What Happiness Looks Like (Promises) by Karen Lenfestey Read Free Book Online

his eyes focused on hers. “I’d like to have regular visitation and do my part.”
    “I am sorry you lost your family. . .” She was about ready to add “but” when the tragedy sank in. He’d really lost them. What would she do if Anna died? Her throat constricted. She could barely breathe.
    Maybe unforeseen deaths, a personal tragedy, could change Jake for the better. Plus the lawyer said she didn’t really have a choice. “If I let you meet her. . .” Did she dare trust him? She looked up, hoping to God she wouldn’t regret this. “You have to stick around. For at least the next fifteen years.”
    Jake reached over and warmed her hand with his. “I’m ready.”
    Joely reclaimed her hand and pointed her finger at him. “I’m serious. Years. If you start this, you finish.”
    He stood up straight. “Don’t worry.” He ran his fingers through his blond hair, looking relieved. “Anna is the most important person in my life.”
    Joely bit her lip hard. “How can you say that about someone you haven’t even met?”

    “Because she’s all I have left.”

 
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    JOELY
     
    Joely sat in her Ford Escort, which might not last through another winter, and glided her fingertips across the glossy folder full of Logan Prep materials. Anna’s teacher had just given them to her. Foxworth Elementary was fine, Lydia Berner explained, but they didn’t have the resources to stretch Anna on a daily basis. Sometimes Anna would have to sit and wait while the other kids caught on because they required more repetitions than she did. Logan Prep was the school Lydia recommended based on Anna’s amazing test scores.
    Shaking her head, Joely marveled at the difference between Anna and her. Joely had struggled with the core subjects in school. The ones that mattered to most people. The ones that provided a steady paycheck. Fortunately, Kate had looked over Joely’s homework each night, erasing her mistakes and teaching her mnemonic devices to help her remember things like the major Civil War battles. Because of Kate’s help and her own determination, Joely managed strong enough grades to get into college. Wanting to create something beautiful that would last, rather than sit in class, regurgitating memorized facts, Joely majored in art.
    How had she given birth to someone whose intelligence fell in the “very superior” range? She’d asked Lydia to explain more than once about norms, stanines and standard age scores. In the end, Joely had nodded, understanding most of it, knowing that this was wonderful news. Anna would never struggle like she had. Anna would grasp math, science and English as easily as Joely had once grasped a paintbrush.
    On the Logan Prep Academy folder, a smiling, freckle-faced girl held a violin under her chin. Joely opened the cover and read about the curriculum that included Latin, art, drama and music. Due to budget restraints, the local public school had been cutting back on electives and field trips—everything they deemed “non-essential”, everything Joely considered meaningful. But that was not the case at Logan Prep. The elementary students would visit art museums and travel to Chicago to watch “The Nutcracker Suite”. She read every sentence in the brochure, adrenaline tingling up and down her spine.
    She dug in her purse for a pen and quickly filled out the application. It couldn’t hurt to apply. Her heart stopped when she reached the last sentence on the form. “Be sure to enclose a $100 check made out to Logan Preparatory Academy to cover processing fees. Upon acceptance, you will be required to send in 20% of the $15,000 tuition to reserve your child’s place.”
    She closed the folder with a sigh. This was definitely out of her reach. If she had $15,000 to spare, she’d tuck it away for Anna’s college tuition, not elementary school.
    Spying the Artist’s Café across from Anna’s school, she decided she needed caffeine. She walked over and opened the glass