Tequila Rose by Willow Winters (any book recommendations .TXT) 📗

close my mouth and gather up the energy to give a polite smile and say, “Welcome.” Even the singular word shakes as it drifts into the air.

From the corner of my eye I see two things happen at once.

Miss Jones takes a half step to the right, pretending she’s admiring a piece of art I know she hates. “I may take this one as well,” she says under her breath. “I’ll just have to look at it a minute.”

The second thing is that my good friend Renee, really my dearest and closest friend Renee, rolls her eyes. And not at Miss Jones. No, she rolled them at me.

My eyes close as I scold myself. Welcome? Really?

My smile falters but I widen the thing anyway. “Is there anything I can help you with?” My voice is a faux cheery tone and it’s obvious even to my own ears. Still, I’m doing the best I can, given the fact that I’m parched and hot and in desperate need of … that tall drink of water standing there, looking back at me like he may be lost.

“Magnolia.” He says my name and it feels like an ice bath drenches me from head to toe. So much so that my toes go numb.

“That’s me,” I say with my throat still tight, feeling like I’m swallowing down sawdust and pretending I’m just fine. I’m all right. The man who could be the father of my daughter isn’t standing right here. I didn’t lie to him back then. I didn’t run from him just hours ago.

Slipping my fingers around the whistle, I absently toy with it. It would be far too obvious to slip it between my lips and blow right now, but darn do I want to. He takes his time walking to stand in front of the desk where I am. Like a gentleman, he stays on the other side of it, but quite frankly, it’s not far enough away.

Everything in this place disappears. There’s no big hunk of wood that separates us. Not at all. It’s just him with his piercing gaze, and boyish charm. And me, scared and knowing I’m ruining everything. Everything I worked for is going to be ruined by a lie and a secret and there’s nothing I can do but to bear the consequences and I hate it. How do you tell a man you haven’t seen in years that he has a baby? A sweet baby girl with his eyes. Well, probably. She could be Robert’s. Oh my Lord, may the ground open up and swallow me whole.

Both hands wrap around the whistle, my fingers twining together as I try to get the courage to just spit it out. Get it over with. The only thing that keeps me from speaking is the thought that he’d deny her. My perfect little girl. That and the onlookers, and … well, maybe there are a lot of reasons. Either way, I can’t speak. Not a word slips out from between my lips.

“Hey.” Brody lowers his voice and glances at Miss Jones. I don’t even think he knows Renee’s right behind him. She’s practically hidden in the corner. “I get it,” he says then shrugs and offers me an asymmetric smile that’s so comforting and soothing.

It takes me back to that night at the bar, the nostalgic smell of a sweet cocktail and then him. His warmth. His touch. The way he laughed.

I want to hear him laugh. Just to know if my memory is right.

Given the way he looks right now in front of me, my memory hasn’t done him any justice at all.

“You all right?” His question brings me back to the present, the here and now of this man I’ve dreamed of for so long standing so close to me.

“Yes. Yes. What, umm … get what?” I manage to ask and this time it comes out even. I haven’t got a clue how. I clear my throat and say to clarify, “I’m sorry, but you get what?”

“I get why you freaked out. You’re a sweet girl. You’re from a small town.” He nods with each statement, then leans in closer to whisper, as if Miss Jones doesn’t have the hearing of a fruit bat. “You don’t want anyone to know about your college days.”

Oh my God. How is this conversation happening right now? My body blazes again but this time with sheer embarrassment. I know my cheeks are red and my jaw has dropped, but I can’t help a single reaction.

In an effort to look anywhere but at his handsome face, I look to my right, which is a mistake because Renee’s grin only adds to my chagrin. She sure is getting a kick out of my humiliation.

One breath in, one breath out.

“It’s not that,” I say then shake my head and manage to look Brody in the eyes.

“It’s not?” The smile he’s been wearing falls and I wish I could take it back. I wish a lot of things. Wishing isn’t going to make this right, though.

“So … why’d you take off like that? Because you lied about your name?”

I promise I want to answer him, I want the words to come out and just give him the truth regardless of how much of a surprise it is and how much it’s going to change everything. The words, though … they’re stuck at the back of my throat and all I can do is stare back at him with a pained look. I’ve never felt both so foolish and helpless.

“Wait, wait,” he says, raising his voice and Renee’s brow climbs so high on her