Happily Ever Afters Guaranteed (3 page)

“I wasn’t planning to spring for The
Steakhouse or anything,” Anna replied with an ornery smile. “I’ve
still got two kids to feed, you know. I was thinking more along the
lines of Mel’s Place.” The café was much more casual than the fancy
steak restaurant she’d named, but they served the best milkshakes
in town. And Mel’s would make this seem less like a date. It wasn’t
a date. Just dinner between two people who used to be friends.

“That’s right. You’ve probably forgotten what
it’s like to eat at a four star restaurant with those two little
tykes around.”

“At least Mel’s doesn’t have a climbing gym
inside,” she joked.

He laughed, a deep, hearty sound that
vibrated all the way to her bones. Their gazes clashed and for a
moment it was like being back in college again, before everything
had changed between them.

Kelly broke the connection first, turning
toward his truck. “I’ve at least got a clean shirt in the truck.
I’ll just run inside and put it on.”

Anna nodded, face heating. You’re not in
college anymore, she reminded herself sternly. But it was hard not
to be attracted to a man as handsome as Kelly was.

He returned after locking up the house, dry
shirt safely covering those muscled shoulders. He acted as if
nothing had passed between them, boosting her into the truck and
talking animatedly about the remodeling project he was working on
for her neighbors.

She gave him a hard time about his noisy
power tools. He ribbed her about almost losing Molly.

It was like old times. But she was completely
aware that Kelly was a different person. His confidence seemed
deeper… quieter, somehow. He didn’t radiate the kind of nervous
energy he had in the past—there was no constant tapping of his
fingers on the wheel or jiggling of his knee. Behind his jovial
demeanor, he seemed more settled.

He asked a lot of questions about Ted and the
kids while she sipped her milkshake and they waited on their
food.

Over the meal, she asked about his
parents.

“They split up when I was in high school,” he
told her, stealing an onion ring from her plate.

She snitched a French fry from his. “I didn’t
know that. Why didn’t I know that?”

Kelly looked away briefly but then visibly
forced himself to meet her gaze. “I never talked about it in
college. Not to anyone. It’s taken me a lot of time to work through
my issues with my parents.

“For a long time, I felt responsible. I guess
a lot of kids feel that way. And then, too, when I was growing up,
everyone always told me I was just like my father. After he left,
my mom was so closed off… I thought, if she didn’t love him
anymore, how could she love me?”

“Oh, Kelly…” She couldn’t help herself. She
reached across the table and touched his hand.

“It also didn’t help that I was a selfish
jerk, too worried about what people thought—what you thought about
me—to be straight with you about my personal life.”

“Well, you’re certainly more open now.”

He grimaced self-consciously. “Yeah, well,
I’ve learned you can hide all you want, but the ugliness lives
inside you.”

But when she looked at him, she didn’t see
anything ugly. God had changed Kelly through the recovery
program.

“I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks. Other than from my mentor, I don’t
get a chance to hear that very often.”

Their serious conversation was interrupted
when a crew of waiters arrived with a candle-lit cake to sing a
birthday song for Anna. She rolled her eyes and mock-glared at
Kelly, but was secretly pleased by the attention.

He’d managed to make her feel special today.
From painting her hallway and interacting with the kids this
afternoon, to his open, engaging dinner conversation… she’d
completely changed her mind about having Kelly back in her
life.

It was that decision that led to her ask,
“Could we do this again sometime?” when they were almost back to
her house. The intimacy of the darkened cab of his truck began to
feel oppressive as he didn’t answer, and didn’t answer…

He pulled into her drive and Anna was ready
to jump from the truck, her face flaming with embarrassment.
Obviously, he didn’t feel the same way she did, the same
connection.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,
Anna.” His soft words held her captive, though she kept one hand on
the door, ready to escape.

His hands flexed on the steering wheel.
“I’m…” He took a deep breath, his exhale loud in the silence
between them. “This is really hard. After tonight I’m… falling in
love with you again. If we see each other, I’m afraid it might get
worse.”

She gulped and gathered her courage enough to
warble, “Again?”

