Choosing You by Stacy Finz

Author:Stacy Finz [Finz, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Published: 2020-12-12T19:27:14+00:00

Chapter 14

The sun peeked out of the sky Saturday for the first time that week. Joey hoped it was a sign, a good omen that today marked a new beginning with Roni.

She’d planned the entire day up to the last detail. And if everything went well, she hoped to close out the evening with some alone time with Ethan.

But Roni was her priority. This would be their first unsupervised outing together and she planned to make it the ultimate bonding experience.

Joey could never make up for the eighteen months she’d lost from Roni’s life. But moving forward, she vowed to be the mother her daughter deserved.

She glanced at the clock on her car’s control panel and grimaced. In her exuberance to see Roni, she’d left Reno at the crack of dawn and now realized it was too early to show up at Ethan’s. He’d specifically asked her to give him the morning with Veronica because he’d been gone most of the week.

Granted, it was Joey’s weekend. But as long as Ethan was willing to loosen up on the court order, she didn’t want to piss him off.

She bypassed his road and continued to downtown Nugget, hoping the Ponderosa was open for breakfast. Joey could while away the time drinking coffee.

Judging by all the parked cars in the square, one of the shops was doing a brisk business. The big semi livestock trailer she’d seen last time was hogging a good chunk of the street in front of the restaurant. She wondered if it permanently lived here.

A rush of warm air greeted her as she went inside. The place was packed. Folks up from the city to play in the snow, she presumed. Though with the sun out, it would soon be a slushy mess.

“It’s a twenty-minute wait,” the hostess informed her. “Or you can sit at the bar. It’s first come, first served.”

Yeah, why not? Though her sponsor would probably have something to say about it.

She grabbed a menu from the hostess stand and hopped up on a stool. The good-looking cowboy who’d played her a song on the juke box sat in the corner, four seats away. They made eye contact and he tipped his hat. Then, as if he’d remembered his manners, took off the Stetson and hung it on a hook on the wall.

He scrubbed his hand through a full head of dirty blond hair. He needed a haircut. And a shave. But he reminded her of Matthew McConaughey before the creepy Lincoln commercials.

The bartender came over to take her order. She decided to go whole hog with the egg, bacon and pancake special. In her rush to get out the door, she’d skipped breakfast and her morning fix of caffeine.

Smart man that he was, the bartender quickly returned to fill her cup. She fluffed her hair in the backbar mirror and caught the cowboy watching her. Absently, she rubbed her empty ring finger.

The bar was beautiful. Hand carved mahogany that looked leftover from the Gold Rush days.

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