Chapter Eleven
The next morning,I was dressed and ready for battle, but I paused at the door, knowing Zoey was in for a rough day at the bakery if I abandoned her. “You sure you can handle the morning rush without me? You have two staff members, but one of them isnew.”
“I feel guilty about letting you miss registration. You go and get to the bakery as soon as you can.” Zoey shooed me toward the front door. “Go. I’ll befine.”
I hopped off the front porch, skipping the two steps, and ran to my car. If I hurried, I’d be waiting outside the administration office when they opened. I slid the key in the ignition, but it only clicked. “No!” I turned it again and again, butnothing.
A 4X4 truck pulled up behind me. I spotted Dylan through the rearview mirror with flowers in his hands. Not just any flowers—wild flowers he had to have handpicked from our spot by the lake. My heart stuttered harder than my car. He tapped his knuckle against thewindow.
I hit the button, but the glass didn’t lower, so I opened thedoor.
He squatted by my side. “What seems to be the problem,ma’am?”
Okay, if I admitted it, I kind of liked the sweet, sexy soldier routine. “My car won’tstart.”
He handed me the flowers. “These are for you. Why don’t you go put them in water while I take alook?”
“Thanks, but hurry. I need to be at the university as soon as possible.” I raced up the steps, but Zoey met me at the door. “I’ll take those. You go figure out your car. I can’t take you to the university since someone has to be there to oversee the bakery.” She smelled the flowers and then looked over them at me. “Of course. I’m sure Dylan would be happy to save theday.”
I shook my head but didn’targue.
Dylan sat in the driver’s seat, and I heard the engine clicking again and then nothing. “Afraid it’s your battery. How old isit?”
“Um, as old as mycar.”
He looked down at my dented, army green, get-me-to-and-fro car and then shook his head. “You need a new one, then. Listen, I’ll take you to theuniversity.”
My breath caught with the idea of riding next to him all that way. “No, I can’t ask you to dothat.”
“Why not? I have nowhere else I need to be.” He shrugged. “Besides, I owe you anapology.”
He stood, and I took a few steps back to give him room. Boy, he was a package of awesome muscleness with a side of uniform. “Forwhat?”
He handed me my bag he’d retrieved from the passenger seat, closed the door, and headed for his truck. “I’ll explain on the way. Get in.” He held open my door. Once I was tucked inside safely, he hopped in the driver’s seat and we wereoff.
I fidgeted with my bag zipper. “So…apology?”
“Right. When I came to Magnolia Corners, I had assumed you wanted out now as much as you did then. I believed that our parents were so unhappy here, and I didn’t want that for you. I wanted you to live the life you’d always dreamed of and for us to live happily ever after. Now I understand that things change, and you might want to stay. If that is what you want, then I understand, and I won’t get in yourway.”
My chest tightened at his words, but this was a good thing. My life was here, and his was in who knew where next. “I’m glad you’re giving up your quest to win me over. It’s for the best since our lives are so differentnow.”
“You misunderstand. I’m coming back. Not in a week, but I'll be back the minute that I can.” Dylan turned down Taylor Street, and I saw his gaze travel to the home where his father livednow.
“No, you don’t want to live here. Besides, you have what, twenty more years to give UncleSam?”
He turned onto the main street that lead to the interstate. “Four. I’ll work hard, and I’ll be back. We can live here, and I’ll commute into Atlanta for a dayjob.”
“What makes you think I won’t be married in four years with a kid or two?” I teased, but based on the way his hands gripped the steering wheel, he wasn’t finding humor in it. “You can’t put your life on hold while I finish college and you finish your military career. Besides, you seem happy being in thearmy.”
“I am,” he said with no doubt in his voice. “But if the army isn’t for you, then I’ll get a civilian job. I don’t care where I work, as long as I have a job and I’mhappy.”
I toyed with the fraying seam on my bag as if it was more interesting than the zipper. “What makes you think you could be happy here thistime?”
He pulled onto the interstate. “This time, I’m in charge of my life. I’m not a victim of a low-socioeconomic single drunkparent.”
We drove in silence until we reached the university. When he pulled into a parking place, he faced me with a smile. “Go knock them dead. Don’t worry about our future right now. Concentrate on what you want, and everything will work out. Let’s enjoy the time we have together, get to know each other again, before I have to reportback.”
I heard his words, but his expression betrayed him. I could tell he was churning away on a plan to convince me to wait for him to get out of the military, and I was trying to think of a way to make him stay in. The man I saw next to me would never be happy in his old life. I couldn’t ask him to do that for me. That’s when I realized the dangeroustruth.
Even after all this time, I still lovedhim.
