Read Online Rachel's Redemption by Jennifer Maitlen - Free Book Online

“What are you doing here?”
    Rachel tilted her head and crossed her arms, mirroring his position. “Hmm?”
    “I said, ‘What are you doing here?’”
    Alexander’s brows had lowered as he bobbled his head back and forth between them.
    “Oh, here. Well, I was just, you know, checking out”—she motioned with her hand at the potted plants and brightly colored, fragrant arrangements throughout the store—“flowers and stuff.”
    “For?”
    Alexander’s eyes twinkled.
    “For?”
    “Yourself?”
    “Well . . . sort of . . . ”
    Logan turned to Alexander. “What’s the story?”
    The smaller man didn’t appear the least bit intimidated by the much taller, broader man asking the question. In fact, he looked thoroughly entertained. “Cup of tea?”
    “No, thanks.” He leveled his gaze at Rachel. She felt a shiver of awareness run over her skin, but she held his glare. Then he turned back to Alexander. “Her grandmother preferred poison ivy. And, no matter what she buys”—he thrust his chin at Rachel and said—“make sure that none of it winds up at the high school.”
    Alexander watched Rachel who was scowling at Logan and shaking her head.
    “Alexander,” Rachel said, “Logan may have taken one too many hits on the field because his mind seems incapable of comprehending the fact that this event is happening at the high school.”
    Logan saluted Rachel and nodded at Alexander, then he steered Cole toward the exit.
    “And, Nana did not love poison ivy!” Rachel called after him.

Chapter 9
    Logan didn’t see Rachel the rest of Saturday, which was fine by him. His Saturday had been a full day of Drivers Ed, a gig he’d taken up when the previous instructor had been called up to active duty. Logan didn’t mind it, either, but he could sure go for a massage. An hour and a half working out the kinks and near whiplash he’d sustained while Cole had attempted to crack the mysteries of a manual transmission sounded very tempting. Although, a good massage wouldn’t even come close to getting rid of the stress knots Rachel Delaney-Tolbert gave him.
    Sunday morning, Logan set out ready to put an end to this fiasco.
    He’d played out potential scenarios in his head. So far, coming right out and saying the event wasn’t happening at the school hadn’t worked. Rachel didn’t go for direct. He needed a better plan. Maybe the event could happen, just not at his high school. If all went according to his new plan, she’d have a new venue, preferably in a different town. Sure, it wasn’t what Rachel had envisioned, but since nobody seemed to care about the impact a bunch of people traipsing through his gym or the inevitable distraction to his team, he needed to champion the cause.
    Logan pulled into the motel parking lot where she was staying. For a moment, Logan stared at the empty rockers sitting on the front office’s covered porch. They begged to be used on a lazy afternoon, sipping an icy Arnold Palmer and nothing but the summer breeze to keep you company. After the season ended, he was going to have Michael get started on a porch just like that. He should have had the old dilapidated mess he’d grown up in demolished along with the painful memories that still clung to the walls like moldy wallpaper. But, Michael had said it had bones and the plans he’d drawn up ensured the place wouldn’t bare any resemblance to the original.
    Logan shut off the engine and reached for his cell phone.
    It barely rang before she answered. Did she walk around with it in her hand?
    “Have you eaten?” There was a pause and he was sure she was deciding whether or not to hang up the phone.
    “Yes,” she said finally. “Do you ever think of anything else?”
    He ignored the last part and said, “I don’t believe you.”
    “I’m busy.”
    “Have breakfast with me and tell me about it.”
    He waited, listening to silence, while she decided if breakfast with him was a good idea. If he were her, he’d say no.