He still didn’t look at her. “I thought you
might’ve guessed back in college. I pretty much fell for you that
first day in Freshman Comp. I was so nervous that night we went
out…”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“Really? Not even when I kept going back for
more and more beer? I thought having a couple would take the edge
off, and then I saw you getting uncomfortable and I knew I was
ruining everything but I still couldn’t stop…”

She couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him,
but he still hadn’t looked her way.

“When you wouldn’t go out with me again, I
knew why, but… I kept telling myself that I could clean up and have
another chance. Then you started dating Ted and I saw you slipping
away… Inside, I knew it was my own fault for the doing the things I
was doing, but I blamed anything and everyone else. I just kept
thinking I could change, but then you were married…”

Her face was still hot, but now for a
different reason. She’d had no idea he’d cared so much.

“I messed up back then,” he said, starting at
his hands gripping the wheel. “I was so jealous of Ted… I’m still
jealous. I know he was a good guy, know you must’ve loved him a
lot, and I can’t live up to that. I know you have the kids to watch
out for and I just… if we see each other again, if we start a
relationship, I’m afraid of messing up again. And the last thing
I’d want to do is hurt you.”

Now he turned to face her, eyes vulnerable.
He was leaving it all out on the table—and all up to her. If she
decided she didn’t want to see him again, she knew he would keep
his distance.

In the dim light from the dash, she watched
the tiny lines around his eyes tighten as she gave serious
consideration to his declaration—after all, she had to think about
Mikey and Gina.

But she also had to think about herself. She
couldn’t ignore the sparks that had reignited between Kelly and
herself tonight. She felt valued, her heart felt alive for the
first time since Ted’s death… Her heart reached out for his and she
reached out and linked their fingers together.

“Technically, you still owe me a kiss, to
make up for the one you botched before.”

She saw the teasing words register, saw that
he knew exactly what she was talking about. And the hope blooming
in his eyes matched her own. She wasn’t afraid of living any
more.

“But I don’t kiss on the first date,” she
warned with a grin. “So I guess you’ll have to take me out
again.”

He reached for her and when she went into his
arms, tucked her head beneath his chin. They clung to each other,
and she realized he was shaking.

“Are you—are you sure?” he asked gruffly.

“Yes.”

And she was.

THE END

HARVEST
MOON

By LACY WILLIAMS

PART ONE

Jesse Parker held tightly to his son Josh’s
hand as they navigated the crowded country drive. He tried not to
step on any goblins, fairies, superheroes or sports stars and was
glad his son had chosen a Halloween costume without a mask, just in
case they got separated in the crush of families.

Someone bumped Jesse’s shoulder and he
juggled the Jack-o-lantern cradled in his other arm.

“Don’t drop it, daddy!” Josh chided, as
serious as a five-year-old could be. “I want to win the
contest!”

“I won’t, buddy. And remember what I said the
other night. You might win the carving contest or you might
not.”

“I know.” Josh’s exuberant grin lightened
Jesse’s heart, but nothing could budge the rock settled deep on his
lungs. It was guilt, plain and simple. For something he’d done a
year ago, words spoken in the heat of anger. Words he now wished he
could take back.

“There she is!” Josh exclaimed, pointing
across the crowd. “There’s Miss Olive.”

“I see her.” And he did. Once Jesse spotted
the blonde head bent over a makeshift table, all his senses
narrowed to a pinpoint, focused on Olive Thomason.

Same way they had ever since high school.

He’d thought the six years she’d been away
from the small farming town of Peaceful, Oklahoma, would be enough
to curtail his silly reactions to her, but her arrival last year
after her grandma’s stroke had quickly disabused him of that
notion.

He hadn’t thought she’d stick around. And
therein lay the rub. She had.

“Miss Olive!” Josh burst through the last of
the costumed munchkins and ran up to Olive, Jesse following.

Shaking her short hair out of her eyes, the
petite blonde looked up and beamed at his son. Jesse’s heart
pounded and she hadn’t even looked at him yet.

“Hiya, Josh.”

Jesse straightened his shoulders when her
blue-eyed gaze skipped up to him.

“And Jesse.”

He cleared his throat. Touched Josh’s
shoulder. The boy quivered with excitement under his superhero
cape.

