by Jaci Burton
"We've been getting closer. He's spent time with Hazel, helping her to train Otis, and he's also been coming out to the farm to do some repairs."
"Convenient. So how do you feel about that?"
"I feel fine about him doing work on the farm. Hazel enjoys being around him, and he's good with Otis."
"But?"
"There's still chemistry between us."
"Like . . . lingering, Hey, I Think He's a Nice Guy kind of chemistry, or Oh, Hot Damn, It's Still Flaming Hot kind of chemistry?"
"Still flaming hot. So hot, in fact, that he and I had sex last night."
Josie's brows shot up. "Woo. Now that is hot. Good for you."
Loretta nodded. "I thought so. Hazel's in Texas with her dad this week, and it was nice for Deacon and me to spend some uninterrupted time together--something we didn't have much of when we were in high school."
"I'll bet. So you did the naked dance together all over your house all night long?"
Loretta laughed. "Something like that. Except he didn't spend the night."
"Did you want him to and he ran like hell? Or did you kick him out?"
"I definitely didn't kick him out. He left. And then today when I ran into him outside, he was . . . distant."
Josie took another swallow of wine, then sighed. "Men. I can't claim to understand the inner workings of their minds. But you did mention you were the one to stomp all over his feelings all those years ago, right?"
"Yes. I most certainly did that." Would she never be able to get past it? Not that she deserved to.
"So while the sex was fun and all, maybe he's not yet over the role you played as heartbreaker. And maybe he really liked hanging out with you last night and that caused him to take a giant step back. Because as much as we'd like to think guys don't have feelings, some of them actually do."
"You could be right about that." She leaned back in the chair and took a swallow of wine, contemplating what Josie had said. It made the most sense to her. They'd had a great time, and then he'd left. What guy would do that instead of staying for more fun and action? And then today he'd been moody and cranky and seemingly couldn't get away from her fast enough. Sure, some guys would go for sex and then distance, but she knew Deacon, and that wasn't like him at all.
So maybe he was backpedaling because he had felt something for her last night.
Which was both a good and a bad thing. And she definitely understood his reaction.
She looked over at Josie. "Thanks for your insight. I should probably give him some space, right?"
Josie shrugged. "It's not like I have a ton of experience dating nice guys. But I've had friends who have, those lucky bitches."
Loretta laughed.
"If it were me, and you think Deacon's worth it, then yes. I'd give him some space and let him come to you. Which I'm sure he will."
"That's some great advice, Josie. It seems to me you know men."
Josie let out a snort. "Honey, if I knew men at all I wouldn't have let the devil himself into my life. It's easy to be objective when you're not the one in the middle of the relationship."
"True. And I'm sorry someone hurt you. You certainly didn't deserve it."
"No, I didn't. But it's over and I've put it behind me. The only thing I'm interested in now is my career. And making new friends."
Loretta lifted her glass. "To a fresh start and new friends."
After dinner, they did the dishes and sat out on the front porch. Chelsea was out for a walk and ended up stopping by to sit with them.
"What's on the agenda tonight?" Chelsea asked.
"A great dinner," Loretta said, "followed by conversations about ex-boyfriends. Some good ones, some bad ones."
"Oooh, men," Chelsea said. "Other than shoes, they're my favorite topic."
"That's because you got one of the good ones," Loretta said.
Chelsea nodded. "True. But I dated plenty of bad ones. Like . . . years of bad ones."
"I'd say it was worth it to end up where you did," Josie said. "Married to the man of your dreams, expecting a baby, and living in a great house."
Chelsea rubbed her stomach. "It did turn out nearly perfectly, but honestly, Bash wasn't the man of my dreams. He wasn't even on my radar. Things just . . . happened."
"Isn't that the best way to fall in love?" Loretta asked.
Chelsea laughed. "Well, it wasn't in my grand plan, but it sure did work out well. I'm hoping the same will happen for both of you."
Josie shook her head. "I'm not looking to fall in love. I'd rather come down with a raging case of leprosy."
