Read Online Champagne and Lemon Drops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance by Jean Oram - Free Book Online

though everything was falling to pieces around him. And yet he
still pushed her back, not allowing her to stand beside him or
clear a path.
    Terrified of rocking their sinking boat, she
kept giving him one more week before she pressed him into taking
some sort of action—any action—and kept hoping that this would be
the week where he figured everything out. Everywhere she looked
people were hooking up, getting engaged, and falling in love. There
was no justice and she was tired of it. He needed to make an effort
she could see.
    Straightening her back she decided today was
the day. Today was the day she would take a definitive action to
push Oz out of his rut and into real life again.
    Her sister, beaming like crazy, waved to her
new fiancé, Dan, who was leaning against the oak, grinning like the
dog who had finally caught the mailman. Cynthia hugged Beth's arm.
"He convinced me that you'll be okay. That I can let go and live my
life." Her sister rested a cool hand against Beth's cheek. "You
will be okay, won't you?"
    "Yeah, of course." Beth tried to shrug off
her sister.
    "It'll all work out for you, Beth."
    Beth pushed her sister away. "Go give your
man a kiss, Cynthia." If they kept talking she'd end up bawling in
the center of town—just when the rumors were finally beginning to
die down around her and Oz.
    She watched her sister jog over to Dan and
flop herself into his arms. Beth wandered off to watch the baseball
games, settling herself in the shade of a large tree. She waved to
Katie who was on the other side of the diamond chatting with her
father. Her friend had spent the past two months nudging her into
other men in the movie theater's lineups and trying to set Beth up
with blind dates, double dates, and plain old dates in an effort to
make Beth look like a hot commodity her brother was about to lose
if he didn't spring into action. But each time Beth would blush and
step away, refusing the hook up.
    Beth turned to take in the craziness of the
carnival behind her. She needed to do something that would spin Oz
around. Fast and hard but in a way that wouldn't cause him to freak
out. Through a break in the crowd she caught a glimpse of her
sister and Dan making out and the band of muscles across her chest
tightened as though they had become part boa constrictor. She
caught herself scanning the crowd of familiar faces in an effort to
spot Oz.
    And there he was. Tall, handsome, ambling
along, shrugging off congratulations with a smile as he cruised
through the crowds, a massive teddy bear tucked under his arm.
Spotting her, he drifted toward her side.
    "Hey," Oz said standing above her, his free
hand tucked in the pocket of his jeans.
    Beth gave him a nod of
acknowledgement, squinting against the splashes of sunshine poking
through holes in the branches above him. What would he do if she
stood up, grabbed his face and gave him a long, passionate kiss?
Would he reciprocate? She hated to admit it, but the comment she
overheard Mandy tell her friend about what men wanted and what they
needed being two different things was still circling around in her
head. Did Oz need space? Or did he just think he needed it? And what was she
supposed to do about it? She pondered it every day and was still
stumped.
    "I heard the news." He tipped his head
toward the carnival. "Your sister and Dan, huh?"
    "Yep."
    "Was it cheesy?" He sat beside her on the
grass, propping up his new stuffed friend. She resisted the urge to
reach out and wrap her hand in his. Everything about him right now
was familiar and comforting. Like it always had been. Except... it
wasn't.
    She shook her head. "She said it was
romantic and personal and just the way I always said it should be."
She looked away from Oz, remembering their own engagement and how
they'd made an ordinary day special. Made it theirs. No tacking
onto holidays. That day was all theirs.
    "Good," Oz said.
    "But they picked Valentine's Day for their
wedding." Beth raised an eyebrow and Oz burst