Squirrel number one told her that she should break up with Knox before this ruse went on another week. She turned slightly to look at him, and that thought was pushed out of her mind with the next furry critter who pictured him with water dripping from him when he got out of the shower. Her breath caught in her chest at the visual of him with a towel wrapped so low that she could see all his ripped abs. With great effort, she managed to put that image from her mind, but then he reached over and tookher hand in his, and a dose of desire flooded her—right there in the church.
Ivy nudged her on the shoulder and whispered, “Wake up. Service is almost over.”
She nodded and focused on the preacher.
“I sure hope that I will be preaching to a crowd this big next week,” Parker said. “Now, Endora will lead the hymn, and one more thing, my mother-in-law wants me to remind you about,” he said. “The community Easter egg hunt starts at three o’clock this afternoon at the Paradise. Everyone is invited, and there will be a leftover potluck afterward. Bring your half-eaten pies, cakes, and whatever else you’ve got, and we’ll all have a picnic under the shade trees in the backyard. Now if everyone will stand and turn to page one in the hymnals, we’ll close with ‘Tell Me the Story of Jesus’ instead of a benediction. Last verse only,” Parker said.
“We should sneak out the side door,” Ivy said when they finished singing.
“Oh, no!” Knox shook his head. “I want to introduce Lottie to as many people as possible. She might not be able to put faces and names together, but she will remember how friendly everyone is here in Spanish Fort.”
Bernie looped her arm into Lottie’s. “Not today. We’re all going home instead of chitchatting. We can talk to Parker when he gets to the Paradise.”
Lottie glanced over at Knox.
He shrugged and grinned. “What Aunt Bernie says is the law.”
“And don’t you never forget it.” Bernie’s tone was sharp, but the smile on her face told a different story.
When they were outside, along with an exodus of the rest of the Paradise family, Bernie leaned over and whispered. “We need to have a long conversation in private this afternoon. So, carve out a few minutes and come find me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lottie agreed.
“You kids don’t dilly-dawdle on the way home,” Bernie said in a shrill voice. “I’m starving, and Mary Jane won’t let Parker say grace until we are all there.”
“I bet we beat you,” Knox challenged.
“That’s your motorcycle mouth making bets that your bicycle butt can’t keep. My chariot is here, and you still have to get to your truck.” Bernie said as she waved and got into the SUV with Joe Clay and Mary Jane.
Knox laced his fingers with Lottie’s, and she giggled.
“What’s so funny? Is my hand sweaty?” Knox asked.
“No, but the salty old Bernie who ran a bar would have said that she bets that yourasscan’t keep up, not your butt. What happened to her?”
Knox helped her settle into the seat and then closed the truck door. “It’s Sunday. Trust me, any other day of the week she can melt concrete with her cussin’.”
Lottie fastened her seat belt and noticed a movement outside the truck window. She whipped around to see a short brunette wrap her arms around Knox’s body and hug him tightly. A fireball of real jealousy landed in the middle of Lottie’s heart and created a huge blaze.
Remember that this is fake and that you have no right to even a smidgen of envy or resentment.Her mother’s voice was clear in her head.
“People can see him, and there will be talk that could sabotage what we have going here,” she muttered.
“Sorry about that,” Knox said as he slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“If we were really in a relationship, I would be pitching a hissy fit.”
“Then thank God we are not.” He drove away from the parking lot.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Who was that woman?”
“Geneva Wilcot. She lives between here and Nocona, and I made a verbal deal with her last night to buy some land from her,” he answered.
“And she had to hug you?”
Knox turned down the lane leading to the Paradise. “What’s that to you?”
“People might have seen and reported to Bernie, who would tell your family, and they would catch us in a lie, and it would be so embarrassing, and…” She stopped long enough to catch her breath.
