She nodded. “Please. Unless of course you’re willing to help me run away from Bygones. Far away.”
“Sorry, I’m here for at least two years and I’d like for you to be here, too. If you stay, you know I’ll have your back. I’ll be here for you.”
“Thank you. And I’m going to help you find a wife. You need a wife. A good country woman that can cook biscuits and gravy.”
“The person who just ran from her own wedding wants to arrange one for me?”
“I guess you have a point. I don’t think I’m the poster child for encouraging someone to take the walk down the aisle.”
He grinned at that. “No, probably not.”
“Can you get me out of here without everyone seeing me?”
“In that dress?”
She looked down. “I guess not.”
“I have sweatpants and a T-shirt you could change into. They’ll be a little big, but not as obvious.”
“And then I can leave the dress here. Mrs. Morgan will want to return it if she can.”
“Or maybe you’ll change your mind?”
“About the dress or Trent? I don’t think I’ll be taking either of them down the aisle.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. He’d known her all of two months and he didn’t think he should be the one standing here having this conversation. There were people in town who had known her all her life. The same people who had shared stories with him of a rough-and-rowdy little girl turned woman. A woman who seemed to know her mind and be able to handle almost any situation.
Sometimes when Patrick looked at her, he saw seven shades of vulnerable in her dark eyes and a whole lot of sadness. He thought maybe the only other person who saw that look was Miss Coraline. The retired principal seemed to see a lot in everyone. He guessed it probably had made her very good at her job.
He shook himself from those thoughts and gave Gracie an easy smile. “I’ll get the clothes and you can change in the restroom.”
“Thank you, Patrick.” She had that soft look in her eyes, the one that said she might cry again if he said the wrong thing or got too close.
He backed away, made sorry excuses and headed for the exit.
He’d come to Bygones because his family business had closed down after a big-box store full of discount lumber and building supplies moved into their suburban Detroit neighborhood, the neighborhood that had supported them for years.
Bygones was his future, his dream. It seemed literally the answer to his prayers: a small-town hardware store, close neighbors, a place to start over.
He hadn’t realized moving to a small town meant getting tangled up in the lives of the people who lived there. He hadn’t realized they would pull him in and make him such a part of their families and community.
More than anything, he hadn’t planned on someone like Gracie Wilson storming into his life.
ISBN: 9781460319000
Copyright © 2013 by Melinda Obenhaus
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