Page 26 of Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa

“I don’t mean to,” he finally said, in an attempt to remain calm. “I won’t say anything else until I’ve read the prenuptial your father insisted I take with me. Then we can have a rational conversation about it.”

“I’m not being irrational, Wade!” she spit out, anger in her voice. Reaching over she snapped on the radio and turned up the volume. “I don’t feel like talking any more about this. Just take me home.”

Automatically, Wade began to answer with, “As you wish,”but that reminded him of Marina. It had beentheirfunny, silly, and romantic phrase all those years ago. It seemed wrong to say those words to his fiancée.

Besides, Lydia would have no idea what it meant.

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Marina’s alarm clock went off at 5:45 a.m. and she groaned. Shouldn’t have stayed up so late watching late night television while mulling over the strangest day she’d had in years.

Scratch that. The strangest day ineightyears.

Not only Wade Kennedy randomly showing up with her lost cell phone, but then seeing him at the fancy restaurant! So very weird, and coincidental. Or was it fate?

No matter what it was, the awkwardness of staring at each other across the room—despite the powerful tingles—was just so random.

She had to resign herself to the fact that Wade’s engagement was a done deal, and she should stop thinking about him. She could see and feel the weird vibe going on at that table and wondered what was happening. Wade did NOT look happy. At all. After all, she knew the man. Inside and out. Despite nearly a decade of separation and his obvious success, he was the same person underneath.

He’d been so kind to her yesterday, too. She still cringed thinking about hiding like a silly ninny behind the grandfather clock. As if she were six years old instead of almost thirty. Butthen he’d said in that beautiful deep voice of his, “You always did have the cutest smile, Marina.”

And dang, he lookedgood. Sovery, verygood.

Wade stirred emotions she hadn’t felt since the day they had broken up for their “own good.”

Marina shook her head. They had thought it was the right thing to do, convincing themselves their relationship was just a brief college fling. And yet, it had lasted more than two years.

Deep down she’d always missed him. Wade had never left her heart, and she had thought about him so many times over the years. She’d wonder what he was doing, where he was living, if he was married—all the things!

He wasn’t married, but he was very, very close to it, so Marina had to stay away. His engagement meant she had to stop thinking about him.Don’t look up his address, she told herself. Or his place of employment. Anddo notrun into him again!

She slammed the alarm off after procrastinating with the snooze button too many times, jumped into the shower, and quickly dressed for her appointment with Mrs. Sutton. The time had purposely been set so she could take care of the appraisal of the elderly woman’s furniture and still open the antique store by ten o’clock.

But she was also a groggy mess after last night.

Grabbing a cold Coke from the fridge, Marina gulped it down to shock her awake—which only made the memories of Wade come roaring back.

Particularly those long-ago sweet moments when he surprised her on cold winter mornings by waking her up with hot cocoa and those cute bobbing miniature marshmallows so she could get to class on time . . . Marina sighed, missing those years terribly.

By the time she was blow-drying her hair, sunlight slanted shards of yellow through the window blinds. No spring rainthis morning, which was lucky. She wouldn’t have to bring an umbrella. Or worry about her hair frizzing like a dandelion.

Even so, her mind continued to drift to Wade. She found herself taking special care with her makeup, even though she knew she’d probably never see him again, despite the lightning sparks flying between them. She even managed to use the curling iron to create long, soft waves over her shoulders and the most perfect wispy bangs.

The sound of traffic roared louder behind the closed glass from the freeway overpass half a mile away. Okay, no more dawdling.

Backing her Honda out of the garage, she hit the freeway and drove the six miles toward downtown New Orleans, stopping short of the French Quarter outskirts where her shop was located.

Instead, she slowed down to enter the stately and pristine neighborhoods of the Garden District.

It had been a long time since she had driven through the lovely neighborhoods. The fresh morning light lit up the cypress and oaks sprawling across carefully manicured yards. Spanish moss fluttered gently along the tree limbs in an invisible breeze. Or an angel flit to-and-fro through the gnarled branches, blowing bubbles to cause the moss to sway. Like a game of hide-and-seek.

The district was filled with grandiose mansions, colorful Creole cottages, and shaded lanes. A beautiful corner of New Orleans.

Even the few apartment buildings resembled mansions from a bygone era, luxuriating in the breathtaking oak-lined streets and magnificent houses, wrap-around porches, and the filigree wrought-iron balconies that made the French Quarter so distinctive.

Here, the front and back yards were larger than the rest of the city, but also interspersed with narrow shotgun cottages painted bright purple or yellow or green.

A streetcar whirred down First Street while local college students strolled the sidewalks with backpacks or sipping Coffee Loft drinks.

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