Love Me Again

by Jaci Burton

  Chelsea laughed. "Yes. Oh, and speaking of book club, there's a new teacher at Hope High. I met her the other day when I stopped in to have lunch with Jane."

  "Really?"

  "Yes. Her name is Josie Barnes. She just moved to Hope about a month ago. She's teaching summer session English, and she'll be on full-time in the fall."

  "That's great."

  "Jane invited her to lunch with us, and it was a blast. She's great, very fun and down-to-earth. I think she's a little lonely, though. She doesn't know anyone in town. I told her I'd introduce her to . . . well, you know. Everyone. And she loves to read, so I invited her to book club next week."

  "Of course. She's more than welcome."

  "She's very anxious to meet people. I'm sure it's lonely being new in town and knowing no one."

  "I'm sure it is. Even growing up here in Hope, after being gone for so long, it's been hard to get reestablished. People move around. Friendships change. Some of my old friends from high school have moved away, and others have . . . Well, let's just say coming back has been hard. A lot like starting over for me."

  Chelsea reached over and grasped her hand to give it a squeeze. "You've had a lot of upheaval in your life since . . ." She looked over and saw that Hazel had put in her earbuds and was watching a movie on her netbook. "Since the divorce. But you have all of us now. We're your friends, and you can always count on us."

  Loretta felt a warm twinge in her heart. "Thank you. That does mean a lot to me."

  "How's Hazel doing, by the way? Since the divorce and the move and everything?"

  "Hazel? She's doing great. That kid can roll with the punches better than anyone I know."

  "Awesome. Then how are you doing? Since the divorce and the move and everything."

  Loretta took in a deep breath and looked around to see that she had a couple of customers browsing the bookshelves, two checking out, but Kendra had them handled. So she leaned back into the chair and took a deep breath.

  "Honestly? It's been really hard. I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. I'm trying to carve out a good life for Hazel here, but I don't know if I'm getting it right, or all wrong."

  "She seems happy, Loretta. I'd say you're getting it right."

  "I hope so. She does seem happier now, and I do know she was unhappy in Dallas. So was I. But I'm hoping I'm not just projecting my own feelings onto her. She was miserable living in that condo, though, and she talked all the time about wanting to live on a farm or a ranch. She wanted animals and space to run. That's one of the main reasons I moved back here, because I knew I could buy property that would give her what she needed, plus we'd be near both sets of her grandparents. Tom might not have time for her, but his parents do love her. So do mine."

  "That's important."

  "Yes."

  "So quit second-guessing yourself. Kids are resilient. More than you think. I really do know this, because I spend a lot of time with them during the school year. And even when they reach high school, they can still bounce back from traumas that would level us adults. So cut yourself some slack."

  "I guess so." She looked over at Hazel, who was humming one of the tunes from her favorite movie. "She does seem a lot happier now."

  "She has you and you love her. That's really all she needs."

  Loretta smiled at Chelsea. "Thank you for that."

  Chelsea stood. "Hey, we all need a boost now and then. Besides, it's the truth. Now I need to get out of your way so you can get some work done. I think I'll go next door and annoy Deacon for a while. I saw him sweating outside a little while ago."

  "Yes, you should do that."

  "How are the two of you doing with him working in such close proximity?"

  "We're being . . . polite to each other, I guess is the best way to describe it."

  Chelsea wrinkled her nose. "That's boring. You should go pick a fight with him or something. That would be way more entertaining."

  Loretta laughed. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

  "Why not?"

  "Because I'm the reason we're not speaking to each other. That'd be like pouring salt in the wound. And what we had was in the past. He's over me."

  Chelsea waved her hand back and forth. "I don't think so. I've seen the way he looks at you. Trust me, whatever the two of you had? It's definitely not in the past."

  After Chelsea left, Loretta didn't have much time to mull over what she'd said about Deacon. The store got busy, so she helped customers find the books they were searching for, then she got back to stocking.

  Later that afternoon, Deacon stopped in looking dusty and dirty and utterly magnificent, which she tried not to notice. She utterly failed at not noticing.

