Page 34 of Seducing Daddy

The second call I placed was to Mama. She’d be upset, but she’d understand why I needed to miss our family dinner. The fact that I was seriously courting Jolene would be reason enough in her eyes. “Does this mean you and that pretty girl are officially an item?” she asked.

“Well…” I said, thinking to myself how I didn’t want to talk about my relationship with Jolene or the private things she shared with me. It was tricky business since Mama could sniff things out faster than the finest hound dog, but I sure as hell wasn’t opposed to telling her how I felt about my angel. “It’s complicated, Mama.”

She said on the other end, pondering in her own way, “Girls with big hearts often are.”

“I care about her, Mama. Anyway, the storm was a blessing since I got to discover for myself just how strongly I feel about her.”

“Honey, if it’s meant to be, it will be. You know that better than anyone.”

“You’re right. Still, it’s hard not to pressure her. I try to be patient, but it’s not easy.”

“You’ll find a way. No matter what’s happened to her in the past.”

I wondered how on earth Mama came to that conclusion when I hadn’t told her exactly what we were dealing with.

“She’s lucky to have you in her life. And soon enough, she’s going to realize that. Just give her time,” Mama encouraged.

“I love you, Mama. How come you always know just what to say?” I wondered.

“That’s how it is when you love somebody, baby boy. Eventually, the right words come.”

“Sometimes, I think you should have my job,” I said before hanging up the phone.

“I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, now does it?” she asked, laughing. “You go on and take out that girl. You’ve got wooing to do,” she declared.

Mama was still laughing to herself as she hung up the phone with me.

I headed up the hill towards Jolene’s, feeling better than I had about my relationship with her in a long while. Mama seemed to have that comforting effect on most people. I only hoped to be half the minister she was.

As usual, she was right. I did have wooing to do. It was going to just about kill me if Jolene didn’t accept we were meant to be together soon.

I loved her. And I wanted her to move in with me. But right now, the words weren’t coming. Nor was the declaration I needed to convince her that what was happening between us was destiny and that she was safe with me.

The entire drive to her house, I prayed harder than I’d ever done before.

Chapter 18

Jolene

The tendons in my hands stood out as I sped down the hill into town.

Late.

I couldn’t afford to be behind schedule today.

The matter that occupied my mind for the past few days wouldn’t let me alone, no matter how worried I was about time. Again, I told myself it had been the right thing to let him stay over at my place, and it didn’t matter that it freaked me out a little. Of course, that was going to be the case after what I’d been through my last go-round with a man.

Already, Margot liked him better than me. She was a complete hussy for him and a total traitor, rubbing against his legs constantly and leaping up into his lap when he sat down. Extending a single paw to snag his arm if he dared pass by where she perched without stopping to scratch her head. She was incorrigible, and in a way, I envied her straightforward ability to fall so deeply in love with him.

Her talent for being so open with her affection was admirable. I was getting there. Part of me felt the need to get myself together on my own just to prove that I could. The other half couldn’t stop thinking about all the times Rex said he loved me.

I didn’t have time to daydream. If I didn’t get to the post office in time to pick up the supplies I hoped came in for Peen-Unseen, there was no way I’d finish the rush of holiday orders over the weekend. I rolled my neck and shoulders, trying to beat back the knot in my stomach.

Slapping the steering wheel, I hollered, “C’mon, really!” A doe and her fawn pranced onto the road in front of me without a care for the fact that my car nearly made a venison stew smear of them on the asphalt. “Dear God, what next?” They blinked at me with their animal kingdom contender for false eyelashes and bounded up the steep bank on the other side of the road.

I threw the gear back into first and punched the accelerator with my foot. Not even Mother Nature herself was going to stand in my way today. I was a renegade, a rebel on the road.

Pulling into town, I made my way up Main Street, where there were no such things as stoplights, only pedestrians who crossed the street without looking.

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