Reason to Stay: A Coming Home Short Story, #3

By Kristi Rose

From USA TODAY Bestselling Author Kristi Rose comes a fun, quick read about second chances with family and at love. 

Shea Barker ran away on a greyhound ten years ago. Now a rising Nashville song-writer, determined to make it on her own, she's set her eyes on everything but her past. 
When her momma's funeral forces her back to her hometown, she has no intention of staying longer than necessary.

Until she meets Leo Marshall, the soft spoken journalist who sees her for who she wants to be, and suddenly a future she never expected opens up. Maybe her lyrics aren't the only place where love is found.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vintage Housewife Books
• Release date: May 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513027906

Book preview

Reason To Stay

REASON TO STAY

A Coming Home Short Story

KRISTI ROSE

Vintage Housewife Books

Copyright © 2015 by Kristi Rose

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Vintage Housewife Books

www.kristirose.net

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Book Layout © 2014 BookDesignTemplates.com

Cover Design 2023 Penji Designs

Reason to Stay/ Kristi Rose. -- 1st ed.

Vellum flower icon Created with Vellum

Dedicated to my loves.

Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.

― Swami Sivananda

Books by Kristi Rose

Samantha True Mysteries- Laugh out loud twisty mysteries

One Hit Wonder

All Bets Are Off

Best Laid Plans

Caught Off Guard

Two Time Loser

Dodged A Bullet

Audiobooks

The Cold Case Mystery Series:

Bone of Contention (Free at Prolific Works until October 2023)

PERFECT PLACE: A Liars Island Suspense

Perfect Place

Audiobook

Campus Murder Club- The dead are not forgotten

Campus Murder Club

The Wyoming Matchmaker Series- Whether marriage of convenience or star crossed lovers, everyone earns their happily ever after in this series.

The Cowboy Takes A Bride

The Cowboy’s Make Believe Bride

The Cowboy’s Runaway Bride

The No Strings Attached Series- A flirty, fun chick lit romance series

The Girl He Knows

The Girl He Needs

The Girl He Wants

The Girl He Loves

Beach Town Love- boxset

Audiobooks

The Meryton Brides Series- A wholesome romance series with a Pride and Prejudice theme

To Have and To Hold (Book 1)

With This Ring (Book 2)

I Do (Book 3)

Promise Me This (Book 4)

Marry Me, Matchmaker (Book 5)

Honeymoon Postponed (Book 6)

Matchmaker’s Guidebook - FREE

The Second Chance Short Stories can be read alone and go as follows:

Second Chances

Once Again

Reason to Stay

He’s the One

Kiss Me Again

or purchased in a bundle for a better discount.

The Coming Home Series: A Collection of 5 Second Chance Short Stories (Can be purchased individually).

Love Comes Home

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Epilogue

He’s the One

Chapter One

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Meet Kristi Rose

Chapter One

Sister tries to keep it real, clothes are washed and house is cleaned but hearts are broken and heads hang low~ WHISKY AND WATER.

Home.

Being here was nothing like she’d feared.

What had she expected? She wasn’t sure. Would it be awkward? Yes. Did she feel like a stranger? Absolutely. Was there a heavy weight of guilt pressing down on her? Without a doubt.

She’d never imagined she’d want to be here; she’d worked so hard to get out and stay away. But being near Evie filled her with a sense of familiarity that actually was good and comfortable. Trouble was, she didn’t know if she’d be welcomed by anyone other than her sister.

She should have come back before today. Even for a short visit.

She discarded that idea as quickly as she’d had it. Coming home at any point until now would have been stupid. Toxic.

Good grief. Isn’t that what momma would say? There was so much negativity rattling around in her head, too much doubt and uncertainty.

Standing next to her sister, Evie, with Evie’s husband, Grady, on the far end, she wondered if the people behind them were thinking about her momma or how she, Shea, had been the worst daughter in the world.

She should have stayed away.

Evie reached out her hand and entwined her fingers with Shea’s.

I’m glad you’re here, Evie whispered.

At least someone was.

Let us pray, said Reverend Parker.

Shea bowed her head. Whether it was from the pull of the earth’s gravity or the realization that goodbye was coming soon—they would be officially laying her momma to rest—the unshed tears that had pressed against her eyes all day slowly began to fall.

Evie handed her a handkerchief, the cotton soft and worn, her momma’s initials embroidered on the corner, and Shea began to cry harder. It used to infuriate her that while their father was out drinking and spending money they could’ve used, her momma had sat quietly in her rocking chair, humming and embroidering fabric squares.

Now she was gone and Shea would never get to say goodbye. Or that she was sorry for causing her so much grief. Or that she loved her. She would never be able to tell her momma that she was finally turning things around and success was at her fingertips.

She buried her face in the soft cloth and tried to breathe in her momma’s scent but all she could smell was Evie’s light perfume. Her chest burned with need to take in more oxygen, for all Shea could manage were little gasps as she held back her hysterics.

Shea’d been a terrible daughter. She’d been a terrible sister for that matter, leaving Evie to deal with the day to day. But no one was under any different illusions. No one expected Shea Barker to be good, upstanding, or hell...anything. They saw her as they expected someone with her troubled childhood to be. Evie may have broken the cycle, but no one expected Shea to.

At least she’d been able to afford giving her momma a nice funeral with an abundance of Gerbera