a woman half the town had slept with before she had even left high school. It was so… so ridiculous, that she still couldn’t believe that Hank could have been taken in by such a woman.

  They’d been so in love and hadn’t seemed to have suffered the trials in their relationship that so many young parents faced. Now Jamie-Leigh knew she had just been kidding herself. Those troubles had been there, she just hadn’t noticed them. He should have said something, should have told her he was unhappy before he jumped into the arms of that tramp, Amelia Haines. They could have salvaged things if he’d only been honest, she was sure of that. Now, there was just no hope. That lack of hope had broken not only her heart, but her girls’ hearts as well. She would never be able to forget that.

  Forcing herself to breathe deeply, she hurried back into the kitchen, and put the skillet back on the heat. She added oil and poured the pancake batter into the pan. She continued to focus on her breath, a technique her friend, Marcie, had told her would help to calm her thoughts.

  She skillfully flipped the pancakes over. The repetitive actions were oddly soothing and, Marcie was right, the breathing helped her calm her un-Christian, murderous thoughts. She started placing pancakes on each of three plates as they came out of the skillet. Chocolate chip pancakes for supper wasn’t her standard offering, but it wasn’t so bad to take a detour sometimes.

  She would still show up for Casey and Emily, and if necessary would go to the careers day herself. She was a successful CPA, and she loved it – but she knew that accountancy couldn’t hope to hold the children’s attention the way a real-life firefighter would. The bottom line was that she wouldn’t let her girls down in front of the whole school.

  2

  Hank let himself into his apartment as dawn broke on Sunday morning, having finally finished a tough shift out of Galveston’s Station 28. He cursed loudly as he threw his keys in the bowl by the door, and noticed the memo he’d written to himself about Casey’s careers day.

  He thought about the conversation he’d had with Jamie-Leigh on Friday afternoon. He hadn’t handled it well at all, and he knew that Jamie was probably making plans to ensure she could be at the school on Tuesday, just in case he didn’t make it. It wasn’t that he’d forgotten about it. It was just that they’d had call out after call out and that had kept the fire unit busy. Hank hadn’t complained at pulling a double shift. He welcomed them. They meant he had less time to think about what an idiot he had been, and everything he’d lost.

  Hank quickly dialed the station, knowing the chief would still be there, typing up his reports before he made his way to church. He was right. Merv Winston picked up the phone with a growl. “Station 28.”

  “Hey, Merv, it’s Hank.”

  “What do you want?” the grumpy and tired sounding voice asked.

  “Forgot to ask you on shift, it was so darn busy, but I need Tuesday off. Or at least part of it,” Hank said, biting at his lip as he waited for the response.

  “Can’t do it, we’re short on numbers – you know that,” Merv said.

  “It’s not really for me, it’s for Casey. It’s her careers day at school, and after everything, I can’t let her down, too. Have a heart, Merv. I’ll swap with anyone, do whatever overtime you need me to, but I have to be there.”

  The phone line went quiet, and Hank held his breath. Merv was fond of both the girls, and had reamed him out for being such a fool as to cheat on Jamie-Leigh. Hank knew he hadn’t played fair, and was gambling on the older man’s feelings for his family, but it was true. Casey did need him.

  “Okay, Hank. But, you make sure you get in to the station immediately once you’re done there, and I’ll be expecting you to jump whenever I ask,” Merv said finally.

  “Thanks, this will mean everything to her. And it does to me, too.”

  “And will give you a few hard-won points with her mom, too, no doubt,” Merv said with wry humor.

  “That ship has sailed, Merv. All the good deeds in the world won’t make Jamie-Leigh trust me again. I know that.”

  “Give her time, kid. You never know.”

  Hank wished he could share his boss’s optimism. He hung up the phone and glanced around the stark apartment he’d taken when Jamie threw him out. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. It was cold and had no personality at all. It smelled slightly of mold and held the oldest and mustiest furniture he had ever seen. He hated it, and longed to be back in the cozy home that he and Jamie had brought back to life in the early years of their marriage.

  He sank down into the stained armchair, and reminisced. In his mind a movie, of the day they had wandered around the run down old shell of a house, began to play. She had laughed at his optimism that the old Victorian on Gulf Street could ever be anything other than the ruin it had been left to become.

  There had been rumors that it was haunted, and that had kept all but the bravest of children away from its dangerously rotting timbers. But, they merely creaked in the wind, moaning at their lack of purpose and the loss of family life they had once been built to house in style. He had always loved it, and knew she’d shared his romantic dreams to bring it back to life.

&n
bsp; He had gotten down on one knee in the middle of the empty living room, dodging as best he could the rotten floorboards and the thick dust that caked their shoes. He had painted Jamie-Leigh a picture of what it could look like with some tender loving care, how wonderful their lives could be together there, if she would be his wife. Jamie-Leigh had blushed, and tried to hide her face from him, but had eventually said yes. He had picked her up and whirled her around, promising her the world, and a lifetime of happiness.

  But, he’d trashed it all. He’d not treasured what he had.

  How had everything gone so wrong? They had been so passionately in love. Every moment he’d spent with her was etched into his brain, and those memories sparkled with life. Sometimes he wished he could forget – but then that would mean erasing the very best times in his life, and his proudest achievements, too. Without Jamie he would never have become a firefighter, without her he wouldn’t have his wonderful children – and without her, he wasn’t even half the man he’d been with her.

  He still didn’t know why he had done what he’d done. He loved Jamie, always had. Yet, he had let himself get into an affair with Amelia Haines. He knew her reputation and he still wasn’t sure what bearing that had on his ill-advised decision to sleep with her.

  Now, he was banished from the home he had put his heart and soul into, and the family he truly adored. Jamie was normally such a forgiver, but she had remained staunchly determined, and he was angry and bitter that she hadn’t at least given him a chance to explain. Not that he had any kind of an excuse, but she should have let him apologize. She had thrown away everything they had ever had, because he had made a mistake.