Loretta nodded. "Ditto."
Chelsea gave them both a knowing smile. "Trust me. It'll happen when you least expect it to. I know, because it landed on me like a ton of bricks."
"But you were looking for love at the time," Loretta said. "I'm not."
"Which doesn't mean love won't find you, honey," Chelsea said. "Just be open to it."
Was she open to it? She wasn't sure. The first time around had been an utter disaster. And she had Hazel to think about. The last thing she wanted was to fail at love a second time and hurt her daughter in the process.
No. Playing around and having some fun was one thing. Falling in love?
That was off the table entirely.
Chapter 19
* * *
SATISFIED THAT THE duct system was in place and the air conditioning was finally going to be installed today, Deacon took what he thought was a well-deserved break for lunch. He ate his salad on the porch. After he finished, he made a few calls and was just about to go inside when he heard a commotion coming from Loretta's bookstore.
"I am so sorry, Janice. I don't know what got into him."
Loretta walked outside with Otis on a leash, followed by an older woman who didn't look happy.
"It's all right."
"It is not all right. You go on inside and Camila will fix you a nice glass of iced tea. I'm going to the flower shop right now to replace your bouquet."
Loretta caught sight of Deacon as she rounded the corner of her shop.
Loretta walked over to Deacon and thrust the leash at him. "Oh, good. Here, you deal with him."
"What did he do?"
"He ate Mrs. Harrison's bouquet of flowers. She set them on the counter to pay for her books, and he grabbed them. Before I could stop him, he'd eaten the entire bouquet. I'm heading over to replace them. I'll be right back."
She shot a glare at Otis. "Very. Bad. Dog."
Otis hung his head and leaned into Deacon while Loretta stalked off.
Deacon resisted the urge to smile. Instead, he took a seat on the top step. He didn't even have to give the command for Otis to follow him. The dog had apparently grabbed a clue that he was in deep shit, since he was clinging to Deacon's side. He sat next to Deacon, who looked over at him and snorted as he realized the dog had pieces of daisies and other flower petals on his head and his nose. He swiped them away.
"Dude, what did you do?"
Otis just gave him a look that said, "Flowers are tasty."
"You know you made her really mad, right? You're gonna have to do better."
Otis responded by resting his head on Deacon's shoulder. Deacon shook his head.
"I'm not the one you need to impress. She's the one who buys your dog food and lets you sleep in the house at night. Eating a customer's flowers? Not cool, pal."
Otis raised a paw.
"Nope. Not playing with you right now. You're in the doghouse. Down, Otis."
With a heavy sigh, Otis slunk onto his belly and laid his head on his paws.
Otis had the sad, pitiful dog look down, but Deacon wasn't buying it, and sure as hell neither would Loretta. Deacon would have to figure something out that would bring her around, because she was downright pissed at the dog. She was probably pissed at him, too, since he'd been such a dick the day before. And when he saw her walking back up the street a short time later with an armful of flowers, he had an idea.
/> Otis lifted his head when he saw Loretta, his tail thumping back and forth.
She walked past him. "I'll be right back. And you," she said to Otis, "don't even look at me right now."
Otis whined.
"I told you, she's mad. We're both going to have to put some effort into making this up to her."
Otis looked at him and smiled a doggy smile. Deacon smiled back and scratched behind Otis's ears. Deacon was easy to impress. Loretta? Not so much.
A few minutes later Loretta came out with her client, who seemed placated and was smiling. And also had an armload of flowers and a bag of books.
"Thank you so much for being so understanding, Janice. I can assure you this will never happen again."
When the woman got in her car and left, Loretta heaved a frustrated sigh, then headed over to where Deacon and Otis were sitting on the porch steps. She stood on the sidewalk. "I'll take him now. Thanks for watching him."
"Looks to me like you replaced more than the one bouquet."
"I bought her extra flowers. And threw in three books for free. I was mortified."
"They were just flowers, Loretta."
"He ate her property." She glared at Otis. "Vandal."
