Read Forgiveness Creek: The Creek Series for Free Online Page B

you told me you were into American made and organic?” I popped off.
    “The car was a gift from Grandfather, and since he’s ill, I couldn’t exactly say no. I have to pick my battles with that man. But organic, yes, and you can tell me yourself how much you love it after we eat. I love to hear how right I am,” he joked.
    “You’re sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
    Dane glanced in my direction, raising his brows in a comical gesture and smiled. “Is there any other way to be?”
    He took me to a quaint little restaurant in the back of a strip mall off Interstate 35. There couldn’t have been more than fifteen tables and booths total inside. When we initially arrived, I heard the guys behind the counter call him by name, suggesting he was a regular customer, so the food had to be good to keep him coming back.
    We were seated in a back corner booth that had plenty of leg room for him.
    “What kind of pizza is your favorite?” he asked.
    “Anything, seriously. Even anchovies.”
    “That’s a pizza lover right there. I can’t do them. I’ve tried. Okay if I order for us?”
    Seeing as how we didn’t have any menus, that was going to have to work. “Sure.”
    He asked what I wanted to drink and placed our order. “So, you said the last year had been a booger. What happened? School kickin’ your ass?”
    A lump appeared in my throat the size of a small lemon and cut off my airway along with my cognitive thinking. Instantly, I broke out in a cold sweat. When my eyes met his, I found him watching me intently, but I was certain he was unprepared for any kind of honest answer I could throw out at him.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    “No. I think I should go home. I can get a cab.”
    “Wrenn, whatever it is, just say it. From the way you look right now, I think you might be better off if you just blurt it all out and get it over with.”
    “Not that simple. Let’s talk about you.” My body began to tremble and because I was propped on the table, it vibrated vigorously.
    “Shit. I’m a careless jerk. I’m so sorry. Whatever I did, whatever wound I opened, I’m really sorry.”
    I knew life wasn’t going to get any easier. My counselors had practiced with me on several occasions for discussions of this nature as part of the process. People were curious and, for the most part, were innocent of their reactions. I took a deep breath and prayed for courage and understanding.
    “The weekend I met you was at the beginning of a series of chain reactions. My high school sweetheart and I got back together over the holidays, but our time was brief when he was killed in a work accident at the end of February. Between that and situations involving my ailing mother and almost losing our family farm, it’s been a very trying time.”
    “I’m so sorry you’ve suffered, Wrenn.” He grabbed my right hand across the table and held it between both of his.
    I actually witnessed his eyes water and saw my pain had bled over to him. When he got up from his side of the booth and came to mine, I just stared up at him.
    “Scoot,” he ordered.
    “Uh, okay. Yes, sir.”
    He wrapped his arms around me tightly. “Sometimes hugs are better than words.”
    His actions were almost my undoing…
    How did he know what I needed, even when I didn’t know myself?
    By the time our food had arrived, calmness had come over me and I was starving. He remained beside me, and we joked and kidded around about sports and all kinds of things, especially since I was wearing a Razorback sweatshirt. On occasion, we would touch a hand or arm or even elbow one another. Innocent, but flirting all the same.
    “I’m surprised someone hasn’t hurt you for that shirt.”
    I looked down my chest and back up before finding the glint of sarcastic light in his eyes. “Ha. I dare them. Where did you do your undergrad?”
    “OU.” He smiled, with only one side of his lips rising to meet his cocky flamboyance.
    “EEEK. Gross. No OU and no