Page 52 of Bad Girls Don't Marry Marines (Rock Canyon, Idaho 3)

“Go to hell, Val!”

The call ended abruptly, and Val gritted her teeth, biting back a scream of frustration. Flopping back on the bed, she winced when her bump hit the mattress.

She was just as bad as her father, guilting Ellie into conforming.

Val missed the wild child she’d been before her marriage to Cole, that girl who’d streaked across football fields and won beer pong contests. She was only twenty-six, not forty-six. She didn’t have to be stuck in this rut of her own making.

Sitting up again, she grabbed her jacket. It was time for her to rediscover herself. Forget babies. Forget awful ex-husbands. Forget fathers who wanted to play puppet master.

And forget about judge-y former Marines. It was time to get back to having fun and being who she was supposed to be.

One of those Willis girls.

VAL HAD SKIPPED out on the rest of the afternoon activities, and Justin had a feeling it was because of his jackass behavior. But really, the woman was flirting with him one minute and pushing h

im away the next.

He walked up to her hotel room and knocked, but there was no answer. Looking around the parking lot, he saw her car, so she couldn’t have gone far.

Or maybe she’s just ignoring you?

He continued on to his door and unlocked it, feeling wiped and in need of a serious nap. Hopefully, he’d be able to catch Val before dinner and clear the air.

Is that really all you want?

No, but if she wasn’t going to let him in, what was the point in getting attached? He was thirty years old and if he was honest, he’d been a little more than envious of Steph and Jared lately. Not that he wanted to be set up or meet a girl at some crazy singles weekend, but he wasn’t adverse to the thought of taking the next step with the right woman.

Which obviously wasn’t Valerie Willis, if her reaction to his admission this afternoon was any indication. He needed to face facts. Whatever connection he thought they’d had was completely one-sided and he needed to let it go.

VAL HAD GONE for a walk along the main street of True Love and past the window display of the To Love Again Consignment Boutique. A black sheer blouse that fell off one shoulder had caught her eye and pulled her inside the cozy little shop. Gilly, the salesgirl, had immediately come over to see what she was looking for, and when Val had pointed to the top, Gilly had looked her over in surprise before doing what she asked.

Val had smiled at her and pointed at a pair of black cowboy boots with rhinestone accents on the side. “Those too.”

“Oh, those are hot,” Gilly had said, pulling them down.

Two hours later, Val walked out the door with two bags of clothes and another bag of shoes, including the black boots. She kept walking up the street, swinging into the Heart Stop Coffee Shop for a latte, before moving on.

Peeking into Love N’ Locks Beauty Shop, she fingered her long brown hair and smiled.

Go big or go home, right?

Pushing the door open, she smiled at the receptionist, a brunette with full lips, and asked, “Excuse me, but I was wondering if you do walk-ins?”

“We sure do. Just a cut?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think a cut is just what I need.”

As she followed the woman back to the hair-washing station, Val listened to her jabber with half an ear.

She’d been at war with herself all week, and now her thoughts kept drifting over all the advice she’d been given. Loosen up. Get a little somethin’-somethin’. Get back on the horse. It all came down to a man, and really, the only one who did it for her was Justin.

His easy charm drew out the flirt in her, the easygoing girl who had lived for the moment instead of obsessing about “what ifs.”

She remembered ten years ago, sitting in Justin’s truck and listening to him talk about why he wasn’t scared of being deployed. Because bad things can happen anywhere, and that was true.

Maybe she’d go after him and he wouldn’t want her anymore. Maybe he’d find out she couldn’t have kids and tell her no. She could replay the “what ifs” in her head and stay on the couch alone, safe, and lonely.

Or she could take Dorothy’s advice and run with it, take risks, be bold.

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