Page 13 of Sweet Temptation

“I sure hope you don’t mean Paris, Texas.”

“No,” she laughed in earnest, “I don’t. But I’ve pretty much reached my limit on spontaneous adventures. Like it or not, it will be a flight to Houston. I just hate admitting defeat. And boy did I bomb.”

“Some people might consider your new perspective on life a chance at a fresh start. Even in Houston.”

She was right. It wasn’t just coincidence. The man had a way of making things feel better. “Somehow it would feel fresher if I weren’t starting out with my tail between my legs and sleeping on a friend’s sofa. Not exactly starting from a position of strength.”

“You’re stronger than you think.”

Wow. After all he’d seen her do, all he knew she’d done, did he really think of her as strong?

Before he could say anything else, Agnes came up to them with a couple of glasses of water, silverware, and a cup of coffee for Garret that he hadn’t asked for.

“You’re a life saver, Agnes.” Garret grinned up at her. “The lady will have a diet cola and then we’ll need a few more minutes to order.”

“Got it.” Agnes winked at him and walked away.

That he remembered what she’d ordered to drink the other day had her stomach fluttering. She doubted Brad ever noticed anything she did, and if he did, there was little hope he’d remember her favorite anything. Fiddling with a fork, she shook the thoughts away and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Did you want coffee?”

“Agnes knows if I stop in after school instead of heading straight home that it’s been a long day and I need her coffee.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell my mother, but Agnes makes the best coffee in town. Probably in the county, and very possibly in the state.”

That made her laugh. He seemed to do that to her a lot. Could she bring herself to look at the job board? To turn the car in at the Midland airport and instead of going to Houston, return to Honeysuckle? That could be a true fresh start. If she hated it, at least she’ll have given something new—and safe—a try.

“Something wrong?” Garret had been studying her.

In for a penny, in for a pound. He already knew everything about her, what was one more thing. “Your aunt mentioned a board with work opportunities.”

“Yes. There’s a lot of word-of-mouth in a small town, but the bulletin board helps folks connect faster.” His eyes softened. “So, does this mean that maybe you’re thinking of looking for a fresh start here? In Honeysuckle?”

She shrugged. “Bizarre, I know.”

“Not necessarily. Here no one knows anything about you. Not your past. Not your problems. It would be a truly fresh start. No judgments.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “That does hold a certain appeal.”

“What did you do in Houston?”

“Despite having a degree in psychology, I worked as a manager for a small family owned insurance business.” She couldn’t stop her smile from growing wider. Just thinking about the sweet job she had put her in a happy place. As long as she didn’t think about how stupidly she threw it all away.

“Managing a business sounds industry agnostic. There’s probably more than one business in town that could use a good manager.”

Wouldn’t that be nice? If a little hopeful. “Of course, I’d have to find a place to live. Are there are a lot of apartments in town?”

His expression grew more serious. “Not really. A few years back they converted an old warehouse into apartments not far from here. My brother Preston had a place there, but it burned down and they haven’t rebuilt yet. Though some folks have turned attics into apartments. A few have done like the northeast and turned larger homes into multifamily units, but not a whole lot. Yet.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

His gaze drifted off somewhere, his eyes cooling. She could almost see the wheels turning in his mind, but didn’t have the foggiest idea what had him thinking so hard.

Nodding softly, as if trying to convince himself of something, he blew out a soft sigh. “I may have an idea.”

If anyone else on the planet had said that to her, she might be grabbing her purse and heading for the nearest exit, but from Garret, the honorable man who had rescued her from herself, what could she lose by hearing him out?

Where to begin? Right about now, Garret wasn’t so sure he hadn’t lost his mind. Odds were pretty good that if he proposed what he was thinking, Jacqueline would certainly think him certifiable.

Then again, what was he always telling his students: the worst anyone can say is no, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never know? “I have an idea, but before you say no, hear me out.”

One brow rose higher than the other, the look reminding him of his sister Rachel. “Okay, but should I change from a cola to a stiffer drink?”

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