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With that depressing thought, I entered the code to access the four-car garage.
“Miss Shelby, where do you think you’re going?” Bobby Jay hollered.
I ignored him and ducked under the raising garage door.
Dang that man’s long legs, he was to me in no time, smiling like a cat who had cornered a mouse. “I see you are still driving your fancy little coupe. You know, me and Ryder got us some sweet new rides. Do you wanna take a spin in my new truck, or maybe Ryder’s new Camaro?” He wagged his eyebrows.
Camaro? My nose wrinkled. That didn’t sit well with me. Ryder drove old trucks and motorcycles, not expensive sports cars. “No, thank you. I’ll be heading to work after church. Have a good day.” I opened my car door.
“Shelby,” he paused, “you’re going to have to stop running one of these days and face him. He deserves at least that.”
I couldn’t meet Bobby Jay’s eyes for fear I might not only cry, but tear into him. How dare he tell me what that man deserved. He had no idea what Ryder had done to me, to us. “He doesn’t deserve the honor, not after what he did. I won’t look back.”
“Girl, what are you talking about?”
I stood tall and faced him. “Why don’t you ask him?”Chapter SixI parked down the street from the church in front of my house. For a few minutes, I took the liberty to stare out the car window at my little dream home. I tried to take comfort in it, knowing I had something to look forward to and reminding myself how far I had come.
I pictured all the things I was going to do to my home. For starters, I was going to put a swing in the big oak tree out front and plant purple coneflowers, columbines, and oxeye daisies around the house. Then I was going to adopt a puppy and a baby. I’d told Ryder I’d wanted a baby before I was thirty. Once upon a time he was happy to accommodate. I would be thirty next year on Valentine’s Day. If only I could change the date, since that was the day that louse proposed to me.
I’d better get myself into church before I started having even more sinful thoughts of running him over with my car like I wanted to do this morning when I saw him walking with Marlowe toward the cabins.
It was a beautiful day with abundant sunshine, though the air still had a slight chill in it, but that would be gone by the time church was over. The street was sleepy except for a couple of runners who had passed by, and the grinning idiot who parked his too big truck in front of the sidewalk right in front of me. How had they found me? This was getting out of control.
I didn’t wait for Bobby Jay or the other occupants in his truck to get out. Not that it mattered. Bobby Jay hopped out faster than a jackrabbit and met me on the sidewalk. He put his arm around my bare shoulders as if he was escorting me.
I looked up at him, put out by the whole business. “What are you doing here?”
“Worshipping, same as you.”
“There are other churches in town.”
“But you go to this one and I’ve missed your pretty singing voice.”
I elbowed him. He only laughed.
I could feel the presence of Ryder and Marlowe behind us without them saying a word. Was this a date for them? Was Ryder so classless he would rub my face in it? The thought had me taking comfort in Bobby Jay’s arms. There was nothing romantic about it at all—it honestly felt no different than Emma hugging me, except she was shorter than me and didn’t loom as large as Bobby Jay. Bobby Jay did the kind thing and pulled me a little tighter.
“Why’d you park so far away? Don’t tell me you’re trying to lose weight, sticks and bones.”
“It has nothing to do with that. I’m hoping to buy the house I parked in front of. I’ve been saving up for the down payment.”
Bobby Jay craned his head back. “That little yellow thing?”
“It’s darling and it has charm.”
“If you say so, darlin’.”
“Well, I do.”
He chuckled. “It just seems a little beneath what you’re used to.”
I glared up at him. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t get fussy with me. I’ve seen the mansion where you grew up.”
I pulled away from him and walked on my own. “That’s not who I am.”
Bobby Jay turned around and gave Ryder a pointed look. Not sure what all that was about, but I was too chicken to look at Ryder. Instead, I stepped on a rock and faltered a bit.
Bobby Jay was quick to hold me steady. “Lands, girl, are you still wearing heels everywhere?” He stared down at my leather wedges and laughed. “This reminds me of when we tried to teach you how to mow a lawn and you wore shoes just like those”
