Homecoming Day by Holly Jacobs Read Free Book Online

perfect.
    This room was not.
    She stood at the door to what was once the guest room and now would be a nursery. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like either at the moment. It looked like a storage room. A very disorganized storage room at that.
    There were boxes and bags everywhere. For the last month she’d meant to come in and start sorting everything she’d bought for the baby’s arrival, but every time she tried, she got as far as opening the door, then she’d simply shut it and back away.
    It wasn’t fair.
    She was supposed to be doing this with Jay.
    He was supposed to be here with her. They’d have called his parents, told them to come over and made a day of it. She’d have baked lasagna, and that crunchy garlic bread Jay liked so much. The aroma of it would have filled her small house and the sound of laughter would have filled every room as well.
    They’d decided to live here for a few years and save money for something bigger. She always told Jay thatthe small size simply made the house more cozy. And on that day, it would have been cozy. Jay, his parents and her pregnant belly would have filled the house to the point of overflowing.
    The thought of how it should have been hurt. It was a crippling pain that had the ability to take her breath away.
    She put the pain aside, though, and concentrated on how it was now.
    And how-it-was-now was that JT was going to paint a beautiful mural, and Seth was going to assemble the baby’s furniture.
    How-it-was-now, was that she was going to gather all the baby’s clothes and wash them, then fold them and put them in drawers.
    Laura forced herself into the room and pulled a bunch of Onesies out of a box. She’d ordered them from an online store. It’s how she’d bought most of the baby’s things. It seemed so much easier than traipsing to stores and having people ooh and aah over her ever-expanding stomach. Each time someone did that, she was hit anew with the thought that Jay should be there.
    Stop.
    She needed to stop thinking about Jay.
    Which sounded so simple and was anything but.
    She pulled out a Onesie. It had a picture of Einstein and the caption said Brilliant Minds Have Bad Hair Days, Too. She smiled. She could do this.
    She marveled at how small the tiny sleepers were. Within weeks, Bbog would be wearing them as she held him or her.
    She took off tags and filled the laundry basket with the baby’s clothes, then struggled to her feet. She was so ready not to feel like a turtle who was stuck on his back, scrambling to find some way to right himself.
    The doorbell rang.
    Basket in hand, she opened the door to Seth.
    He looked different out of uniform. Approachable.
    Cute.
    Thinking of Seth Keller as cute was disconcerting at best, downright disturbing at worst.
    â€œHey, what are you doing?” he asked by way of a greeting.
    For a moment she worried that he knew she’d thought he was cute, but he came in, shut the door behind him and stared pointedly at the basket in her hand.
    Laura felt a flood of relief. “Laundry? I mean, I’d have thought it was evident, but maybe not.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t be carrying anything.” He took the basket from her hands.
    â€œI can carry a basket of baby clothes. They weigh less than the grocery bags tend to.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t carry those eith—”
    She was saved from another lecture and more disturbing thoughts about the man’s cuteness when the doorbell rang.
    Laura opened the door to find the once again scrubbed-looking JT wearing oversize denim overalls and a tight white shirt, carrying a small bag. Her mother was in the car and didn’t look as if she was going to get out.
    â€œHi, Ms. Watson. Let’s make some pretty pictures.”
    Seth put the basket down and went past them toJT’s mother’s car. He talked to her for a minute, then returned to the house. “I told her I’d take you home,