  "We're ready to take that wall down if you want to bring Hazel outside."

  "Oh. Sure. Thanks for letting me know."

  She rounded up Hazel, who was so thrilled to be able to watch a wall come down that she was practically vibrating.

  "It's probably not going to be very exciting," she told her.

  "Yes it will, Mama. Are you gonna watch?"

  "Sure." But only to make sure Hazel stayed on the porch and didn't wander inside. Not because she was at all interested in watching Deacon work.

  They had already removed most of the drywall along that very long main wall, but there were several large posts and a balcony of sorts that Deacon and his crew had tied rope to. She noticed smaller posts had been wedged or nailed to a main beam, which lay across the top of the ceiling.

  Pulling down the wall took a crew of three men tugging and pulling on those ropes. Loretta found herself watching only Deacon, her gaze transfixed on his bulging biceps and forearm muscles as they heaved on the ropes until, suddenly, the entire balcony and the massive wall came toppling down in a cloud of dust.

  Hazel turned to her and grinned. "That was awesome."

  Loretta didn't know how awesome watching a wall come down had been, but watching Deacon's muscles at work? That had been a sight to behold.

  "Come on, Hazel," she said, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Let's get back to the bookstore."

  She needed to focus on work, not on Deacon's hot body.

  Chapter 4

  * * *

  IT HAD BEEN a long, hot day, and Deacon wanted nothing more than to cool off in his friend Bash's air-conditioned bar and end the day with an icy cold beer.

  Bash's Chihuahua, Lou, greeted him as he walked through the door. He bent and petted her, then Lou scurried off, so Deacon wandered up to the bar.

  Bash took a look at him and reached behind the bar for a cold bottle and opened it, then slid it across the bar. "Hot day?"

  "Brutal for June. This summer is going to kill me."

  "That's because you're old and out of shape."

  Deacon took a few deep pulls from the bottle, letting the cold brew slide down his throat and quench his thirst. He put the bottle down and grinned at Bash. "Yeah, you'd like to be as out of shape as me, old man."

  Bash laid his palms on the bar. "We're the same age."

  "You're old and sedentary. And you're married and expecting a baby."

  "And I still kick your ass at our weekly basketball games, so don't give me that Old and Married bullshit."

  Deacon grinned. He loved to give Bash a hard time about the marriage and children thing. He took another swallow of his beer. "Bought a minivan yet?"

  Bash laughed. "Not yet. But I do have my eye on a nice Jeep."

  "That'll do."

  After a while they were joined by Carter Richards and Brady Conners, who'd just gotten off work at Carter's auto shop. Bash gave both of them beers.

  "Damn, it's hot already," Brady said. "I think I sweated out about ten pounds in the paint bay this afternoon."

  Deacon nodded. "I feel ya. If it's like this in June, what's August going to be like?"

  "Boiling," Carter said.

  "You should probably have steak and loaded baked potatoes to replenish your reserves.
"

  Deacon nodded at Bash. "We should."

  "I can't tonight," Carter said. "Molly and I have plans, so I just stopped in for one beer."

  Deacon turned to Brady. "How about you?"

  "I'm game. Megan is working late at the bakery. She's doing some kind of special cake for a business event first thing in the morning. It was a last-minute request, so she told me she wouldn't be home until later."

  "Then I guess it's just you and me for steaks."

  Just then, their friend Zach Powers showed up.

  "Did I hear 'steak'?"

  Deacon turned to him. "What, do you have steak radar or something?"

  "Yeah. So are we having steak or not?"

  "We're having steak."

  Bash took out his order form. "Tell me how you want 'em."

  It had been great ever since Bash expanded the No Hope At All bar to include a restaurant, because it meant whenever Deacon got hungry while having beers, he could order food there. After they put in their steak orders, the guys took their drinks and moved to one of the tables.

  "How's the auto shop business?" Deacon asked.

  "Busy," Carter said. "In both mechanical and paint. And with Brady set to open his own shop, it's going to get busier."

