Chance of a Lifetime

by Jodi Thomas

  “Me too,” she answered. “I left my trunk unlocked, so you can pull your mother’s suitcase out.”

  He moved a step closer to her and lowered his voice. “I like the way your hair curls as it dries.”

  She touched her head. “It does that when it’s short. I’ve worn it this way for years.” She’d almost said “since the accident.”

  “I noticed.” He bent down, lightly brushed her curls and kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks for everything.”

  She was so surprised that for a moment she couldn’t move. “You’re welcome,” she finally managed to reply. She had no idea whether to be mad or flattered about the kiss and the fact that he’d taken the time to notice her hair.

  To her surprise, Tannon swore under his breath. “I didn’t do that right. That wasn’t meant to be a thank-you kiss.”

  Before she could ask any questions, he bent down again and pressed his lips to hers. He wasn’t holding her or touching her anywhere else. All she had to do was move a breath away to break the kiss, but she didn’t. She just stood there feeling his warm lips press against hers.

  When he straightened, he stared at her as if trying to read her thoughts. “I’m out of practice,” he said. “I’ll get better.”

  Before she could come up with anything to say, he turned and walked out of the alcove. She heard his boots thumping down the stairs.

  Tannon Parker must have lost his mind.

  Chapter 18

  MONDAY NIGHT

  TANNON DIDN’T LET HIMSELF THINK ABOUT THE LITTLE librarian until he left the hospital at midnight. While driving to Amarillo after their lunch, he’d spent his time on the phone dealing with problems at his company. His profits had tripled in the ten years he’d run the business. Unlike his father, Tannon was involved in every detail. He went over every report, every file, every log. He let nothing slide by, except maybe his life, but with any luck, that was about to change.

  He’d almost fired the receptionist at the main desk in his office when she’d said, “Some candidate for a makeover left flowers for your mother.” The only thing that stopped him was how he’d like to see the girl’s face when he brought Emily through the office on the way to his apartment.

  None of his staff, except the grocery delivery boy, had ever been in the elevator, much less his apartment. A few women had tried over the years, but Tannon never considered employees as possible dates. Since he rarely talked to anyone else, that pretty much ended his love life.

  The beautiful women like his receptionist always seemed overly made up and reminded him of his mother with their constant talk about their clothes and shoes.

  As he drove to the hotel on Interstate 40, he let his mind fill with Emily. She’d been so adorable in her snowball of a robe last night. He liked that her hair was wet from a shower and curled around in no order. She hadn’t even tried to push it in place, and even better, she hadn’t apologized. He’d made her nervous, but she’d still been kind, offering him food and a rest. He had no idea what movie they’d watched, but in her little apartment he felt comfortable, at ease.

  Dear God, how he’d missed her over the years. When they were kids she was the one person who always took the time to talk to him. She always made him smile. She’d been loved and cherished by her parents and that made him feel good inside. He’d been ignored by his, but when the families got together, a bit of the Tomlinson family rubbed off onto his parents, at least for a while. When his mother insisted on overplanning a party, it never mattered to him as long as Emily was invited. He knew they’d find each other sometime during all the noise and talk, just talk. When they’d been in grade school, it had been under a table draped with a linen tablecloth. Later, it had been the backyard swing or the attic at her house.

  He pulled up into the hotel parking lot and cut his lights. In the darkness, he let another memory float over him. He was sixteen and the football team had just made the state finals. All the newspaper staff at the school paper had worked late, long after the game was over and the crowds had left. He’d promised he’d hike across the parking lot to where he’d left his car by the stadium and drive up to the school door to pick up Emily that night after the newspaper was “put to bed,” as their journalism teacher always said.

  Only as he stepped out the side door, a girl stopped him with first one question, then another. He hadn’t realized she was simply flirting for several minutes and he thought he would have to run to get away from her chatter. Finally, he’d said he had to go and ran for the stadium lot, knowing that Emily was probably already out front of the school waiting for him.

  Only she hadn’t been. She’d walked to his car. He was ten feet away from her when he saw her on the ground between two cars. She was making a sound like an animal in terrible pain. Blood and her ripped clothes were everywhere.

  Tannon forced the memory aside and got out of his car. He hadn’t thought of that night in years. He’d never spoken of it to anyone. Emily didn’t know that he’d held her until the ambulance came, then ridden with her as they worked on her. He’d seen it all that night with the flashing light blinking horror. Her clothes in shreds, her face muddy and bruised, her body twisted in pain. “And the cuts,” he whispered in the darkness. He’d never forget where they’d cut her.

  The attack had changed her, made her even more shy and withdrawn. She’d never returned to school, instead opting to be schooled at home so she could graduate early and go away to college. His mother had tried to pull Emily’s mother out, but Shelley withdrew after the attack. A world that would hurt her only child wasn’t one she wanted to be seen in. It had taken her a year before she’d taken calls and another before Paulette had talked her into going out to lunch. His mother had her shortcomings, but being Shelley’s friend wasn’t one of them. Tannon would give her credit there.

