Chapters (43)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Epilogue
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- Readers Guide
- QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“Hey, Andra,” Stacia said. “The flatbed I was working on today—that old Dodge? When you rev it, it sounds almost like that band you used to blast my ears out with.”
Andra blinked, pausing in the middle of dishing up some green beans. “Um, Nightwish? Wait, or do you mean Black Sabbath?”
“Black Sabbath.” Stacia smiled. “Remember, you used to say you were going to walk down the aisle to one of their songs, even after I swore I wouldn’t be your maid of honor if you did. You said your wedding was going to have the biggest dress and the loudest music in the whole damn county.”
A slight smile touched Andra’s face, and her eyes flickered to Stacia as she passed the green beans down the table. “I can’t believe you remembered all that. It’s been so long.”
“Hard to forget. My ears have never recovered.”
Andra took a breath like she might say something else, then hesitated and fell silent. LJ fidgeted with his fork. For having been Stacia’s friend since high school, Andra seemed pretty shy around the other girl. He dug up a chuckle just to break the tension of the moment. “I wouldn’t have minded seeing that. White wedding dress or black?”
Everyone stared at him, and Bill glared.
“Uh, I don’t know.” Andra poked at her green beans. “Hadn’t thought about it in years.”
Ouch. He’d stepped into something there that he hadn’t meant to. Maybe she’d had a broken engagement or something. “So, uh, did anybody see that last Cubs game?”
No one answered.
LJ concentrated on dishing up his plate, stealing glances at everyone as he tried to puzzle out the shift in the mood of the room. The dirty jokes had ended as soon as Andra showed up, and it wasn’t only him she was avoiding looking at—it was everyone.
He snuck another look at Andra, her dark head bent toward her food. He was the new guy, so of course he was going to be a little left out at first. But this was her home, and he was here only because she’d stood up for him. She shouldn’t be uncomfortable or isolated here.
He couldn’t stand the idea that she might feel alone.
Three
Boots thumped from outside on Andra’s porch. She blew a hair out of her face and straightened from her downward-dog stretch. After all the upheaval in her normal routine this week, afternoon yoga sounded perfect. Unfortunately, all it had done was remind her how sore she was from getting bucked off during that morning’s training session.