A Long And Lonely Road Home

A Long And Lonely Road Home

Country Home Romance Series - Book One

Published at Smashwords.com and Copyright 2013 CJ Hawk

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and strictly fictional. All persons, places or incidences are creative endeavors of the author and by no means are any viewpoints in this book a perspective of the author's lifestyle or opinions. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people without the author's permission. Lendable copies are the exception. Cover and small amounts of text may be used for editorial reviews.

The road home can be lonely but once Mindy McKinley pulled into town; her heart felt like it was right where she belonged. With a baby in her belly and a whole lotta 'I've done and grown up' attitude, the last thing this starlet needs is a cowboy in her life to muck it up a bit.

Once star struck, now love struck, Mindy keeps on telling herself that the next kiss will be the last. How can one handsome cowboy be so perfect at such a time that it would be best not to have a man in her life?

Baggage was something Mindy knew she had, from being a youthful rebel rouser always finding trouble, to the daughter of a single mom who could be the talk of the town herself sometimes as well, to running away from home at too young of an age to seek the brighter lights of stardom. So, when her perfect number one cowboy has a few surprises of his own to carry along, Mindy's mind is made up. The last thing she needs is to deal with someone else's problems.

Then again, maybe a nudge from the man up above, was the reason she was here. It was not so much about her needing family in her soon to be motherhood life, but perhaps the people around her that she loved, needed her more than she ever could have imagined.

Life can be a tricky thing when you think you have it all figured out, but once you turn onto that long and lonely road home, there ain't nothing better than some down-home country romance.

Country Home Romance Series - Each next book in the series will bring you closer to the little town of Song Land. Each romance will have a lesson of love and tolerance, as characters make you fall a little more in love with them. New characters, sexy cowboys, mamas that love their children no matter what, along with big trucks, Stetson hats that hide those sexy eyes, jeans that make a girl want to grab hold, John Deer tractor shirts that look painted on a cowboy's hay baling muscles and no matter what - save the boots attitude; you'll feel your country heart smile.

Table Of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter One

Coming home was the smartest move Mindy McKinley had made in over a decade. The little town had more than tripled in size and had not one but several coffee shops. Leaving it at seventeen with stars in her eyes, and a desperate need to escape, quickly faded when the realities of stardom from the big movie city showed their true colors. It took its toll on Mindy.

Blonde streaks in her light-brown hair, big brown eyes that twinkled when she laughed and a natural born ability to turn any man’s head, had her thinking, back then, that she could make it big. Reality of the star-struck world is that there are a million other girls just like her thinking and trying to do the same thing.

Just coming home and seeing the city’s sign put a quickening heartbeat in her chest. The once faded painted sign of rolling hills, and lush pines were now replaced with a large flagstone etched in black stating ‘Song Land’. In smaller italic lettering was the phase she often heard her grandma speak, ‘everybody’s welcome’, below those words, in proud bold letters, 'Sponsored by Song Land Commerce'. Under the large pink flagstone sign was a light that she was sure would light up the night in welcoming late-night visitors. Surrounding the brick mounted sign were lush vibrant flowers that someone must tend to on a regular basis, based off the healthy look of them.

As quickly as she drove by the new sign entering the outskirts of Song Land, Mindy McKinley knew she was coming home. Just the thought of quiet nights and family barbeques made her long for the days when life was such a simple treasure. Sipping sweat tea on the front porch of her grandma's house, looking at lightning bugs and whistling along to the frogs and crickets had a sweet ring to it.

In her heart, as she came home, it felt as if nothing changed whom she was when she left; only now, she was an accomplished guitar player. Not that it got her anywhere as she had hoped in the beginning of this journey, but out of necessity when her money was tight, playing a backup guitarist was something that put food in her mouth. Now that she was eating for two, that essential need to be safe grew even bigger.

She smiled to herself thinking of how thrilled her momma will be. She had been begging her to come home for every week of the years since she ran away from home. Although it did take her two months to call and check in after she ran away. That first call home had her ears ringing for days. She had never heard her mama so mad and excited all rolled into one. Now that she was expecting, she could only hope her own daughter or son, would do right by her when they got older.

Nope, things were going to be different, she told herself as she let her right hand off the wheel and rubbed her two-month old belly for a bit. This child of hers, is going to know love and family along with the true meaning of simple living.

