Free Leave Yesterday Behind by Lauren Linwood

and figured he might as well hand-deliver it to his publisher before the launch party for his latest hardcover.
    While he was in New York, Callandra wanted him to drop in on Callie and check up on what she deemed her precious angel. Nick said he would if time allowed, but he hadn’t bothered to call, much less run by her place. Callandra would be royally pissed at him. He didn’t care. They bickered like an old married couple, despite the fact they weren’t married and almost fifty years stood between them.
    Still, Callandra was good to him. He should’ve made the effort to at least touch base with Callie instead of haunting his favorite bookstores and small jazz clubs. Great, a case of the guilts already in full swing, and this was before he’d seen Callandra and had her harp on him some. At least he hadn’t made any excuses to her. She’d been out when he called from La Guardia. Essie said she would relay the message and that Nick better get himself there in time for dinner. She had made chocolate pralines for dessert, and his flight better not be delayed. Essie wouldn’t guarantee there’d be any left for him otherwise.
    He turned off the main highway and soon was pulling through the center of town. He waved at his cousin Pam, the high school speech and drama teacher, and at Wally Windell, one of Aurora’s patrolmen walking on foot along the square. Despite the heat, he cut the air and rolled down his windows for those last few blocks. He breathed in the heavy scent of magnolia and knew he was almost home.
    He pulled into the drive at Noble Oaks, surprised to see a squad car there. Parked behind it sat an SUV with a small trailer attached. His cousin Eric stood on the porch with suitcases in both hands. Two women and one very large dog made their way up the porch steps. All three peered over their shoulders as his convertible turned in and he cut the engine.
    “Mr. Celebrity!” Eric placed a suitcase next to him and waved. “Glad you made it. Must’ve smelled Essie’s gumbo from the airport.”
    The dog came bounding down the steps straight for Nick as he got out of the car. He could’ve sworn the animal wore a large, slobbery smile.
    “Wolf! No! Come back here,” one of the women shouted. He watched as she clutched the porch rail, coming gingerly down the steps.
    Wolf had no intention of listening to his mistress. He ran straight to Nick, pulling up less than a foot in front of him, tongue dangling, breathing hard. He laughed and bent to ruffle the dog’s coat and scratch him behind the ears.
    “You’ll never get rid of him now. He’ll magically see the word Sucker plastered on your forehead each time he sees you. Just be sure you don’t feed him, or he’ll want to move in with you. And unfortunately, the IRS won’t let you claim him as a dependent, no matter how much he eats.”
    “Thanks for the warning.” He looked up from petting the dog, and his heart slammed hard within his chest. In front of him stood the ponytailed girl he had a crush on years and years ago, walking up as if from his memory. They’d spent a few hours one summer evening together half a lifetime ago, but Nick never forgot her easy manner and sweet smile.
    He visited Aurora for a couple of weeks each summer with his mother. That last time he’d been seventeen and pitched in the town’s annual Fourth of July softball game. Afterward, Pam introduced him to one of her new friends, and somehow they wound up together at the carnival on the green. They rode a few rides, ate sticky cotton candy, and then sat on the cool grass during the band’s concert under the stars.
    He’d opened up to the girl, younger than he was by three years, but she’d been so easy to talk with and seemed wise beyond her years. He told her of his dreams of playing pro ball and of his favorite books as the music played softly in the background. After, he’d walked her back to Pam’s because she was sleeping over. He gave her a kiss that somehow, as