Read Online Happily Ever After by Susan May Warren - Free Book Online Page A

echoed, but his agreement sounded hollow.
    Mona folded her hands together, propping her elbows on the table. “Where did you go to school?”
    Brian shook his head. “Didn’t. Went straight to work driving trucks for the city. Worked my way up into management.”
    Mona raised her brows, remembering his sleek black Honda. “You’ve done okay.”
    “What, for a small-town boy?” His aggressive comeback startled her.
    “N-no,” she stammered. “I just meant they probably don’t pay well here. You must be a good budgeter. Probably why you work
     for the city.” She forced the words through a suddenly dry mouth.
    “Right. Well, I have my sources. And—” he smiled broadly, as if to restore their friendship—“I am a very good budgeter.”
    “So what do you hear about my parking permit?”Mona folded a paper napkin into tiny squares.
    “Soon. I’m processing the paperwork.”
    “You mean you can’t just snap your fingers and make it happen? I thought all you city officials have ultimate power.” Mona
     threw tease into her voice.
    Brian leaned close, his cologne washing over her, his breath in her face. “We do.”
    He probably meant it to be alluring, but she felt a cold fist land in her stomach and recoiled. “Oh, that’s good to know,”
     she said and forced a smile.
    Brian sat back, beaming. “Too bad Liza couldn’t join us.”
    Mona couldn’t agree more.
    He stretched a hand across the back of the seat. Mona stared out the window of the Tastee Treat. The waves scraped the shore,
     calling to her, and at that moment she needed the silver-dotted sky. “Can we go?”
    The question appeared to startle him. His face darkened. “Sure.”
    They stepped out onto the sidewalk. A stinging breeze whipped off the lake, raising gooseflesh on her arms.She wore a light
     windbreaker over a cotton sweatshirt, but cold seeped through the layers. They didn’t talk. She must have offended him, for
     his face was taut, his pace 55 quick. Mona heard only the scuff of her high-top tennis shoes against the pavement.
    She was going to murder Liza when she got home. She had told her roommate she wasn’t interested in Brian Whitney, and now
     she knew why. He was too glitzy, too smooth. Not her type. Again, reality proved her dream man a figment of her imagination.
     The perfect man didn’t exist, and she had been a fool to accept Brian’s offer to go out for ice cream. And an even bigger
     fool to fall for Liza’s I-have-a-headache routine. She gritted her teeth and pounded out the last steps to the house.
    Brian stopped her with a hand on her arm, two feet before her front walk. His dark eyes glinted concern.“Did I do something?”
     His tone turned a furrow of shame in her heart.
    Mona stared at the pavement. “No. I’m just tired.”
    She felt his hand under her chin, lifting it. “Maybe we can start over? Rewind the tape and record over this evening? I’d
     sure like a chance to show you around Deep Haven.”
    Mona squinted up at him. He smiled, a five-o’clock shadow blanketing his chin. His shoulders were wide, and he cut a dashing
     pose in his tailored pants and V-neck sweater. Perhaps she had judged him too severely. She shouldn’t compare a man like Brian
     to a drifter like Joe. Joe was intrigue and passing fancy. Brian was commitment and future. She’d do well to remember the
     difference. She nodded and gave an apologetic smile.
    Her answer lit a fire in his eyes. “Great. I’ll be by in a couple of days. I have to go to Duluth for some business. When
     I get back, I’ll take you out someplace nice.No more slurps and licks.”
    Mona forced a smile. She rather liked Tastee Treat, with the right company. “Thanks for the ice cream,” she said, turning.
    He caught her hand in one swift movement. She turned just as he pressed his lips against it. “No, thank you, Mona,” he said,
     grinning at her startled expression.
    He left her reeling, desperately trying to untangle her welling