Page 5 of Already Home

“Thanks,” Violet said. “We will.”

Robyn ducked out. Violet closed the door behind her andlaughed.

“What an adventure. I can’t wait.”

Jenna thought about how she’d spent the past couple of monthsfeeling like a total failure. This was a new beginning for her. A chance toprove herself.

“I can’t wait, either,” she murmured. This time, everything wasgoing to be different.

* * *

Jenna arrived at her new rented town house a littleafter six. After pulling into the garage, she climbed the stairs to the mainfloor, only to find her father squinting at a power drill. He checked the markon the wall, then carefully drove in three screws.

She waited until the drill was silent.

“Hi, Dad.”

He turned and grinned at her. “Hey, kid. Your shelves are justabout done. Give me a sec and you can help me put the brackets in place.”

The shelves were decorative metal with hooks for all her potsand lids. While the town house had plenty of room for the average cook, Jennatraveled with a lot of cookbooks, notes and equipment. Extra storage space wasrequired.

Her dad winked at her. “I checked with your landlord, to makesure adding the shelving was okay.”

“I’ll bet that was a tough conversation.”

“He saw my side of things.”

As the man who owned the entire complex was a close friend ofher dad’s, she wasn’t surprised.

Marshall put down his drill and held out his arms. “You okay,Jenna?”

She stepped into his embrace and allowed herself to get lost inher father’s familiar strength. “I will be.”

“I’m sorry Aaron turned out to be such a jerk.”

“Me, too. I wanted what you and Mom have.” Growing up, shehadn’t thought it was too much to ask. Now, looking back at her failed yearswith her ex-husband, she knew finding the right man wasn’t as easy as itlooked.

“You’ll get there,” her dad told her. “But do me a favor, kid.This time fall for a Texas boy.”

She grinned. “You think they’re that much better?”

“I know they are.”

“What if he’s an Aggie?” she asked in a mock whisper. Herfather had gone to the University of Texas. Aggies—those who graduated fromTexas A&M—were the enemy.

“Better an Aggie than someone from California.”

She laughed. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s my girl.” He kissed the top of her head and releasedher.

She stepped back and watched him finish putting up hershelves.

Maybe this wasn’t exactly where she’d thought she would be atnearly thirty-two, but she could still make it okay. She’d failed at hermarriage. People did that and recovered. Many of them thrived. She could thrive,as well. She could figure out how to make starting over the best thing that everhappened to her.

Two

Violet parked in front of Jenna’s store andturned off her car engine. She still had a couple of sips left of her coffee.Based on the stacks of boxes she’d seen during her interview, she would need allthe caffeine she could get to keep her energy going during the unpacking phase.Getting a store up and running was a lot of work.

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