A Hero to Come Home To Read Free

one of Jeff’s favorites. Because of that, the only Mexican food Carly had since he died had been takeout from Bueno. “That would be great. Does six work for you?”
    Therese’s smile widened. “I’ll be there.”
    The bell rang, the last few kids in the hall scurrying toward their classes. Carly summoned her own smile. “Good. Great. Uh, I’ll see you tonight.”
    An unfamiliar emotion settled over her as she walked back to her own classroom. Hope, she realized. For the first time in thirteen months, two weeks, and three days, she felt hopeful. Maybe she could learn how to live without Jeff, after all.

Chapter One
    One year later
     
    I t had taken only three months of living in Oklahoma for Carly to learn that March could be the most wonderful place on earth or the worst. This particular weekend was definitely in the wonderful category. The temperature was in the midseventies, warm enough for short sleeves and shorts, though occasionally a breeze off the water brought just enough coolness to chill her skin. The sun was bright, shining hard on the stone and concrete surfaces that surrounded them, sharply delineating the new green buds on the trees and the shoots peeking out from the rocky ground.
    It was a beautiful clear day, the kind that Jeff had loved, the kind they would have spent on a long walk or maybe just lounging in the backyard with ribs smoking on the grill. There was definitely a game on TV—wasn’t it about time for March Madness?—but he’d preferred to spend his time off with her. He could always read about the games in the paper.
    Voices competed with the splash of the waterfall as she touched her hand to her hip pocket, feeling the crackle of paper there. The photograph went everywhere with her, especially on each new adventure she took with her friends. And this trip to Turner Falls, just outside Davis, Oklahoma, while tame enough, was an adventure for her. Every time she left their house in Tallgrass, two hours away, was an adventure of sorts. Every night she went to sleep without crying, every morning she found the strength to get up.
    “There’s the cave.” Jessy, petite and red haired, gestured to the opening above and to the right of the waterfall. “Who wants to be first?”
    The women looked around at each other, but before anyone else could speak up, Carly did. “I’ll go.” These adventures were about a lot of things: companionship, support, grieving, crying, laughing, and facing fears.
    There was only one fear Carly needed to face today: her fear of heights. She estimated the cave at about eighty feet above the ground, based on the fact that it was above the falls, which were seventy-two feet high, according to the T-shirts they’d all picked up at the gift shop. Not a huge height, so not a huge fear, right? And it wasn’t as if they’d be actually climbing. The trail was steep in places, but anyone could do it. She could do it.
    “I’ll wait here,” Ilena said. Being twenty-eight weeks pregnant with a child who would never know his father limited her participation in cave climbing. “Anything you don’t want to carry, leave with me. And be sure you secure your cameras. I don’t want anything crashing down on me from above.”
    “Yeah, everyone try not to crash down on Ilena,” Jessy said drily as the women began unloading jackets and water bottles on their friend.
    “Though if you do fall, aim for me,” Ilena added. “I’m pretty cushiony these days.” Smiling, she patted the roundness of her belly with jacket-draped arms. With pale skin and white-blond hair, she resembled a rather anemic snowman whose builders had emptied an entire coat closet on it.
    Carly faced the beginning of the trail, her gaze rising to the shadow of the cave mouth. Every journey started with one step—the mantra Jeff had used during his try-jogging-you’ll-love-it phase. She hadn’t loved it at all, but she’d loved him so she’d given it a shot and spent a week recovering from