Page 115 of Second Chance

“You dirty girl,” he chuckles into my back.

“Some things never change,” I giggle.

“Some things thankfully change,” he says, pressing kisses on my shoulder. “Forever.”

+ + +

The next morning, I wake alone, feeling spent and spoiled. Denton knows how to take care of me.

Taking care of my girl.

He called me his girl last night, and my face splits as I smile a ridiculous grin to myself. My hands spread over the sheet and I look for a note near the lamp on the table.

Nothing.

This really can’t be happening again, can it? I freeze. I don’t want to let negative thoughts take me. He says he’s back, although I have no idea for how long.

Test ride, Cora called him. I don’t want a test. I’ll just take the ride—however long it lasts, wherever it leads. I dress in my walk-of-shame clothing and try to tiptoe down the stairs, only my boots tap on the hardwood and a stair or two creaks. As I step off the final step, facing the front door, a voice startles me from behind.

“Mornin’, Mati.”

Shit. I nearly come out of my skin. My eyes close in shame as I’m wearing the same dress as yesterday, even though Magnolia didn’t see me. I’m also trying to sneak out of her house.

“Miss Magnolia,” I say, spinning to face her and speaking with my most cheerful voice. My tone drops instantly as Magnolia examines me from behind her magnified glasses.

“Don’t you Miss Magnolia me.” I’m bracing for a mile-wide lecture about propriety and scruples and a woman’s dignity. “I’m to deliver a message to you.”

Sweet Lord, this is going to be awkward.

“Let me see if I get this correct.” Her head tilts, scanning down my dress-clad body. “He said as you aren’t particularly good at finding notes, he wanted me to tell you to meet him at the diner.”

I blink. I blink again.

“What?”

“Denton is meeting Dolores this morning, no doubt to discuss me, and what to be doing about me.” She pifts with a dismissive wave. “He said to meet him at the diner when you wake. I’m to wait here for that other no-good-grandson turned rockstar who promised to visit me sometime this morning.” She leans forward as if to give me a secret. “I have two grandsons who are rockstars. World famous but can’t tell time worth a damn. Don’t they have people for these things? How long is a girl supposed to wait?” She shakes her head, and I laugh.

“I have no idea, Magnolia.” I pause as I slip my hands into jean jacket pockets. “So, the diner you say?”

“Yep, don’t keep him waiting,” she says, reaching out to pat my arm. “He’s already waited long enough.”

I chuckle to myself, wondering how Denton got to the diner, but I have my answer as I park before the quiet restaurant in the center of town. Stepping out of my truck, I spin in time to see his fancy classic car racing for the exit of Blue Ridge and the highway down the mountain.