Susan Mallery - Already Home

W hat do you think? Jenna Stevens asked, doing her best to sound confident. When faced with something scary, like a big dog or a really bad decision, it was important not to show fear.

I love it, her mother said. Truly, its amazing. Beth squeezed her daughters shoulders. Im so proud of you, honey.

Proud? Proud was good. Proud implied an accomplishment. The only problem was Jenna couldnt claim one. Shed acted on impulse.

As a rule, she could respect a good impulse purchase. There were times when life sucked and a woman needed to buy a pair of shoes or a skirt or even a lipstick she didnt need just to prove she could. To show the world she wasnt defeated.

Only Jenna hadnt bought any of those things, mostly because she wasnt much of a shopper. But shed sure stepped out of her comfort zone recently. Had she done it with a too-expensive handbag? If only. Instead shed impulsively signed a three-year lease on retail space in a town where she hadnt lived in nearly ten years. As if she knew anything about retail. Oh, sure, she shopped on occasion, but that wasnt exactly the same as running a business. Just like being a chef didnt mean she knew squat about running a kitchen store.

Breathe, her mother told her. You have to breathe.

Apparently shed shattered the illusion of courage by hyper ventilating.

Maybe not, Jenna murmured. If I stop breathing and go into intensive care, the management company might let me out of my lease. There has to be a clause about a near death experience, dont you think?

Is there?

Jenna turned from staring at the front of her new business and pressed her head into her mothers shoulder. Something of a trick considering Beth was a good six inches shorter and Jenna was wearing heels.

I didnt read the lease, she admitted, her voice slightly muffled.

She braced herself for the chiding. Shed been raised to read everything before signing it. Even a greeting card. She deserved to be yelled at.

Her mother sighed and patted her back. We wont tell your father.

Thank you.

Jenna straightened. They stood in the parking lot in front of the space shed rented. Right now it was just an empty storefront, but in a few short weeks, it would be her new business.

Fifty percent of all new businesses fail, Jenna whispered.

Her mother laughed. Thats my little ray of sunshine. Come on. Ill buy you a latte. Well sit, well talk, well plan ways to have your soon-to-be ex-husband tortured. Im sure your father knows a guy.

Despite the fear and the panic swirling in her stomach, the sense of impending doom and a life that bordered on pathetic, Jenna smiled. Mom, Dads a banker. Men who run banks dont know guys.

Your father is very resourceful.

He was also a physically fit, active man who enjoyed plenty of outdoor activities. If Marshall Stevens wanted something physical to happen to Jennas ex, he would do it himself.

Im just so angry at Aaron, Beth said, leading the way to her SUV. That cheating, lying you-know-what.

The you-know-what was, of course, a stand-in for bastard. Or possibly sonofabitch. Either way, Beth didnt believe in swearing.

She was a traditional kind of woman. She put on makeup before leaving the house, always brought a casserole in a covered dish when there was a death in someones family and never, ever had a cocktail before five. All things Jenna loved about her.

She knew people who thought traditions were stupid and a waste of time, but for Jenna, they were the warm, comforting glue that held her family together. She could count on her parents to be what theyd always been. Today, that was more important than ever.

They got into her mothers SUV, a late-model gas guzzler, and drove toward the closest Starbucks.