LITMIR.BIZ

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jeans who doesn’t chew tobacco, I’ll go out with him. I’ll put a hitch in his giddyup and a grin on my face.”

      They burst out laughing and Cari felt a whole lot better.

      Marisa sobered. “You have to come for dinner tonight. The kids would love to see you and we can ply Colter for viable candidates.”

      “Why didn’t you think of me when Tripp and Brodie were available?” They were Colter’s incredibly handsome best friends who were now happily married.

      “Because you were hung up on you know who.”

      “Not anymore.”

      After a long pause, Marisa asked, “Are you sure?”

      “Yes,” she replied, but she hesitated. She hated herself for that.

      “If you’re not, this is the time to let Reed know how you feel.”

      Cari gasped. “Marisa Kincaid, I can’t believe you said that.”

      Marisa walked around the desk and reached for her purse on the floor. “I just don’t want you or Reed to make a mistake.”

      “Don’t you like Daphne?”

      Marisa brushed back her blond curls and appeared thoughtful for a minute. “Daphne is who I would be if I had continued living with my mother in New York, adhering to the strict regimen she had planned for me. Daphne is structured, disciplined and perfect, but in the two hours I spent with her last night I never heard her laugh. That bothered me.”

      “Why?”

      “I never laughed until I met Colter. He opened doors to emotions I didn’t know existed and I know with all my heart that a person has to laugh to be really happy.”

      “Maybe she was just nervous.” Cari didn’t understand why she was defending the blond beauty. “Meeting your parents can be traumatic for anyone.”

      “She’d already met them.”

      “Okay. Daphne doesn’t laugh, but Reed loves her.”

      Marisa shrugged. “I’m being catty and that’s all I’m saying. What time do you want to come out for dinner?”

      “Oh, I’m sorry. We’re flying to the El Paso store today.”

      “We? As in you and Reed?”

      “Yes.”

      “Mmm.” Cari could almost see the plans tripping through Marisa’s head, but she didn’t voice them. “We’ll do it when you get back then.”

      “Sure.”

      Marisa paused and looked into Cari’s eyes. “Remember what I said.”

      “Marisa—”

      Marisa held up a hand, stopping her. “This is your last chance.”

      Cari knew her friend had good intentions, but Marisa didn’t know everything.

      Marisa stared at Cari’s heels on the top of her desk. “I’m not even going to ask what your shoes are doing on your desk or why one heel is broken. The less I know the better. Call me when you get back.”

      “I didn’t use it as a weapon if that’s what you’re thinking,” Cari called to her retreating back.

      Or on your brother’s head.

      Chapter Two

      Cari sank into her chair, rubbing her throbbing elbow, her thoughts wandering into treacherous territory. She and Marisa shared a lot, but there was one thing she hadn’t shared. It had happened on the Fourth of July and Cari was still struggling to understand it herself.

      Marisa and Colter had thrown a big barbecue for all their friends. Everyone laughed and visited and had a great time. In the evening Colter had a fireworks display for the kids.

      Colter had a couple of water hoses hooked up in case sparks caused a fire. Jack thought the hoses were for fun and started squirting the kids and then letting the hose run all over him. Colter quickly had his son under control and Marisa had taken Jack into the house to change his clothes. She and Reed were laughing at Jack’s silly antics, and then suddenly he was looking into her eyes in a way he never had before. It wasn’t businesslike.

      The moonlight was intoxicating and everyone else faded away. Reed had bent his head and gently kissed her lips. It had been exciting, exhilarating and everything she’d ever imagined. For a moment she’d returned the kiss with years of pent-up yearnings.

      In the split second it had taken those feelings to take hold, it had taken half that for him to pull away. Suddenly a wall of fear and insecurity blindsided her. He’d never kissed her before. From his “Happy Fourth of July” she knew it was only a friendly gesture. Had she made a fool of herself?

      She’d said something and she couldn’t even remember what. Reed left soon after. From then on, their relationship had changed. It was all business now. They didn’t joke around the way they used to and she didn’t call him Junior anymore.

      In the past two months she’d wanted to talk about the kiss, but she could never get up enough nerve to even broach the subject. She’d hoped and prayed he’d bring it up, but he hadn’t.

      When the kiss had ended abruptly, she had been both disappointed and relieved. She still wasn’t sure what the relief was really about. Was she afraid if he continued with the kiss she would reveal her true feelings? Would Reed tell her he could never become involved with someone who wasn’t in his circle of accepted friends?

      At her age it seemed almost impossible that she would allow herself to believe such a thing. She was Marisa’s best friend and the Prestons had accepted her as such. Mainly because they knew Marisa wouldn’t allow anything else.

      Reed had those same ethics. Her roots and blue-collar family would make no difference to him.

      So why was she so afraid to take a chance? Why was she so afraid to confront Reed about her feelings?

      She knew it had something to do with the razzle-dazzle shine of Richard Reed Dalton Preston. Was she happier living with the fantasy of her Prince Charming? Without his shine he’d become just a man. Maybe she was afraid of what that would reveal.

      About him.

      But mostly about herself.

      Perhaps she was one of those women who were only attracted to the shine. Inside her, a sprout of fear took root. Razzle-dazzle shine didn’t last forever and she didn’t have the courage to find out what happened afterward. That said she was shallow and weak.

      Or she was good at protecting her heart. She never wanted to feel that kind of pain again—the pain of not being good enough.

      She picked up the broken high heel from her desk. As little girls, she and her sisters loved the story of Cinderella and dreamed of a fancy shoe they could slip on their foot to magically change their whole lives—away from the farm with a handsome prince.

      But she wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a grown woman and knew that fairy tales only existed in little girls’ dreams.

      She also knew something else. No one was ever again going to make her feel less than she was.

      Not the Prestons.

      And certainly not Reed.

      Cari studied the shoe for an extra moment and wondered if she had the courage to express her feelings and wait for Reed’s reaction. Reed had found the woman for him and that was it. Game. Set. Match. So it was over. Her feelings were inconsequential.

      But what if Daphne wasn’t right for him?

      Cari closed her eyes briefly, hearing Marisa’s words.

      This is your last chance.

      Suddenly she realized the truth of those words. It was now or never. They would have

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