  "Hey, I'm training the new guy. He's good."

  "Yeah, but he's not you."

  "But he's good. I told you I wouldn't leave until I found a replacement. And you like Andy."

  Carter smiled. "Yeah, Andy's really good. But he's still not you."

  "So you settled on a place, Brady? Is it the one Reid mentioned a couple of months ago?"

  Brady nodded. "Yeah. The one out on the highway near town. It's a good location with great visibility. And I won't have to build new. The concrete is already in place. We'll just have to add some walls for offices, and all the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical."

  "That's a good call. So who's going to do the job for you?"

  "I was hoping you and Reid would."

  He was hoping Brady would ask. "I'm sure we can manage that. Why don't you give the office a call tomorrow and set up an appointment with us?"

  "Will do. Thanks."

  They ate dinner, then hung out awhile longer to talk sports and work. After they said their good-byes, Deacon made his way home to his town house. He parked out front and made a short right to stop at the complex mailbox to use his key and pick up the mail. Then he headed up the stairs to his town house, opened the door, and breathed a sigh of relief at the arctic feel of his place.

  He had preset his thermostat to start cooling the place down at five p.m. so that it would be icy cold by the time he got home. He laid his keys and the mail on the table by the front door, then headed upstairs toward his bedroom.

  First thing on the agenda was to shower off the dirt and sweat of the day. So he stripped down and turned the shower on lukewarm, then stepped inside, closed his eyes, and let the water rain down over his head.

  Damn, that felt good. He let all the grunge slide off of him as he stood there under the spray. He could stay here for hours, but he grabbed the soap and washed, rinsed, and turned the water off. He got out, then grabbed a towel and dried himself. He went to the bedroom and grabbed a pair of shorts, slid those on, then went downstairs and headed for the fridge, grabbing a bottle of beer. He retrieved the mail he'd left by the table at the front door and took that and his beer and stretched out on his sofa, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

  Nothing much in today's mail but a couple of bills and some junk, so he went through his e-mail, answered a couple of pressing ones, then made a note in his calendar about Brady's shop so he'd remember to talk to Reid about it and follow up with Brady.

  He finished his beer and finally felt like his body was cooled down. If this weather kept up he was going to feel boiled from the inside out by the end of summer. Maybe they'd get lucky and would get a good, cleansing rainstorm to cool things off.

  He picked up the remote and turned on the TV, then scrolled through the channels and found a baseball game.

  At the commercial, he got up and fixed himself a glass of ice water, then went back to the sofa and waited for the return of the game.

  He thought about the day. It had been productive, and they were back on track. It felt good to finally have the main wall down. Which reminded him of Hazel. She'd been delighted to watch its destruction. Cute kid. Of course she'd be cute, with Loretta as her mother. She looked a lot like Loretta--same face shape, same smile. She was going to be beautiful like Loretta when she grew up.

  His thoughts wandered to Loretta, to the way she'd looked today in her jeans and sleeveless silk top. The jeans had molded to her body and every time the wind had blown, the top had pressed against her breasts. That top she'd had on had been blue. It had always been his favorite color on her. Not that it mattered what color she wore, since she looked good in everything. But the blue brought out the unusual amber color of her eyes. Her eyes had been the first thing he'd noticed about her when they'd been in geometry class together in high school. She'd sat right across from him, and he'd constantly gotten in trouble that first week because he couldn't stop staring at her.

  And then when Mr. Walker had told him if he didn't start paying attention he could move his desk out into the hall, Loretta had smiled at him and told him to keep his eyes on the blackboard and not on her.

  God, she had an amazing smile. But he figured his dad would kick his ass if he got kicked out of geometry the first week of school, so he'd done his best to focus on the class and not on Loretta until the bell rang. Then he'd talked to her and asked her if she'd like to have lunch with him that day.

  She'd said yes.

  His lips curved as he remembered what that had been like. That first yes. That first lunch date. The first of many things they'd shared together.

