My Way Home (St.Gabriel Series Book 1) (St. Gabriel Series) Read Free

laundry basket into the backseat of my Ford Pinto, and Race happened by and offered to help.
    The space was already jammed with the beanbag chair I had made for my little brother Frank for Christmas, my friend Sandi’s stuff because I was dropping her in San Bernardino, and my roommate Loretta’s collection of African Violets that I was taking care of during the break while she was off to Europe. I held the seat forward while Race smooshed the basket in.
    “Mission accomplished,” he said.
    I looked up at him. “Thanks.”
    “Well, I think you’re going to need what’s in that hamper. It looks like every piece of clothing you own might be in there. I hate to think of you running around Big Bear without a thing to wear. It’s cold there this time of year, isn’t it?”
    “Usually.” I smiled and wondered if I might be able to find just a little more room to fit in a five-foot-eleven-inch literature instructor.
    And then Race did it. He broke the rules. He slid his hand across the side of my neck to the back of my head. His fingers laced in my hair, and he kissed me, and I kissed him back.
    Then Race stepped back. “Cammy, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
    And before I could say any of the volume of things that were running through my head, No, you definitely should have done that. Do it again. Please, do it again , he was halfway across the Commons.
    “Merry Christmas!” I called after him.
    Spring semester there were no chance meetings. I’d see Race at a distance but since he was clearly avoiding me, and my mother had taught me to never chase a boy, I did not speak to Race Coleman all semester.
    After I graduated I was planning on driving to Yellowstone to work for the summer, waiting tables at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. In the fall I would embark on the big job hunt. My degree in liberal arts was a shoo-in for a low-paying, entry-level job in a myriad of fields with no future. I was open and excited about the possibilities, and I was determined to get over my crush .
    On graduation day Race walked through the celebrating crowd and handed me a white rose and a letter. I did not go to Yellowstone but to Texas with Race. He had taken a teaching job at the college in his home town. In the fall we were married under a big oak tree on his grandparent’s farm. It was one of my best days.
    I looked across the room at our wedding portrait on the dresser, squeezed my eyes shut tight, and gripped the blanket. A bad dream, it all had to be a bad dream. “Wake up, Cammy, wake up.”

CHAPTER TWO
    That First Week
    Janie left to go back to school on Sunday morning and Race left on Sunday afternoon. Before he left, we talked. I sat at the kitchen table with Einstein, my day planner, on my lap in case I drew a blank and needed help.
    “I haven’t had an affair, Cammy, but I think I may be in love with someone.”
    He hadn’t had an affair, but he thought he may be in love with someone, someone else he meant, not me. I can’t describe the pain I felt at that moment—it was so intense, it made my body ache and my brain throb. But to this day, I still feel traces of it when I think about hearing those words from the man I had loved at my very first sight of him.
    I believe in love at first sight, the way someone stands, talks, smiles, looks at you and you feel euphoric. Then it feels as though a part of you leaves your body, and meets a part of them in the air and dances. I definitely believe in that.
    “Who?” I felt hot, dizzy.
    “Cammy.”
    “Who, Race?”
    “Cam, let’s not talk about this right now.”
    “No, no, Race, let’s do talk about this, right now. I want to know who and how it is you think you might be in love with this someone you haven’t had an affair with.”
    He sat there, looking past me. I hoped I didn’t have to resort to it, but I was prepared to beat it out of him. I really was.
    Finally, he said, “Sarah Burns.”
    Sarah Burns, Sarah Burns. Ah, yes, Sarah Burns.
    I knew