  He’d asked about Emily once when he saw her mother at the store. Shelley Tomlinson was always proud of her daughter. She told him all about how well Emily was doing in school. Mrs. Tomlinson had no idea that he’d ridden with Emily to the hospital or that he’d been the reason she’d been in the back parking lot alone. Emily must have closed what had happened away as he did. He’d heard she’d barely talked to the police about what had happened. The thugs who hurt her were never caught and the story faded as others took its place in headlines and conversations. The attack of a shy girl few remembered from school was forgotten by most.

  What had happened that night changed him also. He’d failed one more person in his life and the knowledge that he’d kept her secrets from that night didn’t matter. He’d gone as far away to school as his parents would let him, but the memory of that night haunted him for months. For a long time all he wanted to do was to find a way to say he was sorry, but what good would that do? It wouldn’t change the past. It wouldn’t erase the scars.

  Tannon unlocked the hotel door and stepped into his room. The man in the mirror greeted him. “So why’d you kiss her?” he asked himself.

  But there was no answer back. It was simply something he’d been thinking about doing for years. Every woman he’d spent any time with since he was sixteen had been compared to her and none had quite measured up.

  Tannon tugged off his boots and decided to text her. She was probably already asleep, but she’d get the message in the morning.

  Mom is better. Doctor’s optimistic about recovery. Moved her to private room. She loved the flowers. He pressed Send. The last thing he wanted to do was mention the kiss. His timing had been all wrong. The place was all wrong. He should have asked her if it was okay. Hell, the fifteen-year-old kid named Franky who hung out at the library was better at this game than he was.

  Only, for Tannon, it wasn’t a game, and if he had anything to do with it, it wouldn’t be the last time he kissed the librarian.

  His phone chimed. I’m glad, was her simple response.

  He thought about it a while, then texted back, I wish I were back in Harmony. What do you have for supper?

 
The chime came back fast. Nothing. You’re too late. I ate it all.

  How about Wednesday night?

  Spaghetti, she answered back.

  Mind if I drop by?

  He waited, wondering how long it would take for her to type a yes or no. Finally the phone chimed.

  No. I don’t mind. I’ll make enough for two.

  Tannon relaxed back against the mountain of pillows hotels feel obliged to provide. If he’d been a betting man, he would have laid odds that she wouldn’t want to see him again. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she just felt sorry for him with his mother in the hospital. Or maybe she wanted to tell him off in person. Kissing her had been a dumb idea.

  I’ll be there at 7. I’ll bring a couple of desserts and let you pick.

  He waited, but there was no answer. She’d probably gone to bed. Closing his eyes, he remembered her in her funny fluffy robe with her bare feet peeking out and her damp hair curling along her cheek and throat.

  His last thought before he fell asleep was that he wished he were back in her crowded little apartment. Everything in the place seemed a part of her. If she’d only let him show up now and then, that would probably be all either one of them could handle.

  “Good night, Emily,” he whispered as he drifted off.

  Chapter 19

  FEBRUARY 14

  BEAU WOKE UP ON TUESDAY MORNING DETERMINED TO accomplish at least a few things on his list. He showered, dressed in clean clothes, then pulled the money from inside the lining of his shaving kit and headed out toward the bank. There was no need to take his car; the bank wasn’t more than a few blocks away.

  He made it to the front porch of the duplex before he lost his nerve. He’d never been in the Harmony State Bank. Not once. He wasn’t even sure what to do. Maybe he would be wise to wait until Border was up and willing to go with him, but his partner probably didn’t know any more about banking than he did. Big might know, being older, but Beau didn’t want to ask him. Big had done so much for him, most without even knowing it.

  “Morning, Beau.” Ronny startled him as she stepped from her side of the duplex.

  “Morning,” he managed. “Where you headed so early?” He didn’t really care where his next-door neighbor was going, but he had to say something.

  She laughed. “You’re never up this early so I guess you wouldn’t know, but every morning I walk down to the Blue Moon Diner for coffee. I could make it here, but I like the routine of having coffee at the diner before heading into work.”

  “Mind if I walk along? I’m headed to the bank.”

  She laughed again, that sweet laugh that always made him smile. “Of course, but you might as well have coffee too. The bank doesn’t open for an hour.”

  They walked along talking. Ronny wasn’t old enough to be his mother, but that didn’t stop her from mothering him. By the time they got to the diner, he’d asked enough questions that she was rattling on in detail about how to open a savings account.

  To his surprise, Ronny picked a long table that would hold eight and took a seat.

  Just after they ordered breakfast, two firemen came in and took a seat at Ronny and Beau’s table without asking. At first he thought they might be flirting with Ronny, but pretty quickly Beau decided they were just friends of hers. She was a nice-looking woman, but from what he could see, she gave off no signals saying she was looking for a man.

  By the time the food came, the table was crowded with single people, most in their late twenties and early thirties. They all seemed to be great friends. None were faces he recognized from the bar. These were the morning people, he thought, the kind he’d see rarely in his life, he figured. In an odd way, he’d stepped into another civilization.

