Homecoming by Rochelle Alers Page A

shower, and dress herself.
    Wearing a loose-fitting light blue, flowered-sprigged Laura Ashley dress and a pair of pale-blue leather mules, she descended the staircase. The telephone rang as she walked into the kitchen. Quickening her pace, she picked up the receiver to a wall phone before the second ring.
    “Hello.”
    “Hello, long-lost friend.”
    Vertical lines formed between Dana’s eyes. She did not recognize the female voice.
    “Dana?” The woman’s voice came through the earpiece after a prolonged silence.
    “I’m sorry, but you seem to have the advantage. I don’t recognize your voice.”
    “Remember when we pricked our fingers and became blood sisters?”
    “Lily Mitchell!” Dana’s smile was dazzling. Lily had been her very best friend. They’d been practically inseparable.
    “You got the first name right. I’ve been Lily Clark for several years now.”
    “Don’t tell me you married Billy.” Lily had had a crush on Billy Clark since the fourth grade.
    “I sure did. I just got back from a week-long anniversary cruise, and the first thing I hear from Billy’s mother is that you’d come back to Hillsboro.”
    Dana was certain every tongue in Hillsboro was waggingabout her return. “I came back to bury my grandmother and settle her estate.”
    “I’m sorry to hear about your grandmother, Dana.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Are you going to be home later?”
    Dana glanced up at the clock over the sink. It was eight-forty-five. “How much later?” she asked Lily.
    “Around five or six.”
    “Yes.”
    “Then I’ll come by. I have something to show you.”
    Dana smiled even though Lily could not see her. Out of all of the girls in their group, Lily had been the prankster.
    “I’ll be here,” Dana said.
    She ended the call, a warm smile softening her features. Reuniting with her childhood friend evoked a time when she’d believed she lived in a perfect world. But the disintegration of her fairy-tale existence coincided with the breakup of her parents’ marriage.
    Their constant bickering had had her fleeing to her room for sanctuary. It was there she’d covered her head with a pillow, or hidden in a closet, to shut out the sound of their arguing. She hadn’t wanted her mother and father to separate or divorce; however, there were several occasions when she wished they’d had. Anything was better than them screaming at each other while hurling accusations like falling meteorites.
    She had witnessed friends and classmates whose parents had split up, always believing that if parents really thought of the pain it would cause their children, they would try to work out the differences in order to save their marriage.
    And it wasn’t until Dana was older that she realized her parents’ marriage couldn’t be saved. Alicia Sutton-Nichols was an adulteress, and she hadn’t bothered to hide her infidelity from her husband whenever she returnedhome without washing away the evidence of her indiscretions.
    Knowing her mother had slept around was always a deciding factor for her whenever she was faced with the decision of whether she would have an intimate relationship with a man. She’d always agonized whether she’d inherited Alicia’s proclivity for promiscuity. However, she’d been faithful to Galvin, belaying the fear that she would not be able to maintain a monogamous union.
    After she and Galvin parted, Dana purposely rejected any man who expressed an interest in her, while embarking on a pattern of eating dinner at restaurants, going to the movies, and attending social gatherings without an escort.
    During the summer months of June, July, and August, she always decreased the number of hours she worked at the newspaper because she wanted to spend extra time with Georgia Sutton. They usually shared long weekends visiting the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. They’d hold hands and talk about anything and everything—except Hillsboro. It was if that topic had become taboo. Now, she’d