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him, though,” he said.

      Rebecca laughed. “Neither have I. So what are you doing later? Want to head over to the Honky Tonk?”

      CHAPTER FIVE

      “WHY WOULD I WANT to see Booker Robinson?” Delaney asked.

      Rebecca propped the telephone against her shoulder and turned sideways to contemplate her reflection in the mirror behind her bedroom door. She wanted to look good tonight; she needed to look good. After the past few days, it was time for an emotional comeback.

      “Because he’s an old friend.”

      “He’s not an old friend of mine.”

      Rebecca rotated to the back, checking her behind. Did her butt look big in these jeans? Maybe she should go for the tight black slacks, the ones that rode low on her hips and showed the tattoo she’d gotten to mark her thirtieth birthday. Though she had no romantic designs on Booker, he was just the type of man to appreciate a purple butterfly near her navel. “He’s been gone twelve years. He might have changed,” she said.

      “You saw him today. Has he?”

      She peeled off the jeans and wiggled into the black slacks. “No. Not a bit.”

      “So why are you hanging out with him?” Delaney asked with a chuckle.

      Because Buddy had just postponed the wedding again, her own parents didn’t want her to come to their anniversary party, and Josh…Well, Josh was partly to blame as well. She just couldn’t figure out why. “Beats the hell out of sitting home, doesn’t it?”

      “Not when you’re seven months pregnant.”

      “Come on, Laney. You haven’t been anywhere with me in ages. Bring Conner to the Honky Tonk and have a soda. You can still be in bed by midnight.”

      “I’ll think about it,” she said, but her words slurred at the end as if she was yawning. “How’d it go with Josh this morning?”

      “Fine.”

      “That’s a pretty mellow reaction. Are you on some type of sedative?”

      “You know I don’t do drugs.”

      “Then he must not have shown.”

      “He came, I cut his hair, my father stopped by to make me feel like crap, and that was it.”

      “And?”

      Rebecca sucked in her stomach and reconsidered her reflection. Better. “What more do you want to hear?”

      “I want to hear about this supposed truce. Is it real?”

      “Who knows? If you ask me, the only thing that’s changed is Josh’s haircut.”

      Covering the phone, Delaney spoke to someone in the background, probably her husband. When she came back on, she said, “Well, you won’t even remember Josh Hill in a few weeks. You and Buddy will be getting married and moving on to bigger and better things.”

      “Um, not exactly…Just a sec.” Rebecca held the phone away from her ear long enough to pull a tight-fitting sweater over her head. It was black, too, with three-quarter-length sleeves, and hit her midriff in just the right place to make the most of her low-riding pants. Not bad, she thought. “Actually I won’t be getting married in a few weeks,” she said, returning to the conversation.

      “What?”

      “Buddy wants his great-aunt to attend.”

      “Did you say great-aunt?”

      “I did. And she can’t come until January.” She turned her attention to her hair. She liked the blond highlights she’d put in it much better than her natural dishwater color or the fluorescent auburn it had been a few months ago. But she’d had Katie give her a pretty short cut, which didn’t leave her a lot of styling options. Grabbing a bottle of mousse from her dresser, she settled for putting some life into it.

      “But you were going to celebrate your birthday in Cancun while you were on your honeymoon.”

      “Guess I’ll be doing something else for my birthday.”

      “Are you okay with waiting?” Delaney asked.

      “I’m excited to think that now I might be here when you have your baby, but other than that, I’m not happy about it.” Rebecca wandered into the bathroom, leaned close to the mirror above the vanity and started applying mascara to her lashes. “But I can’t make him marry me on my birthday, you know?”

      “You could give him an ultimatum,” Delaney pointed out.

      “Believe me, I’ve thought about that.”

      “And?”

      “He might tell me to take a hike. Then I’d have to spend the rest of my life living right here in Dundee.”

      “That’s not necessarily true. You could meet someone else. Or strike out on your own in a big city somewhere. If Buddy’s not as committed as he should be, maybe it’d be better to find out now.”

      “No, thanks. I think I’d rather go out with Booker.”

      “Why? That’s only avoiding the issue.”

      “So I’m avoiding it. I need to get out of the house. I’ve been spending all my weekends sitting on the couch, talking to Buddy on the phone. Or at the computer, communicating through e-mail and instant messaging. I can’t face another four months of this.”

      There was a slight hesitation. “You’d never allow yourself to get involved with Booker, though, would you?”

      “No way. I’m still engaged. Besides, it wouldn’t be right to sleep with someone just because your father would hate it.” Rebecca dug through her cosmetics case and came up with some jewelry. Holding a pearl earring to one ear and a large silver hoop to the other, she tried to decide which one looked best. “Anyway, Booker and I are just friends. It was you he always liked, remember?”

      “He tried to corrupt me. That doesn’t necessarily mean he liked me.”

      The hoops. Much sexier. “Come on,” Rebecca said. “He wouldn’t corrupt just anybody.” She abandoned the bathroom in favor of digging through the shoes in her closet. “You think I should wear flats or something with a heel?”

      “How tall is Booker?”

      “About my height.”

      “Perfect. Wear the dominatrix boots with the six-inch heels. That’ll let him know who’s in control.”

      Rebecca came up with a pair of flats. “I don’t think he’d be intimidated by the dominatrix look. I think he’d probably like it. But I’d rather not feel like the Jolly Green Giant tonight.”

      “Your height’s never bothered you before.”

      “It doesn’t bother me now. I’m creating a different look.”

      “If you’re not getting married until January, what are you going to do about the house?” Delaney asked. “Isn’t your lease up soon?”

      “Yeah. I’ll have to call Mr. Williams and see if he’ll give me an extension.”

      “I don’t think he will, Beck. His son and daughter-in-law and their two little monsters have been living with him for the past couple of weeks. I think he’s promised them the house when you move.”

      “You’re kidding.”

      “I’m not. I heard him say something to Lisa down at the bank about how happy he was going to be to have his space back once Peter and Carla move out.”

      “That means I’ll have to find another place,” Rebecca said, sinking down on the bed.

      “I’m sure Aunt Millie would let you move in with

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