Fearless by Abby Brooks (best books for 8th graders .txt) 📗

entirely on work so Mom was alone, with a capital A. She really struggled.” Izzy cleared her throat and met my eyes. “She tried to kill herself.”

My jaw dropped as I processed the info. “Oh my goodness! Izzy!” I covered my heart with my hands. “I’m so sorry that happened.”

“Yeah. Me, too. I moved back to Wildrose and opened the store. Alex made it a point to visit her every day. After the whole Candace thing went down, he swore he’d do everything in his power to avoid becoming our father.”

At the mention of his name, my gaze darted to the door.

“He’ll be here.” Izzy patted my hand. “If I know anything about Alex Prescott, he’s head over heels for you. He’ll come.”

My cheeks caught fire as a grin stretched my lips. “I’m pretty head over heels for him, too.”

And I was. Despite my concerns about me misjudging him. Despite the fact that we’d barely seen each other in weeks, I was falling hard for Alex—in a way I swore I never would again.

The chair across from me scooted out and I half stood, expecting to find Alex with his giant grin and humor-filled eyes. Instead, a man I didn’t recognize took a seat. “Hello, ladies.”

Izzy bolted out of her chair. “Jack! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe you’re out of your house!” She wrapped the stranger in a hug, then turned to me. “This is Evie, the woman who tamed Alex’s heart. Evie, meet Jack, the man we never get to see anymore because sometimes bad things happen to good people.”

A tall man with vibrant blue eyes and a mess of dark curls bobbed his head and shook my hand. “I’m so glad to meet you, though after all I’ve read on Greta’s Facebook page, I feel like I already know you.”

Izzy patted his arm. “How are you even out right now?”

“I found a sitter for the night and begged the kids to behave, but I’m sure I’m on borrowed time before something goes spectacularly wrong. Are the guys here?” He glanced around the packed bar. “I just assumed they’d be here.”

“Alex is supposed to show up any minute, but I haven’t heard anything from Austin or Jude.” No one could miss the blush that streaked across Izzy’s face at the mention of his name.

“How come you two haven’t dated yet?” I blurted out.

Jack chortled. “Hooo! You just get straight to the point, don’t you?”

“I mean, considering I’ve been wondering about that for months now, I wouldn’t say straight to the point…”

Sadness wilted his smile. “Has it been that long? I really need to get out more.”

“Is it that obvious I have feelings for Jude?” Izzy looked like she was trying to disappear through the floor as her voice lowered to a harsh whisper.

“Izzy,” I said as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “With all due respect, you blush and giggle every time his name comes up.”

Jack bobbed his head. “And you’re never alone with him, or you weren’t before I stopped being able to leave my house.”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “Because if I was alone with him, I’d jump his bones.”

“I knew it!” I slapped a hand to the table.

“But he doesn’t.” She put her hand on mine. “And I’d like to keep it that way. Nothing good will come of Jude and me together. Not one thing.”

The thought of Jude and Izzy in a relationship had me shaking my head. His irreverent assholery combined with her good-natured workaholic self? Sparks would fly and I wasn’t sure it would be in a good way. Maybe it was for the best that she kept her feelings for him a secret. Well, if you could consider what she’d been doing keeping things secret, since everyone but Jude seemed to know how hard she was crushing on the man.

Speaking of severe crushes…

I glanced toward the door. When that area of the bar proved Alex-less, I expanded my search to the rest of the tables. Maybe he’d been here for hours and we’d missed each other.

Somehow.

Izzy patted my hand. “He’ll be here. He will.”

Though, her smile was less sure. Her forehead pinched. Her eyes…worried.

I sighed and promised myself I wouldn’t look at the door again. After all, my invitation came with the caveat that he might not be able to pull himself away from work. He only needed a week and a half of concerted effort to finish the draft and everything would go back to normal.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Evie

Alex didn’t show up at Cheers ‘n Beers. He didn’t text an apology. Or an explanation. I even threw open my bedroom curtains and flicked on the light the second I got home, hoping I’d catch his attention. The windows in his house were dark, save the office. I stared for five minutes, willing him to notice I was home. To reach out. Anything to let me know he’d noticed me at all.

Nothing.

I collapsed onto the bed next to a sleeping Larry. The jostle and bounce of the mattress had his head lifting and his bright green eyes blinking open. He stretched and yawned, then stood to bump his head against my cheek. “At least someone remembers I exist,” I murmured as his purrbox engaged.

That wasn’t fair.

Alex’s deadline was just a few days away and if his publisher decided to drop him over this book, it could ruin his career.

Though, he was the Alexander Prescott. If this publisher dropped him, there would be a line of houses willing to pick him up in a heartbeat. In a world that didn’t have time to read anymore, Alex sold books and that meant something.

“But that doesn’t mean he should just let that deadline go by. It’s not the way he’s wired.” I scratched behind Larry’s ears. “We just have to be patient a few more days. Just a few more days and the book will be off to his editor and things will go back to the way they used to be.”

But somehow, Alex’s absence