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She snapped her attention back to the conversation at hand.
“I believe it’s time for me to say goodnight,” Gramps said as he stood from his chair.
“Good night, Gramps. I hope you sleep peacefully,” Johnny said.
Gramps smiled at him. “Thanks, son. I almost always sleep peacefully.” He then looked at Mimi. “And I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yes, you will, and I hope you sleep well, too,” she replied.
Within minutes, Gramps was gone. Mimi turned to look at Johnny. “If that offer for dinner at the café is still good, then I’d like to accept,” she said.
His eyes widened in surprise and then glowed with obvious pleasure. “The offer definitely still stands. So, when are you available?” He leaned toward her, close enough that she was enveloped in his familiar scent and warmed by his body heat.
“How about tomorrow evening?” she replied.
“Great. Why don’t I pick you up about five thirty?”
“That sounds fine. Although you don’t have to walk all the way in to get me. I’ll just meet you in the parking area.”
“Works for me.”
“And with that, it’s getting late, Johnny and I’m tired.”
He immediately stood. “I have to confess, I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you and Danny tonight without having to vie for your attention with all the other men who are usually here.”
“And I have to admit that I’ve enjoyed the quieter evening as well.” She got up from the sofa and walked over to grab his rain slicker. “It sounds like you’re going to get wet walking to your car.”
He grinned, the charming grin that always shot an arrow of warmth straight into her heart. “I got wet walking in. Besides, a little rain won’t hurt me.” He took the raincoat from her, put it on and then together they walked to the door. Once again, he stood far too close to her, and his gaze felt scorching hot as it lingered on her.
She took a step back from him. She didn’t want him to touch her in any way. She was feeling weak and far too vulnerable at the moment.
“Good night, Mimi,” he said. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.”
She nodded. “I’ll see you then.”
He opened the door and stepped out into the light rain.
She quickly closed and locked the door behind him. She had no idea if it was a good thing that she’d agreed to have dinner with him or if she was making the biggest mistake of her life.
JOHNNY FELT AS if this was the most important night in his entire life. He looked in the floor-length mirror in his bedroom and checked his reflection. The café wasn’t exactly the place where people dressed up, so he was clad in jeans. However, he’d chosen to wear a blue short-sleeved button-down shirt instead of one of his usual polos. He’d shaved and brushed his hair, reminding himself that it was past time for a trip to the barber.
Pronouncing himself ready to go, he left his bedroom and headed to the kitchen. Anticipation of the date had made him get ready extra early. He pocketed his car keys, grabbed his phone and then he went into the living room and sank down on the sofa.
He had about twenty minutes to wait until it would be time for him to leave to pick up Mimi. What he was hoping for was that tonight he could explain to her why he’d left her and Black Bog behind. He hoped to make her understand the frame of mind he’d been in when he had left. Leaving had been a huge mistake, and he needed her to know how very much he regretted it. He’d had to stay and finish the job he’d been handed, but he hadn’t realized it would take so damned long.
For the next fifteen minutes he had half a dozen practice conversations in his head, and then it was time to leave. As he drove toward the swamp, nerves jumped in his veins and tightened his chest.
He wanted this evening to go well. He needed it to go well. He hoped she would be open to hearing everything he wanted…needed to tell her.
He still wasn’t sure of what to make of the three men who regularly showed up at her shanty. She called them her friends, but to him they were competition. Though this wasn’t a game to him. It was his life, and more than anything he wanted Mimi and Danny as his forever family.
In fact, Danny had heightened the stakes. If the little boy was truly Johnny’s, which there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that he was, then more than anything Johnny wanted to have the three of them together as a family…the family he’d never had but had always dreamed about, had only ever imagined with Mimi.
He saw her the moment he pulled up in front of the tangled maw of the swamp entrance. She was clad in jeans and a bright red, sleeveless blouse that enhanced the darkness of her hair, which was loose and fell on her shoulders and down her back. For just a moment she was framed by the greenery of the swamp behind her. She looked absolutely stunning. Part of her beauty was the fact that she seemed completely unaware of it.
He started to get out of his car but stopped as she ran to the passenger door and got inside. He returned to his seat behind the steering wheel and then gazed at her.
“Mimi, you look lovely. Red has always been a good color on you,” he said.
