Page 73 of Hard to Love
“To win the competition or to further your own agenda?”
“My agenda?” Greer looked up, glared at the woman she’d come to love like a sister. “Since I put my feet in these boots, I’m not sure I have an agenda anymore. I don’thave control of my own life, and dammit, Delaney. I need toknow.”
“Four,” Lily called from the other end of the hole.
Delaney shoved her drink at Greer and took her position at the tee as though Greer had said nothing. None of them spoke for the three strokes it took Delaney to sink her ball. When she scooped it up, she pointed to a nearby picnic table with the butt of her putter.
Lily, completely in the dark about the tension waving between Greer and Delaney, looked back and forth between them. “Uh…anyone need a refill? I can just hop over to the snack bar and—”
Greer waved her to the table with a sigh. “No, sit down. I have a feeling Delaney’s about to read me the riot act. You can be a buffer.”
“I’m not all that good at conflict.”
That pulled a laugh from Greer. “You work with middle schoolers all day. Conflict is your stock in trade.”
Lily shot a last longing look at the far side of the course before sliding onto the bench beside Greer.
Delaney shot Greer a hard look, one laced with disappointment. “Why should you be any different from anyone else? Why should you get advance notice of your soul mate’s boots when no one else does?”
“You can do that?” Lily asked. “I thought it was all magic and mysterious and whatnot.”
“Tell her that.” Delaney angled her glass toward Greer. “She thinks the rules don’t apply to her.”
“That’s not true. I just don’t know how far to push Alex.”
Lily’s eyes widened. “Alex Villanueva? Lord, I wouldn’t push him a millimeter. He’s scary.”
“See?” Greer said to Delaney. “How will he ever feelcomfortable here, like he belongs, if people don’t know him? If they don’t like him?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like him. I don’t really know him, of course. He’s very…” Lily’s expression went soft and far away.
“Sexy?” Greer supplied.
A sweet pink highlighted Lily’s cheeks. “In a sort of bad-boy kind of way. I mean, he’s not my type. Too rough. Too earthy.”
“You looking for a domesticated man?” Delaney chuckled. “Good luck with that.”
“I’m not looking for a man at all. I have a man in my life and…” Lily pulled in her lips and went mute.
“You’ve been holding out on us,” Greer said, leaning her elbows on the table. “Tell us about this man.”
“I spoke out of turn.”
“Fine, keep your sexy secrets.” Greer turned back to Delaney, giving Lily some emotional space to recover her composure. “About Alex. It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s really not. You want to know if you’re investing in the right man. If you’re falling for the right man.”
The truth settled into Greer’s bone. Delaney’s verb tense was wrong.
Greer wasn’t falling. Somehow she’d already fallen. “What if I’m in love with a man who’s not my soul mate?”
“You’ve only known him for a short time,” Lily protested. “How can you fall in love that quickly?”
“Sometimes you just know,” Delaney answered for Greer. “But I still can’t—won’t—talk with you about the other pair of boots. You know nothing happens until the time is right, even if the person is right.”
“I’m afraid. Afraid he isn’t the one. Afraid he is. Andafraid even if he is that he won’t accept it.”
Delaney grasped Greer’s hand. “That, we can do something about. Maybe he just needs to meet more people in Prophecy, not only to make him feel at home, but to show him how many folks do believe in prophecy boots.”
