Read Online 7 Days and 7 Nights by Wendy Wax - Free Book Online Page A

company. I want someone to share my life with. In my book that requires a Justice of the Peace.”
    â€œNow, JoBeth, if you’d just calm down and come on home, I’m sure—”
    â€œI’m not coming back, Dawg. We’re not kids, and I’m not interested in being your live-in girlfriend anymore.”
    â€œAw, JoBeth, honey.”
    â€œDon’t you ‘JoBeth honey’ me. And don’t you come into my place of work and ogle other women.”
    â€œBut you’re the one who moved out. You’re the one who said—”
    â€œI know exactly what I said. You don’t have to throw it back in my face. You’re the one who doesn’t seem to be getting the point.” Her fingers picked nervously at the fluted edge of the pie plate.
    â€œOh, I get the point all right. It’s just like Matt Ransom said. My big mistake was not being clear up front. I love you, JoBeth, but I don’t want to get married. I’ve been married, and it’s not the picnic you seem to think it is.”
    A hush fell over the diner as the last of the lunch crowd gave up the pretense of eating. JoBeth pried her gaze from Dawg’s for a slow scan of the room. Even the McCauleys were staring in shocked amazement at her and Dawg. Emmylou tittered out loud.
    â€œWell, now you’ve managed to humiliate me in person.” Was that her voice going all shrill and quivery? “Why don’t you just take out an ad in the damn paper— ‘JoBeth Namey gives great milk but she’s not worth marrying.’ ”
    Dawg shot her a look of such wounded outrage that she almost managed to get herself under control. If he’d apologized then, or offered one ounce of reassurance that he’d never thought of her that way, she might have been able to avoid what came next. But keeping quiet had never been Dawg’s strong suit.
    â€œNow that is about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
    â€œStupid? Now you’re calling me stupid?” Her hands stilled. Embarrassment spiked up her spine, fueling her anger, which was a lot easier to deal with than the hurt and desperation she’d been feeling. Then he got that annoying look on his face, the one that said he was the calm, rational one, and she was some harebrained female, and her hands wrapped tighter around the aluminum pie plate.
    â€œThe stupidest thing I ever did was waste three years loving you.” The next thing she knew, she was hefting the pie plate in her right hand, savoring its weight. “But I sure do hate to leave you without something to remember me by.”
    A smart man would have backed off then, or at least put some distance between himself and an angry woman with a partially cocked pie, but Dawg just sat there glaring back at her, his face only inches from what remained of the strawberry rhubarb.
    â€œDo what you gotta do, JoBeth. You are not making a lick of sense anyhow. And you haven’t been since you started calling that Dr. O.”
    She knew better, really she did. It wasn’t going to solve anything, and it certainly wasn’t going to win her any waitressing awards. But a herd of wild animals couldn’t have made her put the pie down at this point.
    She heard a collective gasp as she lifted the pie and pushed it firmly into the middle of Dawg’s irritating face. No one spoke as she ground the pie back and forth with the heel of her hand until the flaky brown crust worked its way into the grooves of his face.
    Dawg sat completely still. He barely blinked as the red-colored goo began to drip down his chin. For a minute she half expected him to stick his tongue out for a taste like they did on TV, but he didn’t move a muscle.
    Momentarily stunned by what she’d done, JoBeth froze, too. The silence ended just as suddenly as it had begun. The buzz of excitement built around her but it was once-removed, like something that was happening to