Read Online A Season for Hope (Sarra Cannon) by Sarra Cannon - Free Book Online

lady?”
    “This is Bailey,” he says. “Bailey, this is Alex.”
    I take my hand out of Judd’s so I can shake hands with the cart owner. “Nice to meet you,” I say.
    He takes my hand in his and gives it a soft kiss. “My pleasure,” he says, his Spanish accent thick. “What can I get for you, my dear.”
    “I’ll take a hotdog with mustard and relish,” I say. “I don’t think I’ve had one of these since I was a kid.”
    “You’re kidding,” Judd says. “Hotdogs are a college staple.”
    “Says you,” I tease. “And you’re a med-student? I thought you’d be eating nothing but health foods. No offense, Alex.”
    “None taken,” Alex says with a laugh as he fixes my hotdog and hands it over to me.
    He doesn’t ask for Judd’s order. He just pulls out two hotdogs and loads them up with chili, onions, ketchup, mustard and pickles.
    Judd hands him a wad of ones and thanks him. We walk over to a wooden bench that faces out toward the shore and sit down.
    “Do you know everyone around here?” I ask. He seems to relate to people easily. Something about that smile makes him very approachable and easy to like.
    “Not everyone,” he says. “I just like my routines I guess.”
    I take a bite of my hotdog and a dollop of mustard slides out the back and onto my jeans. I stare at it, not believing I just did that. I close my eyes and feel like giving up.
    Judd laughs and pours water on his napkin, then cleans up the blob on my leg.
    “I’ve never been so accident-prone in my life,” I say. “I swear to god.”
    He smiles. “I believe you,” he says. “I think it’s kind of cute, though.”
    “This,” I point toward my mismatched, stained outfit, “is not cute.”
    In response, he just lets his eyes roam over my body. Nervous energy buzzes through me.
    “I think you could wear just about anything and look good,” he says.
    Warmth spreads up my cheeks. I continue eating my hotdog, but scoot just a tiny bit closer to him on the bench.
    “So, hotdogs,” I say, laughing. “Is this a nightly ritual for you?”
    “A couple times a week. Hotdogs might not be healthy, but they’re fast and cheap,” Judd says. “I’m on scholarship here and it’s awesome, but I don’t get much of a stipend and I don’t have time to get a job. I’ve got a special project going on right now and it’s taking up a lot of time.”
    Disappointment shoots through me. If he doesn’t have enough time for a job, he’s definitely not going to have time to have a girlfriend. But then I stop myself. This is exactly what I always did with Preston. I was always getting way ahead of myself when it came to our future. I actually thought he was close to proposing to me, and instead he was ready to completely cast me aside.
    Judd kisses me once and takes me on a hotdog date and suddenly I’m ready to be his girlfriend. I’m so lame.
    “I never asked you where you’re from,” I say, trying to keep conversation moving so I can stop daydreaming.
    “A small town west of here,” he says. “Cochran. Have you heard of it?”
    “I think so,” I say. “Is that near Macon?”
    “Not really,” he says. “Maybe forty-five minutes drive from there.”
    “What brought you to Fairhope?” I ask. “The scholarship?”
    “Yes,” he says. “I went to UGA for undergrad, graduated with honors and applied to a bunch of med schools all over the South. Fairhope offered me the best deal. Plus, it’s on the beach. That doesn’t hurt.”
    I smile.
    “What about you?” he asks. He’s already devoured one of the hotdogs and is starting on the second. “Where are you from?”
    “You’re looking at it,” I say.
    “You’re a townie?”
    I scrunch my nose. “You make it sound so dirty,” I say. “And yes, Fairhope born and raised.”
    “That makes sense,” he says, nodding. He makes a strange face.
    “What is that supposed to mean?”
    He clears his throat. “It didn’t entirely escape my notice that you’ve been