Read Handful of Heaven for Free Online Page A

“That I was lucky. To have you for a mom. And she’s right.” He attacked the cinnamon roll again.
    Paige let the impact of his words settle. Her heart gave another tug. “You’re a pretty great kid, too, you know. I got lucky when the angels gave me you.”
    “I know. I am a good kid.” There was that look again, The Eye, the one that made it impossible for her not to melt with adoration for him. He shoved off the counter, taking the cinnamon roll with him. “I got youth group stuff tomorrow. Did ya need help at the diner?”
    “No, we’ll manage without you.”
    “It’ll be hard, I know.” He was gone, bounding through the house, thumping and thudding as he went down the hall and into the basement where his bedroom was.
    Leaving her alone. The warmth of the house, of her home, surrounded her as she sipped her cocoa. Alex’s advanced calculus and physics textbooks were stacked on the table, ready for him to do his homework when he caught a chance over the weekend. On the counter next to the microwave was the admission booklet and information from the college he’d be attending in the fall.
    High-school graduation was just around the corner, in the last week of May, and then Alex would be getting ready to leave home. She’d be putting the diner up for sale and then she’d have all the time in the world to follow her own dreams. Paige had been planning for this time of her life for a long while. She deeply wanted this new future rushing toward her.
    But maybe she wasn’t in so much of a hurry to get there.
    She finished her hot chocolate, let the peace of the night settle around her and remembered to give thanks for all the good things in her life.

Chapter Four
    T oo much time on his hands. At first Evan had filled the void of the weekends with work on Saturday and church on Sunday, but the truth was, he worked long enough hours during the week and he’d more than caught up on his work load, which was usually such that he was always struggling to keep up. Now, suddenly, he was caught-up. After six months of working most weekends, he had no reason to be at the office. And so he was wandering around the local feed store, looking at stuff he didn’t need. At loose ends.
    “Getting ready for summer camping?” Dalton Whitely had inherited the store from his granddad, and had been several years behind Evan in school. Even though they’d played in sports together for a year, when Evan was a senior and Dalton a freshman, Evan really only knew the man as a salesman.
    Now that his life was slowing down, Evan was noticing he had a lot of acquaintances, folks he knew by name, but not nearly enough true friends. He wasn’t sure what that said about him, but he knew he was guilty of keeping a healthy distance between him and most people. He’d turned into a man who didn’t trust easily. Maybe, when that came to trusting a wife, that was a good thing. But he felt adrift these days. Unconnected. The flier he’d kept, the one about the Bible study, popped into his mind again.
    Maybe, he thought. Maybe it was just the thing he needed. He realized Dalton was waiting for an answer. “I’m just looking. Don’t need a new tent, but those are sure nice.”
    “Latest models. Just put ’em out.” Dalton flashed a cordial smile. “You let me know if you have any questions?”
    “Yep.” Looking at the camping gear reminded him of better times. Maybe he’d like camping alone. It was something he’d never done before. For more summers than he could count, he and the boys had spent most weekends up in the mountains: camping, hiking, fishing, hunting. There was nothing like riding up into the mountains on horseback. It was like stepping back a century in time. He hadn’t thought about the summer to come. He was already dreading it.
    As he turned his back on the brand-new pup tents and eyed the wall of bright halters and braided bridles, he already knew how the summer was going to go. Cal would be off working to make