Read To Have and to Hold for Free Online Page A

attended. Whether she had new friends. If she had started to get crushes on boys…
    Last night, after he’d confessed that he didn’t remember their time together, Trina had told him she was going to try to be out of the house by dinnertime tonight. At the time, that had seemed like a blessing. But now he wasn’t so sure. Maybe he could ask her to stick around for a few more days. To get Clara settled, help him come up to speed. Ease the transition.
    Yes. He’d ask her for a few more days. Just until he and Clara could build the
new
normal.
    —
    After Hunter left for the base, Trina dug into the problem of where she and Phoebe would go next.
    By late morning, she was starting to panic. Bonnie’s sister and her five kids were coming to live with Bonnie for an indefinite period of time because her sister’s deadbeat husband had allowed their house to go into foreclosure. There was no room in Bonnie’s little house for Trina and Phoebe now, even if Phoebe hadn’t been spot-on about the choking smell of cigarettes and wet dog. Trina’s parents were dead, gone one after the other, right after Phoebe’s eighth birthday, and Trina’s siblings lived on the East Coast, so begging family for temporary lodging wasn’t an option.
    Trina had somehow lost the phone number for Petra, the woman subletting her and Phoebe’s apartment, so she’d emailed the friend who’d put them in touch in the first place. She’d given a sketch of the situation, without getting into the romantic thread: Deployment ended sooner than expected, house-sitting opportunity brought to a sudden close, in need of a place to live again.
    I can’t tell you what to do,
her friend wrote back,
but before you call Petra, you should know that her son has leukemia. I think he’s doing well, I think he’s going into remission, but she’s been dead on her feet for months now. I know you, and I know what a soft heart you are, and that by telling you this I might be forcing your hand, but I also know you’d kill me later if I didn’t tell you.
    Trina didn’t call Petra. Her friend had been absolutely right about all of it. Trina was glad to know the situation, and there was no way she was going to retake her apartment, given the other woman’s suffering. She and Phoebe would figure something else out.
    Swallowing her fear, she began searching sublet listings online. Most of the apartments were small. Ugly. In a bad part of town. Or way out of their price range.
    She picked up the phone to call about one that seemed promising. Gone. The apologetic landlord said he’d heard nothing stayed available more than twenty-four hours right now. That if the date on the listing wasn’t today, there wasn’t much hope.
    The possibilities were few and far between. It had taken months for her and Phoebe to find the apartment they’d been living in—part of why she’d sublet instead of bailing on the lease entirely.
    Maybe…
    Maybe she could ask Hunter to let them live in the guest room and pay rent?
    The thought of being in the same house as him while he looked at her with that blank indifference hurt her stomach.
    She’d spin back through the apartment listings she’d already looked at and be less picky. They could handle small. They could handle ugly. They’d have each other, they’d keep busy, they’d spend time with friends.
    Where had that one gone…?
    She clicked on the browser’s history. Scrolled…
    Through apartment listings and page after page of Stefan Spencer.
    Phoebe had been doing online searches for her father. Looking at every photo in existence. Reading every article ever written. Watching trailers from his show.
    She shouldn’t be surprised. Not after that voicemail from Stefan.
    She swiped her phone to life and tapped the voicemail icon.
    “Phoebe’s emailed me a couple of times. She’s a funny kid. I—I’d like to get to know her a little better. I don’t suppose there’s any chance L.A. is still in the cards for you? There’s