  Beau was thankful that no one insisted he join the conversation as it gave him time to quietly study the group of friends. Friendly, he assessed, but not as loud as the bar crowd. More polite to the waitress, less flirty. No profanity. No sexual comments. No off-colored jokes. They talked of what was happening in town and the weather.

  Beau decided that if someone hadn’t found a mate by thirty they all went back to being just friends. He was glad when Ronny stood and motioned that it was time to go. The group was nice, but they would never be his people. His people thrived in smoky air and bourbon breezes.

  They paid out and she pointed him toward the bank. As he walked away from her, he smiled to himself. He’d always thought she was a lonely person, but Ronny had her share of morning friends. Too bad she didn’t have a nighttime lover. Border swore she had once but Beau found that hard to believe.

  Opening an account proved easier than he thought it might have been. Within ten minutes, his money was in the bank and he’d been given a card so if he ever needed cash he could just walk up to the ATM and pull money out.

  As he was walking through the lobby, he thought he saw a blond ponytail. He could only see the back of a girl dressed in a western shirt, but the hair was the same as his dream girl’s.

  Beau dodged through the bank, but by the time he made it out the door she was gone. He spent a half hour walking the streets of Old Main, but he found nothing. No girl. No Mustang. Feeling like a fool for aching for someone he’d only known for a few hours, he walked back toward his duplex. Border would still be asleep, which meant that Beau couldn’t play his music or even the TV, so he decided to stop off at the library and read for a while. The little librarian had introduced him to a collection of books about famous musicians.

  “Morning, Miss Tomlinson,” he said as he pulled off his hat and smiled at her. He’d always thought she had a quiet kind of beauty. Her curly brown hair that never stayed tied back made her look younger, but her clothes made her seem older.

  “Morning, Beau. How’s the career in music going? I promise one day I’ll come see you.”

  “It’s going great.” He held out little hope that she’d come. Librarians and bars didn’t seem to mix.

  “I saved a few books that were donated for the book sale. I thought you might like to have them. One is called San Antonio Rose and the other is about the history of country-western music.”

  “I’d like that.” He waited until she disappeared in her office and returned with the books.

  She handed him several more than two books. “You might want to look through these as well. You’re welcome to them if they interest you.”

  “How much do I owe you?”

  She grinned. “An hour of volunteering at the book sale. Fair enough?”

  “Fair enough.”

  He took the haul and looked around for a table where he could sit. The place was in shadow for a moment while his eyes adjusted, and then he saw her. The blonde with the ponytail. She was sitting in the center of the room absorbed in reading a book. A legal pad and several pencils were scattered in front of her.

  “Miss Tomlinson, do you know who that girl over there is?”

  “No, Beau,” the librarian answered without looking up from her work.

  “You do see her, don’t you?” He had to ask. She couldn’t just be something he’d needed so badly that he’d dreamed up her and the old classic car.

  “Of course. She comes in here now and then to study, but as far as I know she’s never applied for a card.”

  Beau walked over and sat down next to her as if it were the only seat open in the place.

  For a while, she ignored him, but then she accidentally bumped his leg with her knee.

  When she did it for the third time, he laughed out loud.

  The girl glanced at him and winked. Beau swore his heart stopped. She was even prettier than he remembered.

  Her knee slid along his leg as she whispered, “I have to study now, but can I meet you tonight if you have the time.”

  He didn’t trust himself to say a word, so he just nodded.

  “Where?”

  He tugged the pen from her hand and jotted his address down on her paper.

  “What time?” she whispered.

  Anytime after dark,
he wrote back. Then, before he did something crazy, he got up and walked out of the library.

  The day seemed endless. Finally, Border started watching some movie on the old TV his brother had left and Beau moved to the porch despite the cold. He’d been playing for a while before the Ford convertible pulled up in front of the duplex.

  He set the guitar down and walked out to the car. She moved over and he slid behind the wheel. Without a word, they headed for moonlight. He was in heaven again and he didn’t care how or why it was happening.

  He drove out beyond the lights of town or any farmhouse and stopped the car. Without hesitation, he pulled her close and kissed her full-out. She pulled the leather strap that held his hair back and dug her fingers in as if she were starving for the feel of his hair.

  This was no first kiss of two kids just learning. This was full-grown passion and they both knew it. He’d been thinking about her all day. Thinking what he’d say and how he’d act, but now she was in his arms and he couldn’t seem to think at all. As she opened her mouth to his kiss, he moved his hand inside her coat and covered her warm breast with his cold fingers. The feel of how perfectly his hand covered her made him light-headed.

  She leaned back laughing softly as he took his time feeling of her small breast before kissing her again. She smelled of Ivory soap and starch, all fresh and clean, and she tasted of heaven. The air was near freezing around them, but all Beau felt was her against him.

  He wasn’t sure what would have happened next if a car hadn’t blinked in the distance. By the time it neared, she’d moved back to the passenger’s side of the car and he’d started driving again. After the car passed, he wasn’t sure what to do so he just drove with the heater and the radio turned to full blast. She didn’t move back over to his side and he wondered if he hadn’t gone too far. She probably thought he was some kind of animal. After all, they knew next to nothing about each other.