“You have lost your ever-loving mind,” Shirley said.
But there was something else there.
Admiration.
A tad bit of jealousy.
And, yeah, a lot ofthis one’s gone loonytoo, but it was beneath the good stuff.
“You bet your ketchup-drenched fried Twinkies I have,” Anna said.
She grinned wider and laughed again.
She was free.
Freedom,it turned out, didn’t come with a recipe for biscuits.
But Kaci was happy to share her momma’s recipe, her tub of bacon grease,andher old cast-iron skillet, along with an offer to blow up Anna’s separation paperwork whenever RMC got around to delivering it.
And the bills for those classes she’d taken.
But she’d refused alimony from Neil in exchange for their modest savings, so all was not lost.
She flashed a wide grin at the mess on her countertop. Bowls and spoons and pans littered the dirty surface. She slid on spilled flour, but she didn’t stop to wipe it up. She had better things to do than clean her kitchen.
As soon as that timer dinged.
Someone knocked on her door.
Banged, really. Repeatedly.
Probably her landlord to kick her out after he found out she’d quit her job.
She eyed the timer. Forty-five seconds. She’d give the landlord her notice, and then she’d get on with getting on with her life.
She hoped.
One way or another, she wouldn’t be staying here.
But it wasn’t her landlord on the other side of the door. Her heart launched a thousand butterflies into her chest. “Oh!”
“Anna. Don’t go.” Jackson was disheveled, his uniform blouse crooked, his eyes wide and pleading. He touched a finger to her lips. “Listen a minute, okay?”
This wasn’t the plan. She was supposed to find him.
But she was working on being flexible, so she nodded, all those butterflies in her chest making her ribs tingle like her lips beneath his finger.
“I owe Uncle Sam about another year and a half. Always figured I’d retire nine years on and then get to figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. But the last few months, I’ve been what I want to be, I just didn’t know it. But I know now. I want to be yours.”
The oven timer beeped. She tried to pull in a breath, but those butterflies were tickling her lungs. Her eyes went misty.
“I love you, Anna Grace,” Jackson said. “You wanna go to Iceland, I’ll go to Iceland. Darlin’, I’d go live in an igloo if it’s what makes you happy. You go on and tell me what you want, and I’m gonna go on and do it.”
A whimpery laugh slipped through her lips.
Wonderful man.
Crazy, wonderful, perfect man.