Deacon snorted, and Loretta shot a scathing look at him. He raised his hands. "Okay, fine. He was very bad. I gave him a lecture."
"Oh, right. I'm sure that did a lot of good."
"Have you been using the sit and stay commands?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Well, we've had a lot of kids in the store, and they really love playing with him, so . . . I'm going to have to go with no to that."
"If you're not going to confine him to one area of the store or consistently make him stay, then you can't blame him for roaming freely. And when he screws up, then you have to accept partial responsibility for what he does."
She opened her mouth to object, then shut it again, folding her arms in front of her. She tapped her foot a few times, then finally nodded. "Fine," she said in a clipped tone. "May I have my dog now?"
"How about dinner tonight? You can leave the felon at home, and I'll take you out someplace nice to eat."
She looked like she might say no, but she finally answered. "Fine."
He resisted the urge to smile at her one-word answers. "Great. How about I pick you up about seven?"
"Fi-- That would be great. Thank you for the invitation."
"You're welcome." He stood and walked down the steps, then handed her the leash. He gave Otis a firm look. "Behave."
Otis wagged his tail, then gazed lovingly up at Loretta.
It must have worked, because Loretta sighed. "Come on, doofus. We've got work to do."
Deacon grinned and headed back inside. He had work to do, too.
Chapter 20
* * *
IT HAD BEEN a crazy day. Between Otis eating her client's flowers and the bookstore being nonstop busy, Loretta was wiped out. What she really wanted to do was spend an hour in the tub with her favorite book and a glass of wine, then climb into a pair of shorts and watch television.
Unfortunately, she'd agreed to go out to dinner with Deacon tonight.
Not that going out was a bad thing, but she was tired and grumpy, and she probably wasn't going to be the best company tonight.
At least Otis had been on his best behavior since the "flower incident." He did his sit and stay like a champion and had been following her around the house ever since they'd arrived back home. On that front, at least, she had no complaints.
She took a shower and dried her hair, then tried to figure out what she was going to wear. Deacon had said a nice restaurant for dinner, so she pulled one of her favorite sundresses out of the closet. It was a colorful mix of blue, yellow, and red that always cheered her up. She could use some cheering up tonight. She ended up sliding into her bright yellow sandals and some silver jewelry, and by the time she finished up her makeup she felt better about the whole going-out thing.
She heard Otis bark near the front door, so she assumed it was Deacon.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Hazel standing there.
"Hey, honey. I thought you weren't coming home until Saturday."
Hazel shrugged. "Daddy said he had important things to do so he had to send me home."
Fighting back the rising ire over her ex-husband's total disregard for their daughter, she smiled and brought Hazel in for a hug. "I'm so happy to see you. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, Mama."
The young au pair named Eunice, whom Tom had hired, stood at the doorstep. A black SUV sat in the driveway.
Eunice placed Hazel's bag just inside the door.
"Everything go okay, Eunice?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, ma'am. She ate very well, and slept well, too. Your daughter is a delight." Eunice looked down at Hazel. "We had fun, didn't we?"
Hazel managed a polite smile for Eunice. "Yeah. Thanks, Eunnie."
Tom might be useless, but at least he hired competent nannies. "Thank you so much, Eunice."
"You're very welcome."
After Eunice left, Loretta shut the door and followed Hazel, who stopped and dropped to the floor and loved all over Otis. Otis had been dancing around the door and around Hazel since Loretta had opened it. Now it was like Christmas, with both child and dog ecstatic.
At least Hazel's mood was improving quickly now that she was reunited with her dog.
Hazel tore her gaze away from her dog to look at Loretta. "How was Otis while I was gone?"
"He ate one of my clients' flowers."
Hazel giggled. "He did? Did you yell at him?"
"Yes."
"Awww." Hazel cradled Otis's face in her hands. "No flower eating, Otis."
Otis licked Hazel's face.
"Are you hungry, honey?" Loretta asked.
Hazel shook her head. "We had dinner on the plane."
