Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 108974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Brynn,
Please forgive me. You were right about everything, including my fear. I couldn’t see bringing you into my chaotic world, but now I understand that’s what people who care about each other do. I know I blew my chance with you, but I still care. I want you to have a great place to live here in Papillon. I’ve found a couple of houses and a duplex for you to look at. They have everything you need. I wanted to save you some time and the possibility of getting talked into buying the old Beyer place. Don’t. It might not be haunted, but it’s creepy as hell.
I want you to know that I’ll be looking for you. Every day. If I get to see you, it’ll be the best part of my day. I won’t merely be polite to you. I’ll be kind and always give you anything you need.
In that spirit, I would like to set you up with a man I’ve recently met. He’s going through a lot, but he’s ready to be a partner to a woman like you. Don’t believe all the rumors about him. Yes, he’s dated a lot, but there’s really only one woman out there for him. If you would like to meet this man, he’ll be at Guidry’s at noon, ready to take you to lunch.
And if you’re not, that’s okay, too. He’ll be there every Saturday at noon. Waiting and hoping that you’ll show up.
Major
She took a long breath, letting the sweetness of the moment wash over her. He was giving her time. It would have been a mistake to move in together. She needed time and space to figure out who she was without the world watching her. But lunch would be nice. Dates would be nice. More afternoons where they talked and more nights where they held each other. Time. They had some now.
“It sounds like he really screwed up,” Miranda said. “You know men don’t change, honey.”
“Miranda, he’s not taking your niece to the wedding. He’s going to be busy with me.” She reached into her pocket for the key to her cabin. “We should get going. I have a date at noon.”
She didn’t intend to be late.
* * *
* * *
“Dear lord, are you dating again?” Lisa Guidry stared at him like he’d grown two heads. “Tell me this is not another blind date set up by one of your nosy neighbors, because I thought the last one went really well.”
She was forgetting a lot. “No. The last blind date turned out to have an actual girlfriend. Brynn wasn’t a blind date. She just happened to be here when I was dumped and was kind enough to not make me eat by myself.”
Though she might today. He’d meant what he’d written to her. He would give her time. He would be patient. He wanted another chance with her, and he would earn it if he needed to.
He stood in the foyer of Guidry’s, perfectly prepared to sit on the bench for at least an hour waiting to see if Brynn showed. Maybe he would give her an hour and a half because Miranda could talk a person’s ear off and they had four listings to look at. He had a book to read so he was ready to wait. What he hadn’t been ready for was the level of scrutiny he would get from the hostess.
He probably should have been.
“And then you did what? I heard the whole movie production is falling apart because you broke that gorgeous actress’s heart and now she can’t act anymore,” Lisa said.
“Oh, I heard he fought with her because he wanted a part in the movie and she wouldn’t give it to him,” another voice said.
He turned and pointed a finger Mike Hawkins’s way. “I did not do that. I never wanted to be an actor.”
“I heard she found Josette Trahan in his bed.” Sue Nelson worked at the post office, and she delivered far more than the mail.
The grapevine was strong in Papillon. Strong and so wrong.
Lisa nodded. “Now, that I could believe. That woman likes other women’s men. You have to show her firm boundaries. I’ve found snatching a good hunk of her store-bought hair out works.”
“Nah, Josette’s getting married again,” Mike informed them. “She doesn’t cheat on her husbands until after she marries them. She’s very faithful before.”
“It’s how she avoids the dreaded prenup, but I heard she’s marrying the really old rich ones now,” Lisa said with a nod.
“Then who was Major sleeping with?” Sue asked. “Because you cannot tell me that man isn’t sleeping with someone. Have you seen him without his shirt?”
“Everyone has. Don’t you remember the video that went around where he got caught in his shorts?” Mike asked.
“I don’t believe in the Internet,” Bernadette insisted. “Though I would watch that show.”