by Susan Schild
“What a perfect birthday,” Dottie sighed, and stroked Curtis’s ear.
Neal looked at his father questioningly, and pushed his glasses up his nose, “Now, Dad?”
“All right, son.” Jack nodded, and rose. They disappeared around the side of the trailer.
Kate glanced at Linny, raising her eyebrows. “Very mysterious.”
A few moments later, the two returned, each carrying one arm of a porch swing that bumped between them.
Linny clasped her hands, and again, felt the prickle of tears. “Oh, my.”
Neal blurted excitedly, “We know how much you liked swings, and we got it for you at the dump.”
Jack winced, and grinned. “There’s a new program at the recycling center called Trash or Treasure. People leave household stuff they can’t use, and others pick up what they want to refurbish.”
“I saw it first,” the boy crowed. “It wasn’t broken, except for one slat.”
He nodded. “And we had no trouble fixing it.”
“No trouble,” Neal agreed, and continued excitedly, “And I learned to use a palm sander, and we painted it. It’s called Sea Foam Green.”
“It’s just the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Reaching over, she kissed the top of Neal’s head and intertwined her fingers in Jack’s. “I love it.” What she meant was, I love you, but she’d get to that in her own good time.
The sun was setting as the last of her guests left, and Linny sat in her new porch swing, Roy looped under her arm. The chain squeaked and the dog sighed, leaning his warm body into her side. Something crackled and Linny moved Roy’s head aside and pulled a crumpled paper from her pocket. These were the shorts she’d worn when she’d snatched her SWEET DREAM LIST away from a grinning Jack. Smoothing out the paper, Linny felt a buzz of happy satisfaction as she looked at the big check marks beside her dreams. She’d gotten off the corporate track and found home-based work she loved. Check. Glancing down at her sandals, Linny flexed her free range toes. Check. She’d dated out of type—thank heavens—and found a lovely man. Check.
Stroking Roy’s silky ear, Linny’s mulled it over, smiling. Soon she’d become a country wife and stepmother. Her happily ever after looked nothing like she thought it would when she was younger, yet it was all too wonderful to even believe. Pushing off with her toe, Linny glided back and forth. She closed her eyes and just let the quiet joy wash over her.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
LYRICAL PRESS BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2016 by Susan Schild
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Lyrical Press and Lyrical Press logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
First Electronic Edition: January 2016
ISBN: 978-1-6165-0941-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-61650-942-2
ISBN-10: 1-61650-942-2