Read Always on My Mind for Free Online

head. “I think I have my answer.” She ran her hands over her belly, finding a foot, an elbow. “I keep thinking of Gina. And her mom. And her life. I think I’ve been holding on to the wild, impossible hope that Casper might show up, forgive me, and . . . I don’t know   —figure out a way for us to be together. But . . .” She swallowed again, her eyes watery. “I am a fool.”
    “Raina . . .” Grace reached for her hand, but Raina drew it away.
    “Even you would agree that it’s better for Casper to move on.”
    Grace sighed.
    Raina nodded despite the dagger in her chest. “Which means that I need to also. I don’t know how, but I have to give this baby a better life than I had.”
    Grace frowned and began to shake her head.
    “You know this is the best thing for everyone, especially the baby. She needs a home with two parents who love her and can provide for her and . . . No more denial or hope of the perfect happy ending. At least for me. But I can give it to my baby.”
    She ran her hands over her face again. Yes, this was the right decision. “You need to go home, Grace, and get some sleep. When you come back, would you bring the adoption file with you? The one the agency sent over? I need to pick the perfect parents for my child.”

C ASPER KNEW HE HAD the tendency to gamble big, to throw himself into the hope of finding something priceless, but this time he might really get hurt.
    He stared out the window as the plane touched down between the grimy snowdrifts that edged the tarmac. The sky hovered low, a chilly pewter gray, the early afternoon sunshine imprisoned beyond a wall of clouds. When a few of his fellow passengers began reaching for their parkas, he realized he’d packed his jacket in his checked bag. Not thinking clearly as he boarded the puddle jumper off the island fourteen hours ago in ninety-degree weather.
    In fact, he’d had one thing on his brain. One person. His one consuming thought over the past two weeks.
    Thankfully he had a sweatshirt crammed into his backpack,but he just might be the only guy in the state of Minnesota sporting flip-flops. And shorts.
    “I take it you went somewhere warm,” said the woman in the seat behind him as she unbuckled and pulled out her phone. She wore a black turtleneck sweater, a white scarf knotted around her neck. Reminded him of his sister Eden back when she worked in obits. Or maybe everyone dressed like gloom and doom during the dark month of a Minnesota January.
    “Honduras,” he said and pulled out his backpack. Shoot, his phone had died somewhere over Texas and now he’d have to pray that Grace was at home when he showed up at her apartment.
    Hopefully she’d feed him too.
    And hopefully   —okay, he more than hoped it   —Raina would be there. Willing to listen. Willing to forgive him . . . maybe simply willing to start over.
    That’s all he wanted: a reset. No dragging up the past, just a clean, fresh beginning where Owen didn’t lurk in the shadows, haunting their relationship. Certainly after all these months they could shake off his specter.
    “Well, you’d better get something on those bare feet because according to my phone, it’s a toasty twelve below.” The woman shouldered her bag and stepped out of her row, grabbing her carry-on.
    Casper followed her out through the Jetway and into the bustle of the Minneapolis–St. Paul airport. He stopped at a Caribou Coffee and tugged out his sweatshirt, pulling it on before heading to baggage claim. He smiled wanly at a little girl holding her mother’s hand, gawking at his attire.
    His duffel bag shot out of the chute and landed on the carousel. He picked it up and lugged it to the car rental desk.
    He hadn’t planned on returning in the middle of winter   —thushis motorcycle, still in storage, would have to stay tucked away. The female rental clerk also eyed his clothes, his long hair, and his bandanna hat, a smile on her lips. He pegged her around