Free Always on My Mind by Bella Andre Page A

show. She said you weren’t there. What happened, Lor? And where the heck are you?”
    Lori hated that she’d worried her sister. She hadn’t figured anyone would know she had left the show early, had hoped that she’d be able to disappear for a little while. But she should have guessed that someone in her huge family would know someone in Chicago and that word would get back before she was ready for it.
    Lori had always been ready for anything, eager to grab every ounce of joy from life with both hands, both arms and legs. When, she suddenly wondered, had she stopped being ready and eager?
    Especially, she thought as she caught sight of Grayson through the slats of the tall shelves on the other side of the General Store, for a man who turned her inside out with nothing more than a dark look, or a very few words. The couple of times he’d actually touched her were still imprinted on her skin as though he’d branded her instead.
    “I’m okay,” she said first.
    “Thank God,” Sophie said, and then, “Are you still in Chicago?”
    “No.” This small farm town she’d chosen to visit on a whim couldn’t be further from the skyscrapers and busy traffic in the Windy City. “I’m actually back in California.”
    “You are? Why didn’t you call to let us know you were home?”
    “I needed some time to think.”
    “Lori.” Her name on her twin’s lips was infused with such unconditional love that Lori nearly teared up in the middle of the store. “Tell me what happened. It was Victor, wasn’t it?”
    “That’s over now.” Lori’s voice was hard.
    “You’ve said that before, too many times. Do you really mean it this time?”
    “Forever, Soph. I’ll never, ever go back to him. I promise you, I won’t.”
    Her sister’s exhale of relief was loud and long. “How about I leave the babies with Jake tonight and you and I can go catch a double feature somewhere with extra-buttery popcorn and every box of candy in the place?”
    She loved her sister so much, and it was so tempting to head back to San Francisco to let Sophie take care of her. But Lori had something to prove to herself first before she could go back to her real life.
    And she hadn’t yet proved it, hadn’t even come close to turning the darkness that had settled inside her these past months back to bright, vibrant color.
    “I love you, Soph,” she said first, because it was the most important thing of all. Now and forever. But she also had to say, “But I can’t come home. Not yet.”
    “At least tell me where you are,” Sophie insisted.
    “I’m working on a farm.”
    Lori could easily picture her sister’s stunned expression as she repeated, “A farm?”
    “With pigs and chickens and crops. I’m buying a pair of cowboy boots right now.”
    “How could you have possibly ended up on a farm?”
    “You know how these things go,” Lori said with a grin.
    “There isn’t another guy involved, is there?”
    “No,” Lori said, even though being around Grayson kept making her insides go all hot and fluttery. Even when he was being all grumpy and cranky. Especially then, if she was being completely honest with herself. He was just so different from any man she’d ever known. He didn’t waste one single second on trying to be charming or complimenting her so that he could get something from her. “I swear I just need to shake things up for a bit.” And, boy, had she ever done that, if the last twenty-four hours were anything to go by.
    But her explanations clearly weren’t doing it for her sister, who was making little worried sounds into the phone. “Lor, this is crazy, even for you. If you won’t talk to me about what’s going on, you should at least call Mom.”
    Panic skittered up Lori’s spine. If Mary Sullivan wrapped her warm arms around her daughter the way she had for as long as Lori could remember, she’d fall into a million pieces.
    “Does Mom know I’m back?”
    “No, not yet, but—”
    Lori quickly cut her