Read Online On Love's Own Terms by Fran Baker - Free Book Online

to go around here.” Darlene shrugged matter-of-factly. “Practically everybody living in Rebel’s Ridge works in Atlanta.” She took a chip from the basket on their table and dipped it into a bowl of fiery red sauce. “By the time people drive home and clean up, it’s too late and too much trouble to backtrack forty miles for an evening’s entertainment.”
    “Forgive me if I’m not impressed that this gin mill profits solely by convenience,” Bonnie replied dryly.
    “Where’s Dave?”
    “Playing pool with one of the guys from work.” Darlene smiled indulgently and reached for another chip. “When I think he’s lost enough money to last him awhile, I’ll go collar him for a dance.”
    Bonnie glanced toward the far corner. Beneath a mushroom cloud of cigarette smoke, a dozen men huddled around the pool table. Judging from the ribald remarks and raucous laughter, Dave was holding his own. She looked away. If Luke had been there, he would have stood head and shoulders above the rest.
    A curvaceous waitress wearing skintight jeans and a T-shirt stopped at the table. Darlene ordered a beer. Although she normally drank wine spritzers, Bonnie requested the same.
    The rockabilly music rendered ordinary conversation impossible, and Darlene seemed perfectly content to sit and sip. Bonnie surveyed the dance floor where several couples moved in time to the music, and where she half-expected to spot Luke with another woman in tow.
    He wasn’t there, and her heart plummeted. Maybe he’d come in the front door and latched onto a willing one-night fling, then ducked out the back door with her. Perhaps... her imagination ran rampant, yet she kept her features pleasantly composed.
    What right did she have to be jealous? Thanks to their divorce, Luke was free to indulge himself in any fashion he pleased. If he wanted to ring the chimes of every southern belle he met, he was certainly entitled. She didn’t care.
    Yes, she did. Damn the quibbling, she cared. But she’d been running scared for so many years, she didn’t know how to stop. Not even for Luke. A haunting ballad on the jukebox echoed her desolation as she sipped her beer, feigning indifference. She’d never felt more alone in her life.
    “As I live and breathe, it’s Bonnie!”
    Bonnie glanced up into twinkling blue eyes that she instantly recognized, then stood.
    “Sueanne!” She embraced her oldest and dearest friend, whom she hadn’t seen in seven years. “I tried to return your call today, but I didn’t get an answer.”
    Sueanne, who was obviously pregnant, patted her abdomen and grinned. “It takes me twelve rings to get from our backyard to the telephone these days.”
    “I hung up after ten,” Bonnie admitted. She looked down and laughed. “What’s a mother-to-be doing in this disreputable place?”
    “It beats sitting home watching reruns on the tube.”
    “And where’s Tom?” Bonnie glanced around for her friend’s husband. “I’d love to see him while I’m home.”
    “He’s in the parking lot showing our new pickup truck to Luke,” the other woman answered.
    Bonnie winced and gave herself a swift mental kick for automatically having misjudged the reason for his absence.
    Sueanne smiled wryly. “Honestly, Tom is worse than a little boy—he couldn’t stand to have his toy sit unnoticed in the driveway all night.”
    “Why don’t you join the hen party?” Bonnie invited, turning her attention back to her friend. She squeezed Sueanne’s shoulders affectionately. “How are you?”
    “As comfortable as possible, considering it’s twins.”
    “Twins!” Bonnie laughed uncertainly. “Dare I offer my congratulations?”
    “In duplicate.” Sueanne smiled serenely, her eyes radiating a contentment that Bonnie envied to the core of her soul. “I grumble some, but I wouldn’t trade places with anyone I know.”
    “Sit in my chair, Sueanne,” Darlene insisted. She grabbed another chip, then pushed away from the table.