"Okay."
While Hazel played with Otis on the floor, Loretta checked her phone, contemplating texting Deacon. But he should be on the way here, so she'd just tell him when he arrived. She looked over at Hazel. "Would you like to tell me about the trip?"
"I wanted to go camping, or maybe to the movies or to the zoo. Eunice took me to an amusement park one day, but only for a few hours, because I had to be with Daddy and Melissa for one of his campaign things." Hazel wrinkled her nose. "And I had to wear dresses."
Loretta wrinkled her nose, too. "I'm sorry, baby. I wish the trip had gone better for you."
Hazel sighed. "He never wants to do fun things like I want to do."
Loretta's heart ached for Hazel. She wished she could say no to Tom whenever he asked for Hazel for these campaign things, but he saw Hazel so little she couldn't.
When the doorbell rang, Hazel looked up. "Who's coming over?"
"Deacon. We were going out to dinner, but I'll tell him now that you're home we can't go."
Her eyes brightened immediately. "Deacon's here? I'll get the door."
Otis, of course, was already there, barking madly.
When Hazel opened the door, Deacon smiled broadly. "Hey, Hazel. I didn't expect to see you."
"I got home early."
"So I see. Welcome home, kid. We missed you around here." He pulled her in for a hug, and Loretta's heart tugged.
"Thanks. Did you know Otis ate one of Mama's clients' flowers?"
Deacon stepped in and shut the door behind him. "Yeah, I did. Did you know he got in a lot of trouble for that?"
"Yeah. What else did Otis do? Have you been here at the house working on stuff? Tell me everything."
Deacon glanced at Loretta, who gave him an apologetic look. "Sure. And I want you to tell me about your trip."
"Hazel, take your bags into your room first and unpack, and throw your dirty laundry into the hamper. Then you and Deacon can talk."
"Okay." She started, then stopped and turned around. "Don't go anywhere, Deacon. I'll be right back."
"Sure."
After she ran off with Otis right on her heels, Loretta turned to Deacon. "I'm really sorry about this. She just got dropped off about five minutes before you got here or I would have called you. Tom didn't even let me know they were bringing her back early, which is so typical of him."
He frowned. "Why the early drop-off?"
"Likely a change in Tom's plans that didn't require his daughter to make an appearance. He's always his first priority."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Well, I'm sorry about our dinner plans."
"Don't be. Your daughter always comes first."
And just like that, she wondered again why she had made the worst decision of her life all those years ago. "Thank you. You don't have to stay."
He frowned. "Why wouldn't I stay? I'm hungry. Let's get pizza."
"I like pizza." Hazel had come back in.
"You could not have unpacked yet."
"I'm a fast unpacker. And I like pizza."
"You told me you ate on the plane."
"I did. But I still like pizza."
Deacon laughed, then shot a smile at Loretta. "So we're having pizza?"
Loretta shook her head. "I guess we are."
*
DEACON ATE THE last slice of pizza, though he offered it to Hazel, who, despite saying she'd eaten on the plane, had gone pretty much slice for slice with him until the last one.
They sat at the kitchen table, and he got to hear all about Hazel's trip, which mostly consisted of campaign stops through the Dallas and Austin areas. At least the nanny had taken her to Six Flags, so she'd had a little fun while she was down there.
Deacon had always known Tom Simmons to be an ambitious sonofabitch with political aspirations, but to use his own daughter as a political tool was the lowest thing the man could ever do. The least he could have done was take off a couple of hours to watch a movie with her. Hell, he could have even taken media with him to show what a family man he was. But no, he couldn't even spare the time to do that.
The dick.
But now Deacon and Loretta and Hazel were all curled up on the sofa, laughing at the latest animated movie that Hazel had chosen. Deacon thought it was a great movie, and when Hazel fell asleep halfway through, he and Loretta wound up watching the rest of it.
At the end, he scooped Hazel up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, then slipped out so Loretta could get her out of her clothes and into her pajamas. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of ice water.