“Olive. How are you? I guess you know my son
from his kindergarten class.” And it was Jesse’s sincere prayer
that she wouldn’t hold blame for his behavior against his son.

“Miss Olive, daddy and me carved a punkin for
the contest. I drew the design and daddy cut it for me cuz I’m too
little to use the knives. That’s okay, right?”

She glanced at the pumpkin in Jesse’s hand, a
half-smile crinkling her strawberry lips. “Hmm, yes it’s fine,
Josh. That’s nice that your daddy helped you. Let’s fill out this
entry form… You’re just in time, too, because the judging is going
to start in about ten minutes.”

Jesse set the pumpkin on the table among
about fifteen others with different degrees of art carved into
them, ranging from simple triangles for eyes to really intricate
art designs.

His attention half on filling out the quarter
sheet of paper that Olive slid across the table to him, Jesse’s
heightened awareness tracked Olive to where she now stood with one
hand on Josh’s shoulder.

“Did your daddy make you dig out all the
pumpkin seeds?” Olive asked Josh, tone serious.

“Yes, and it was really goopy and gross!”

Josh let out a sudden giggle and Jesse
glanced up to see a large black and white Border Collie had
approached and was licking his son’s face. “Oooh, Darby…
blech!”

Jesse knew his son didn’t really mind the
doggie kisses, not after he’d heard story after story about the
mutt.

“Daddy, this is Darby. She’s the dog that
visits my class with Miss Olive.”

Jesse crouched to greet the dog and noticed
it had on a bandana complete with skeletons and scarecrows. How
festive. It extended its paw in a polite shake and Jesse couldn’t
help but chuckle.

“Miss Olive says Darby is the smartest dog
ever because she’s been to school for five years in a row. That’s a
lot in doggie years. Miss Olive says I should finish my school too
so I can be smart just like Darby.”

“Miss Olive says” was a common refrain in the
Parker household. Josh had been enamored with the lovely volunteer
and her shaggy companion since they’d begun visiting his
kindergarten class weekly at the beginning of the semester.

Jesse knew his son desperately needed a
mother’s touch. Was the boy imagining Olive in that role?

“Oh, Daddy, I see Cassie from Sunday school!
Can I go say hi?”

Jesse couldn’t say no. He stood up, hands in
his pockets, supremely conscious that he’d been left alone with
Olive. He watched his son run up to a little girl in a princess
costume, saw the girl’s mother wave at him that she’d watch Josh
for a few minutes. He nodded his acquiescence.

What should he say to Olive? He didn’t know
how to approach the subject of how wrong he’d been a year ago.

“He’s been excited since breakfast, hasn’t
he?”

“Yep. Didn’t want to go to bed last night,
either.” Jesse glanced at the woman that still made his heart sound
like it needed a tuneup just by standing there. She had a yellow
sun, complete with smiley face, painted on one cheek. Festive, just
like her dog.

Olive shuffled a pile of papers in front of
her, face downcast. Did she want him to go away? He really should
apologize…

“So you volunteer once a week at the school?”
he asked.

She looked up, almost seemed surprised that
he was still standing there. He probably deserved that after the
awful way he’d treated her last year.

“Twice, actually. The kids really love it and
Darby does too.” Her hand crept down to rest on the dog’s head.

“I’m surprised you have time, what with
running your grandma’s farm and doing…” Jesse swept his arm in an
arc to encompass all the activity going on around them. “…all
this.”

She started loading the pumpkins into a
wheelbarrow he hadn’t noticed behind the table. “I make time for
what’s important.”

He wasn’t sure if her words hid a double
meaning, but he let them go for now.

Jesse lifted a large pumpkin from the front
of the table and rounded the corner to put it in the wheelbarrow
for her. She nudged a cardboard box in his direction and he assumed
that meant to fill it up. He did.

“Josh is a sweet kid.”

Jesse looked around mock-frantically, then
heaved a sigh. “Don’t let him hear you say that. No, seriously, he
can be a terror sometimes but he has his ‘sweet’ moments.” He gave
her a wry smile. “Kinda surprising, since he’s my kid, huh?”