Read The Last Second Chance: A Small Town Love Story (Blue Moon Book 3) for Free Online Page B

hadn’t actually expected him to apologize.
    Joey could only imagine the Blue Moon gossip mill warming up with this little tidbit. Anthony Berkowicz, editor of The Monthly Moon, would be knocking at her door asking for a copy of their wedding announcement.
    “Why do you need me and my house? You haven’t murdered your husband and need help with the body already, have you?”
    “No, but if he pulls the whole ‘I took care of your cellphone bill because I thought you forgot’ thing again I may maim him,” Gia winked.
    “Did you forget?” Joey asked.
    “Well, yeah, but Beckett didn’t know that. I would have remembered eventually. I have a reminder in my phone.”
    Summer snickered. “Ah, the joys of married life.”
    “Said the experienced wife,” Gia quipped.
    “I’ve got a month on you. I’d be happy to tutor you on the ins and outs of marriage,” Summer offered.
    “Back to needing my house,” Joey shoved the conversation back on course.
    “I was thinking girls night in. Tomorrow’s my sisters’ last night in town and your place is the only one not crawling in children and men.”
    Oh goodie. More socializing. Joey sighed and flopped back down on her mat.
    “C’mon. Please?” Gia loomed over her batting her long lashes at Joey.
    “I don’t have the genitalia that look works on.”
    “Beckett and I are leaving on our honeymoon soon. It might be our last chance to hang out,” Gia said, with a sad puppy face.
    “Crap,” Joey sighed.
    “I’m so pregnant the twins could get here at any time and you may never see me again until their high school graduation.” Summer leaned in and gave her best pleading face.
    Eva and Emma popped into her line of sight looking hopeful.
    “Ugh, fine,” Joey said, sitting up. “But I’m not cooking and it can’t be before seven. I have a lesson.”
    The celebratory cheers brought Aurora out of the smaller studio where she’d been entertaining herself with a tablet, four of her favorite stuffed animals, and strict instructions not to come out until after class was over.
    “Can I come out now, Mama?” the little redhead asked in a five-year-old’s whisper.
    “All done, kiddo,” Gia held her arms open and Aurora rushed into them. The little girl gave her mom a noisy kiss before flopping down in Joey’s lap.
    “Hi, Joey,” Aurora said, smashing the blue bear she held into Joey’s face. “’Dis my bear.”
    Joey spit the blue fur out of her mouth. “Nice. Does your bear have a name?”
    “Mr. Fur Face.”
    “Well, that’s accurate,” Joey said wryly.
    “Can I come to your party, Joey?”
    Joey looked at Gia for guidance. “Uh, sure?”
    Aurora bounced out of Joey’s lap and exploded across the studio. “Woo! I love parties!” She paused mid-spin with Mr. Fur Face. “Can I have cake?”
    Again, Gia and Summer were no help. “Um, okay?” Great. Now she had to bake a cake in addition to scrubbing the toilets and dusting.
    Aurora was celebrating again, doing somersaults on Gia’s mat while chanting “cake.”
    “Aurora, you can come for cake, but then Beckett is going to take you home.”
    “Cake! Cake! Cake!”
    Gia rolled her eyes. “I swear this kid would build a house out of sugar if we let her. I’ll have Beckett come get her after his errand with Jax.”
    “I wonder what they’re up to?” Summer mused. “Carter said he’s helping Jax with something tomorrow, too. I’m suspicious.”
    “Well, whatever it is, it’s probably better that we don’t know,” Gia sighed.
    Joey wasn’t so sure.

    --------

    S he baked a cake .
    And since she already had all of her baking weapons out, Joey made three-dozen peanut butter cookies with chocolate chunks and two loaves of rosemary olive oil bread.
    Baking was her yoga. The step-by-step process, the measuring, the transformation of simple ingredients into edible art. It calmed her, cleared her mind, and fed her carb obsession.
    She stared at the cooling cookies. They were Jax’s favorite