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It was the cellophane that made Sweetie realize they weren’t fake.And there was no way her mother would put real flowers out on the porch in January.
“What the hell?”Hallie voiced Sweetie’s thoughts.“It looks like one of Mrs.Stokes’s husbands’ funerals.”
“Do you think they’re for Daddy?”Cloe asked as she turned off the engine.
“Red roses aren’t usually a flower people give to a man when he has a heart attack,” Sweetie said.“Besides, Mama said most folks sent or brought plants and flowers to the hospital.”
“Well, we’re not going to figure it out sitting here.”Hallie jumped out of the car and hurried up the steps.By the time Cloe and Sweetie had joined her, she was already pulling cards from the flowers.“They’re for us.”
“Us?”Sweetie said.“You mean the family?”
Hallie shook her head as she continued to take out cards and read the envelopes.“No.I mean us girls.You, me, Cloe, Liberty, Belle, and Noelle.”
“But why?”Cloe asked as she looked around at all the flowers filling the porch.
Sweetie shrugged.“It looks like the single men of Wilder really are hard up for women.”
“Oh, they don’t just want a woman,” Hallie said as she turned the card she’d just pulled out of one of the envelopes.
Across the white cardstock two words were scrawled.
Marry Me!
ChapterTwelve
Something weird was going on.For the second time in twenty-four hours, Decker was on his way to deal with a fistfight.This time, it was at Nothin’ But Muffins.There had never been a fight at the café that Decker could remember.Not even when Sheryl Ann had gone to visit her mama in Big Springs and left her husband in charge and he’d burned all the muffins.It was probably just an argument over why the Texas Longhorns football team hadn’t won the conference title.
When Decker stepped into the café, he wasn’t sure what he’d find, but it wasn’t Jarod Tate and Matt Milford face down on the floor with Mrs.Stokes standing over them pointing her derringer.
Not wanting to startle her, Decker spoke in a calm voice.“You can lower your gun now, Ms.Stokes.I’ll handle things from here.”
Mrs.Stokes shot him an annoyed look.“It’s about time you got here, Deck.My coffee’s getting cold.”She opened her beaded purse and dropped the small gun inside before she adjusted her mink stole and took a seat at her regular table.
Since there was no damage done to the café besides a turned-over chair, Decker had the men take a seat so he could find out what had started the fight.
It turned out to be a woman.
“I knew her in high school,” Jarod said.“It’s only fair that I get her.”
Matt glared at him.“So what?I knew her too.I sacked her groceries when she and her mama came in the general store.She always smiled at me and winked.”
“Because she thought you were just a kid with a crush on her.She would never take you seriously.”
Jarod’s words struck a little too close to home and Decker lost track of their argument as his mind wandered back to the night before.The kiss hadn’t been serious.Sweetie had only been toying with a man who had once had a crush on her.It hadn’t meant anything.
At least, not to her.
To Decker, it had meant way too much.
He had spent all night going over every single detail of their kiss.The hot slide of her lips and the seductive licks of her tongue.The way she’d held tightly to his shirt as if she didn’t ever want to let him go.
But he hadn’t thought she’d let Jace go either.And she had.Sweetie toyed with men.She’d proven it.He had no business letting her toy with him.
“...Sweetie probably won’t even remember you.But she’ll remember me.I had chemistry with her for an entire year.”
Both Decker and Matt stared at Jarod and spoke at the same time.“Sweetie?”
While Decker tried to process what he’d just heard, Matt spoke.“I don’t want Sweetie.I’m still mad at her for losing us that state championship and my mama is still mad at her for leaving town without a word.I want Liberty.She’s the prettiest of the bunch.”
