Lean on Me by Helenkay Dimon Page B

It all happened so fast. She’d heard his voice and her body took over. Bolting and pretending he couldn’t see her had seemed like a smart plan at the time. She hadn’t meant to push him.
    This is why she had so few friends. Actually, none at the moment. Her people skills were all mucked up. Nonexistent, if she were honest about it.
    The reaction had been pure instinct and stupid and she’d spent all night awake and huddled in a dark corner of the Inn’s parking garage trying to figure out how to fix her newest mess. She’d left all of her stuff at the nursery, including the jacket she really needed to ward off the biting wind, and feared going back to find any of it. Mostly Mitch.
    She didn’t have any explanations or answers for him. Skipping town was out, but the idea of facing him made her shoulders convulse on a shiver, and not the good kind.
    The unraveling of her life continued. It started with the interview that upset her sponsors and everyone in Holloway, except those who were related to her and knew to ignore her babbling. That one was survivable. The sponsors grumbled but stuck with her until she got sick, really sick, and had to walk away from it all. She just never expected she’d walk away broke, with all her money stolen.
    She’d been back in town a few days and already had people talking, her stepfather hiding and Mitch following her. All in all, not a stellar week.
    Darla stopped at the table and leaned on a knee in the booth across from her. “Heard you snagged Mitch.”
    Cassidy didn’t even let her mind go there. “Took less than twelve hours for that gem to get around.”
    “Everyone is talking about it. There’s even a nickname for it.”
    Of course there was . “Please don’t say it.”
    “The Kiss.”
    Cassidy let her head fall in her hands and stared at the table. “I’m starting to remember why I left this town.”
    “Honey, you are the most interesting thing to happen in Holloway in years.” Darla slid into the booth and stretched her hand across the table. “Heck, you have Mitch chasing his tail. Haven’t seen him this fired up since, well, never. Susan didn’t even yank his crank like this.”
    Cassidy’s head shot up. “Who is Susan?”
    If she’d been ready for that bit of information, she would have been more subtle. As it was, Cassidy had to stop from lunging across the table and grabbing Darla by the shoulders. If Mitch was married while he was kissing her like that, forget The Snub. She’d give the town a full view of The Killing and once she explained why she did it no woman for miles would blame her. Good luck to any prosecutor trying to seat a jury.
    “She’s the ex.”
    Cassidy wasn’t ready to unclench. “Ex what?”
    “Fiancée.” Mitch appeared out of nowhere. “How ya doing, Darla?”
    “I was just talking about you.” She stood up and rubbed a hand up and down his arm.
    The move was friendly, not flirty. Almost big sister-like. But after the info bomb Carla just dropped it came off as more entirely too intimate for Cassidy’s comfort level.
    “I heard but I have a feeling there will be a lot of talk today.” Mitch took Darla’s seat and stretched out his long legs beneath the table.
    Cassidy tried to tuck her feet under her. Then his ankles slid closer, tapping against her and she knew lounging in the seat was really about trapping her there.
    Darla missed it all. She was too busy waving off other customers who were trying to get her attention and chatting with Mitch. “It’s a good thing you came in to, you know, smooth everything over.”
    “Exactly why I came in at this crazy-ass breakfast hour,” he said.
    Between the touching and the clinking of silverware and dishes around them, Cassidy’s mind dropped out of the conversation for a second. She tried to leap back in. “Since you two know what you’re talking about, how about explaining it to me.”
    “After the smooching in the parking lot there’s bound to be some talk.”