A quick thought flashed through her mind, hadn’t she grown up that very same way but always had an itching to go somewhere beyond the pine trees, beyond the ponds or rolling hills? Hadn’t she flipped through travel magazines and wondered how the other half lived out there? Yet, it was her teen magazine of starved starlets and flashy clothes that convinced her that her sweet sounding voice along with her long light brown sun streaked hair and twinkling brown eyes would capture the world. Unfortunately, for her, the only thing she captured was the pea in her pod, a few extra spots on commercials and a whole lot of time singing backup or playing her guitar for extra cash. The cash she did not get from waiting tables from the cheap tippers of the Hollywood lights.

The half-mile stretch into town after seeing the big flagstone sign seemed to take forever to drive at the required thirty-five miles per hour. With the town in sight and the flashing sign of a school zone, she had to slow to twenty even though it looked as if the kids were out for a day scheduled off for school.

She rolled her window down and breathed in deep, letting her lungs fill with the fall autumn air. She let the dancing colorful leaves parade in front of her car with help from the wind. She thought of the great things to come along with how far her saved up money would get her, not very far. She wondered where she could find a job and what would her mama will say when she tells her this wasn’t just a visit home, but a visit for her to stay in her old bedroom - permanently.

She pulled up to a red light and noticed the sparse cars and few pedestrians walking along the shops. There were still the cobwebbed dirt frosted storefront windows that showed a closed up business, mixed between them was some up-and-coming stores along with a cafe boasting a sign in neon for Free Internet that looked to be packed with a variety of life. The help-wanted sign caught her eye, and she wondered if she could be so lucky to find a job so quick.

The light turned green, and a large black truck honked its horn behind her impatiently. She waved her hand out the window as if to say ‘hi’, but what she was really thinking was bug off cowboy. That was the one kind of man she was not going to go running into his arms for some good loving. In fact, she was not planning on having a man in her life at all. The only male influence she was planning on was her sister Clara's husband Cal, and he was, by what her mama described, more interested in the ball game, any ball game, a can of beer and where he can rest his weary feet. He was not much help with the two boys they got and Clara threatened every other day to leave him. So perhaps her new baby will not be having a male influence after all. Her grandpa, god rest his soul, was done and buried long before she ran away and as far as her own daddy went, there had been some rumors that he was from two towns over and married when he got her mama pregnant, not once, but twice.

The next light turned yellow, and the black truck went zooming past her in the oncoming single lane traffic with his roaring engine, loud country music, and dual exhaust pipes sticking out the back of the underside of his truck. It was a man’s truck all right, unless some woman got the chuckles off of a pair of swinging metal hanging balls off the tailgate hitch.

She giggled to herself as she caught a glimpse of his license plate. The six-letter word said it all. #1CWBY. Well, she would bet her five hundred dollar leather cowgirl boots, that he surely thought he was the number one cowboy, but really he was compensating for something. She had seen men like him a dime a dozen, dressed up in many different ways, and they never did manage to be any good. One, in particular, hightailed it out of her life so fast as soon as she held up the positive pregnant pee stick.

She let out a puff of air in memory and watched the light turn green. She slowly accelerated to the town’s inner speed limit of thirty-five and kept her wits about her. Every time she thought about that man leaving her in this condition, she would cry. It was the hormones she would tell herself, but really it was the pure and simple idea of being dumped, pregnant, broke and alone. Maybe that is why coming home seemed like such a great idea, but her wits was giving her second thoughts.

So much looked the same, like the old town historic white church, city hall, and the falling apart post office. There were signs of new life. A billboard stating the closest Walmart was just thirty miles due north of town. The small-town grocer at the corner where she first filled up her first car, a used four-door Toyota powder blue Corolla, that store was replaced with a seven-eleven. She smiled at the thought of a light night pregnancy craving run for a cherry cola flavored Icee. She saw Ramona’s used clothing store still existed, but a flashing digital sign of her online eBay web store was interesting. She noticed the clip-n-snip was now a Cost Cutters. Perhaps the town had more than tripled according to her mama; conceivably, it was beginning to outgrow its small-town britches. She smiled at the thought that no small town could stay small in this day and age, but the small