The Second Chance Café (Hope Springs, #1) by Alison Kent Read Free Book Online Page B

Guadalupe or the Comal. She’d been busy with school, then busy with work, and without close girlfriends—or guy friends—she’d been on her own. Luna made her promise to join her for a rafting trip, and without giving it a second thought, Kaylie agreed, hungry for the society this new relationship offered, though she did extract a return promise from Luna to show her the workings of a loom.
    It was girl talk, punctuated with waved hands and wide eyes and nodded understanding. It was comfortable, natural, familiar when familiarity made no sense. Yet as their bond blossomed, Kaylie opened up, as if a door shut tight for years had flung wide. “Depending on how
much
news is getting out, you may not know that I used to live here.”
    “In Hope Springs?”
    “In this house. I came here when I was ten.”
    “You must’ve lived with the Wises,” Luna said.
    “Did you know them? Would I have known you? We’re about the same age, I think, but I’ve forgotten most of the kids I grew up with.”
    But the other woman was already shaking her head. “I went to a private school. And I only know of the Wises from hearing their names come up in conversation.”
    “Do they come up a lot?” Kaylie asked, wondering why they would, in what context. Wondering if anyone ever talked about her, about what had happened. Who might know more than she did and could answer questions, or point her to where she could find them.
    “No, but they were very well thought of. I know Dolly Breeze was good friends with May, and Dolly’s heavily involved in the local craft scene. She’s the one I heard talking about your café.”
    “May Wise is the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t know where I’d be today if my caseworker hadn’t sent me here.” She wrapped both hands around her coffee mug and stared down into her drink. “My first few foster homes didn’t exactly work out. Most of that was my fault, I’m sure. I was confused and angry and I missed my parents terribly. And I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
    “Don’t worry about it. You must’ve entered the system fairly young, if you came here when you were ten. I can’t imagine much of anything being your fault.”
    Kaylie shrugged. Her logical side knew Luna was right, but her logical side wasn’t the one that woke up with nightmares. “Part of coming back here is about finding out what happened with my parents to send me into foster care.”
    “You don’t know?” Luna asked, having gone still, her gaze caught on Kaylie’s.
    “I remember enough of the specifics.” She wasn’t going to talk about the knife, or the body on the kitchen floor, or the blood on her toes. “But I don’t know where either of my parents are. Why they never came to get me.”
    “You haven’t heard from either of them?”
    She shook her head. “Not in twenty-three years.”
    “So you’re taking matters into your own hands.”
    And hoping her hands were big enough. “Something like that.”
    “I feel like I should wish you luck,” Luna said, with just enough hesitation for Kaylie to sense her discomfort, as if she didn’t want to cause more pain than Kaylie had already endured. “I’d be more of a basket case than I already am if I hadn’t had my parents to keep me sane.”
    “I had May and Winton. Only for eight years, but those eight years were everything. And please don’t feel bad telling me how close you are to your parents. You should be. You’re supposed to be. And I’m glad for anyone who has that.”
    After that, the conversation returned to her plans for the café. While talking about the casseroles May had served in an effort to stretch a dollar, Luna told her about Dolly Breeze losing her husband, and that to make ends meet, the older woman had gone to work for a local contractor, Ten Keller.
    “Word has it that she keeps him on his toes,” Luna said.
    “Did I tell you he’s doing my renovations?”
    “No, but I assumed he would