  It had been perfect back then, like a lot of teenage romances. He thought they'd had a future together. Maybe a forever together.

  Until Loretta had blown them apart.

  He picked up his water and took a long swallow, deciding that particular walk down memory lane hadn't done him any favors.

  Time to focus on the game on television, and not on the past.

  Chapter 5

  * * *

  LORETTA WAS NOT looking forward to this task. But a promise was a promise, so as she stood outside the shelter, she knew she was going to have to follow through.

  "What do you think, Mama?" Hazel asked as she tugged on Loretta's hand. "Maybe a mastiff?"

  Loretta cast a horrified look down at her daughter. "You're joking, right? Those things are the size of horses."

  Hazel giggled. "They're not that big."

  Loretta opened the door of the Hope Animal Shelter and waited for Hazel to walk in. "How about a Yorkie? Or maybe a Chihuahua like Chelsea has?"

  Hazel grimaced. "No. I don't want a small dog."

  Of course she didn't. Nothing with Hazel was ever simple.

  But she'd made a promise to her daughter, and she intended to keep it. And maybe somewhere along the way, Hazel would fall madly in love with a tiny dog.

  After all, tiny dogs were cute. Cuddly. Adorable.

  All little girls loved small dogs. A miniature dog? Loretta could totally handle that.

  They went to the front desk and filled out paperwork, then waited for one of the volunteers to take them back to the cages.

  "Maybe a Labrador?" Hazel asked.

  "Those are big dogs, Hazel."

  "But they're so sweet. And easy to train."

  The problem with her daughter was that she'd done her research. She knew all about dogs. All about the different breeds and their temperaments, potential health risks, and behavioral problems. All Loretta knew was sizes.

  She wasn't going to win no matter what she said.

  Loretta had told Hazel when they moved to Hope and bought the ranch that she could have any dog she wanted. They had plenty of space, so it didn't really matter if Hazel got a big dog. Except fo
r the manageability issue, of course.

  Chelsea often brought Lou into the bookstore. She was so cute and petite and so well behaved. Loretta wouldn't mind a Chihuahua.

  And she'd met Megan's dog, Roxie, who was small and adorable and utterly manageable.

  Since they occupied the same building, Reid's dog, Not My Dog, was always wandering around. Hazel loved that dog.

  Everyone had a dog. And now it was time for Hazel to have one of her own. It was past time, actually.

  The volunteer came out and called their name, so they got up and headed back toward the cages. The first thing Loretta heard was a lot of barking. A lot of very loud barking. No doubt from the very large dogs.

  She sighed.

  Hazel walked ahead with the volunteer, so Loretta stayed a step behind while the gentleman, whose name was Terence, told her about all the dogs.

  There were quite a few of them at the shelter, which broke Loretta's heart. Some were strays that had been picked up; others had been dropped off by people who couldn't--or wouldn't--care for them any longer.

  Every dog needed a home and someone to love them. Loretta quickened her step to listen to what Terence was telling Hazel.

  "The smaller dogs tend to get adopted faster," Terence said. "Everyone loves tiny dogs."

  Loretta certainly did. And there certainly were some cute ones, from Shih Tzus to poodles to a few small terriers to mixed breeds of all types. But Hazel hadn't stopped at any of their cages.

  She did stop at a cage that housed a cute black Lab.

  "This is Casey. He's two years old, but he's already spoken for," Terence said.

  "Oh, okay," Hazel said, then smiled at the dog. "Hey, Casey, I'm glad you've found a forever home."

  Loretta's heart squeezed.

  They kept walking, and then Hazel noticed a dog in one of the cages. She stopped. So did Loretta's heart.

  Oh, God, no. Not that one.

  Terence was talking about the dog, and Hazel listened to him, but her focus stayed on that dog. Hazel was grinning.

  Loretta's legs started shaking.

  And then Terence opened the cage and the beast lumbered out. Hazel dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the thing. The thing licked her, and Loretta saw the light of love shine in Hazel's eyes.

  Right then, Loretta knew it was over.

  Oh, crap.

  Chapter 6