AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lee Cooper,” she said, drawling out his name as she reached into the bag. “Where did you get these?” She pulled out the plastic bag of sour grapes, now the one with sunlight pouring from her face. She looked at him, and Lee wanted to make her smile like that every day of the week.
“There’s this little shop out on the highway,” he said. “Sweet Water Taffy? My brother’s girlfriend—fiancée—” Lee cleared his throat, because Gretchen was definitely Will’s fiancée now. He’d asked her to marry him, and she’d said yes. By Christmas, Lee would be the only single Cooper in Texas. Cherry would never come home for good, and he didn’t want to live out on the dairy farm with all of his siblings and their joyous relationships.
The very thought made his mouth turn down and his mood sour.
“Your brother’s fiancée,” Rosalie prompted.
“Right,” Lee said, flipping on his turn signal. “She owns it, and she can order anything. She had those in today, and I said I wanted them for you.” He came to a stop behind a couple of cars lined up at the red light, the weight of her gaze on the side of his face like a metal safe filled with bricks. “What?”
He met her eye, and she wore wonder in her expression. “How did you know these are my absolute favorite candy?”
“I didn’t,” he said. “There’s cherries in there too.” He’d taken a stab in the dark on the candy. Karyn had said that Rosalie liked sour candy more than chocolate without any more specifics, and Lee had called Gretchen from the parking lot of the grocer.
“I had to swear Gretchen to secrecy,” he said, easing up on the brake as the traffic started to move. “No one knows about this date but my sister. The one who lives in San Antonio.”
“How many sisters do you have?”
“Two,” he said. “You? Just the one?”
“Yes,” Rosalie said. “Just the two of us. She’s far younger than I am, but we’re very close.”
“That’s great,” Lee said.
“Are you close with your family? You must be if you make dinner for everyone every Wednesday.”
“Yeah,” Lee said with a sigh. “Too close sometimes.” He couldn’t name how many family dinners had turned into shouting matches, nor how many times he’d wished he’d just stayed home and eaten cold cereal for his evening meal.
“Too close?”
“Yeah,” Lee said. “Don’t worry. You’ll see what I mean when we go to the wedding.” He glanced over to her to gauge her reaction. “Which you never—” He cut off as a horn blared in his ears. He instinctively yanked the wheel to the right, narrowly missing a car coming into his lane.
“Moron!” he yelled, forgetting where he was and who he was with. His heartbeat raced along his ribs again, this time from the adrenaline and not from the nearness of Rosalie.
Oh. Rosalie.
He cleared his throat and glanced over to her. “He almost hit me,” he growled.
She gripped the handle above the window, nodding. She clearly knew they’d almost been in a collision.
Lee gripped the wheel with both hands, feeling like the Lord had just done what Lee should’ve expected Him to do—abandon him on this date with the only woman Lee wanted to impress.
He pulled into Montague’s and found a spot relatively easily for the hour. He came to a stop, put the old truck in park, and sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I did try to warn you.”
She didn’t move either, and Lee honestly felt like putting the truck in reverse and taking her home. He moved his hand to do exactly that, hoping Cherry hadn’t had to do anything too terrible to get him this reservation. He’d never be able to call her and tell her about the past twenty minutes. He’d never tell anyone. His brothers didn’t know where he was tonight, and no one ever had to know.
Then Rosalie asked, “Why are you not getting out? Are we early?”
