Read Heart Echoes for Free Online Page A

you.”
    â€œJake will stay with me—”
    â€œI don’t want to see Jake Ford or hear about Jake Ford for a long, long, very long time. He is not welcome in our home. Is that understood?”
    â€œMom, he’s a good guy.”
    â€œMaiya Marie, I asked you a question.”
    â€œYeah. I understand, Counselor.”
    From Mommy to Counselor in less than sixty seconds.
    What was going on with her daughter?
    Teal sensed that the quake had just exposed a fault line she did not know existed.

    Teal found River back in the hallway on a chair, trying to button the filthy short-sleeved white shirt he must have worn to the hospital. His brows went up in a question.
    â€œShe’s fine.”
    â€œThank God. Is she home?”
    â€œOn her way.” She knelt beside him, pushed aside his fumbling fingers, and buttoned his shirt for him. “What did they say?”
    â€œI’m good to go.”
    She tilted her head.
    He smiled. “Three cracked. No internal damage. If I do something that increases the pain, I should stop doing it. Doc gave me a prescription for pain relievers. The regular stuff helped, though.”
    â€œMeaning we’ll bypass the pharmacy and go straight home.”
    â€œMm-hmm.”
    There was no argument to change his mind, so she didn’t even try.
    She held his gaze for a long moment. His eyes shimmered in a reflection of her own tears.
    They were all safe. Nothing else mattered at that moment. Thank You, God.
    The drive home through empty, dark streets felt eerie. Houses and storefronts appeared intact, but people normally would have still been out and about; shops would have been open.
    Teal deflected River’s questions about Maiya and told him about her own crazy day. “So now I have BFFs from Dubuque, Iowa, and we have an open invitation to visit them anytime we have a hankering to visit Field of Dreams or spit in the Mississippi.”
    â€œSeriously?”
    She caught his little-boy grin. “Uh-oh. I didn’t mean to say that part out loud.”
    â€œOh, man.” His raspy voice was excited. “Baseball and a phenomenal river I’ve never seen.”
    â€œWe’ll put it on the bucket list.” She slowed and flicked the turn signal as their alley came into sight.
    â€œThe garage is full, love.”
    She glanced at him. “You mean you didn’t bother to pick up the plastic tubs?”
    His chuckle slid into a groan. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh.”
    No worries about that once I get hold of Maiya.
    The garage opened directly onto the alley. If there was no space inside it, they would have to park on the street out front. Teal drove past the alley entrance and continued on the palm-tree-lined block to their street.
    The problem with street parking was that every neighbor had the same kind of old-fashioned, single-car garage and owned at least two vehicles. Car after car after car was parked bumper to bumper along both curbs. She spotted a motorcycle and gripped the steering wheel. If that thing belonged to Jake . . .
    â€œForget it,” she said. “This day just got too long. One way or another, I will make the car fit inside the garage.”
    â€œThat’s my Xena.”
    â€œI will not be undone by an earthquake. How lame is that?”
    â€œAttagirl.”
    A few moments later she reached the garage and tapped the automatic opener. The door rattled up. “Hallelujah, the power is on. Whoa.” The headlights illumined empty space. “Do you see what I see?”
    â€œAre we at the wrong garage? Ours never looked this neat.”
    A few blue plastic bins sat in two short stacks. Elsewhere along a different wall were orderly piles of books and file folders.
    They exchanged a glance and said in unison, “Charlie.”
    Teal blinked her vision clear and drove onto a spic-and-span concrete floor. Her heart felt swept clean as well, free at last of the day’s