Baby, Come Home Read Free

an engineer—there were no gray areas when it came to CAD drawings and blueprints and per square inch load of reinforced concrete. But going out on her own after being laid off from the state of Michigan’s Department of Transportation was another matter.
    Her former boss had recommended her for small jobs here and there, but she was waiting to hear if she’d been selected as project leader for a big reservoir project, and the suspense was driving up her stress level. She was qualified for the position, and she’d been told by insiders that the longer it took, the more likely the news would be good—engineers that were out of the running had already been notified.
    She had a lot riding on this job.
    When her fingers closed around a cellophane wrapped chocolate cupcake in the back of the drawer, she whooped in triumph. She tore open the wrapper and bit into the cake, not caring that it was stale and dry.
    While she chewed, momentarily gratified, Amy noticed that underneath the cupcake was an ad she’d cut out of the local newspaper over six months ago. She pulled it out and swallowed, wincing as the hard ball of empty calories scraped down her throat.
    The new town of Sweetness, Georgia, welcomes one hundred single women with a pioneering spirit looking for a fresh start!
    Sweetness, Georgia…her hometown. Her initial shock at seeing the advertisement for women to help rebuild the small town that had been devastated by a tornado ten years ago was trumped only by the names of the men behind the ad: Armstrong .
    As in Kendall Armstrong and his brothers Marcus and Porter. As far as she knew, Kendall didn’t know where she’d settled after leaving Sweetness. On the other hand, the chance of the ad landing in her local newspaper seven hundred miles away strictly by coincidence seemed a little far-fetched. The first few days after the ad had appeared, she’d been besieged with paranoia, looking over her shoulder and half afraid to answer the phone. But Kendall hadn’t appeared on her doorstep and slowly she’d relaxed. Then the group of women, including her friend Dr. Nikki Salinger, had left Broadway to make the trip south to Sweetness. Again, she’d held her breath that Kendall would contact her.
    And again, he hadn’t.
    And then another emotion had crept in—curiosity. Obviously, Kendall knew where she was. So why hadn’t he called or…something?
    Because she’d told him not to. That last conversation was burned into her memory.
    Wait for me, Amy. I’ll come back for you.
    But Amy had been tired of waiting for Kendall to commit to her, tired of him coming home for a few days of leave from the Air Force for marathon lovemaking, then taking off to another adventure, leaving her behind.
    You think I’m going to sit in this podunk town and wait for you? Forget it. Goodbye, Kendall. And don’t ever try to contact me.
    Amy worked her mouth back and forth. He’d taken her at her word.
    Despite her bravado, after leaving Sweetness, she’d spent many long nights crying over Kendall Armstrong. And he’d been heavy on her mind as she’d pursued an engineering degree in night school. Their mutual interest in the science of structure had been one of the things that had drawn them together in the first place.
    They’d been an unlikely couple—she was a tomboy and had a tendency to get into scuffles with kids who teased her over her wiry red hair and Goodwill clothes. Kendall was a scholar and an athlete from an upstanding family, with a cloud of beautiful girls around him. One day between classes, he’d pulled her off the back of a boy who’d questioned her sexuality. His blue eyes had twinkled as he explained he’d been afraid for the boy’s life. She’d fallen head over heels in love with him on the spot. Kendall had been the smartest and the sexiest boy she’d ever met. He’d made her feel feminine and pretty. She’d known he was destined to go out into the world and do great things—she’d just always