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When she hung up, promising to call Tracy back later, she just started calling everyone in her phone. Between calls she prepped the pork butt, then chopped onions and peppers until her eyes watered with frustrated tears. A half an hour later, she still had nothing. Nobody. Not a single person Violet or Daisy knew could help out this weekend.
Daisy limped into the kitchen just as Violet poured her second cup of coffee. “How goes the search for a second driver?”
Violet shot her an irritated glance. “It’s not.”
“Guess we’re just going to go back to plan A, which is me driving myself, huh?”
Violet glared at her as she put the Dutch oven filled with the Dr. Pepper pulled-pork ingredients into the oven. When she’d suggested this recipe, she had forgotten that it took hours to prepare, but there was no help for it now. She’d just let Dean cut up all of the produce when he got there.
“I will figure something out. In the meantime, how about you go lie down and stop irritating me?”
“You know, you’re not being very nice to your poor, injured sister.” Daisy gave her the saddest pout she had ever seen, and Violet threw an oven mitt at her.
“I have been a freaking saint! Now get out of here while I figure out what to do.”
Daisy grumbled as she left the room, and Violet was glad for the quiet. She needed to think, and the only thing that helped stimulate her brain was making something.
Violet grabbed her phone parts from the bag of rice and put them back together, saying a little prayer that it would still work. The last thing she wanted to do was pay a hundred-dollar deductible for a new phone.
Yes! The phone turned on, and as she ran her thumb across the screen and clicked on several apps, it seemed fine.
She pulled up her Pinterest recipe board, zeroing in on chunky cheesecake brownies. Rummaging through her cupboards, she found everything she needed, luckily. She hoped that they were as delicious as they sounded, because she definitely needed a win here.
As she began mixing the ingredients, she weighed her options. Maybe she could just bring Daisy her car in a few weeks. It wasn’t like she should be driving anyway. What if she got into an accident with those cracked ribs?
What’s the harm in asking Dean? It’s not like you’d be alone with him. Casey will be there.
The problem was, she wanted to be alone with him. Last night, despite all the chaos, she’d enjoyed getting caught up in Dean again. There was so much to him, more than she’d ever guessed from their first meeting, and she wanted to know everything.
But had he changed his mind about what he wanted? Was he simply attracted to her? Fond of her? If he got the okay tomorrow to go back overseas, would he jump at the chance without any regrets? They were questions she wasn’t sure she had the right to ask, especially since she had pushed hard for something casual, nothing serious or complicated.
Pretty sure that ship sailed a while ago, don’t you think?
Maybe for her, but what about him? Did he think about her first thing in the morning the way she did about him? Did he daydream about her touch, his body warming with joy the way hers did? Because she couldn’t seem to stop it from happening, this giddy, ecstatic happiness that had possessed her normally reasonable self. He’d done this to her.
And she was deathly afraid that when he left, she’d never experience it again.
DEAN GATHERED UP his laptop bag just after five, pausing to snap Dilbert’s leash onto his collar before heading toward the B barracks. He’d told Casey earlier that he’d be giving him a ride home because his sister had been hurt, and although he’d wanted to know everything, Dean had merely told him what Violet had said. Casey hadn’t seemed to mind that Dean would be the one giving him a ride, which cheered him.
Dean knocked on the barrack door. “You ready to go, Casey?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
A few moments later, Casey came out of the barracks holding onto Apollo’s leash, followed by his bunkmate, Henry. Dean could tell Casey had been crying but said nothing as Casey bent down and scratched the dog behind the ear.
“Take care of him, okay?” Casey handed the leash off to Henry, who flashed him a reassuring smile.
“I will.” Henry squeezed Casey’s shoulder when he stood up with a smile. “Stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Casey hiked his duffle over his shoulder and walked past Dean.
When they reached the front area of the program, Dean asked, “You happy to be going home?”
“Yeah, I am. I missed Violet’s cooking,” Casey said sheepishly.
“Well, she told me she’s making some kind of Dr. Pepper thing you love.”
