Give Me One Night by Jennifer Ashley

Author:Jennifer Ashley [Ashley, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JA / AG Publishing

Calandra

Not long later we’re sitting at a dinner table that looks like anyone else’s supper table. The dining room walls are painted a soft yellow with flowered curtains of red, blue, and yellow at the window. The table and chairs are golden oak, and cheerful placemats and napkins more or less match the curtains.

Milo helps Cherise with her big pot of chili, which Maggie ladles into our bowls. It smells wonderful, and my stomach rumbles. The sandwich and snacks in the car were a stopgap, and I realize I haven’t had a full meal in more than twenty-four hours.

The chili is great. I fan myself and drink water. Ryan bears it manfully, but even he has to take a big gulp of the chilled beer Maggie brings him. Milo grins as he inhales the chili without stopping.

“Where you folks from?” Maggie asks conversationally.

“Phoenix,” I tell her.

“Really? Did you come up here because you miss snow?”

“Obviously,” Ryan says.

The wind howls in response, sending snow lashing against the outer wall.

“Surprised you made it in that little bitty car,” Milo says. “Roads up here need chains in snow, and four-wheel drive is best.”

“A series of unfortunate events,” Ryan says. “This is supposed to be a romantic weekend.”

Milo starts laughing. Cherise smiles at us and tries not to look at Milo.

As the meal progresses, and we start talking like old friends, I realize I miss nights like this. Before Ryan and I became engaged, I could sit at the table with my family or the McLaughlins and talk about anything. Now we can’t open our mouths without someone going on about the wedding and the latest complicated, insane idea to make it memorable.

Of course it will be memorable. I’m marrying Ryan.

My family and friends are frustrating the hell out of me, and I feel guilty for wanting to get away from them. I love them, and I know they mean well, but I wish they would stop.

“It’s tough,” Maggie says, and I realize I’ve started saying all this out loud. “Those closest to us will mess us up faster than anybody.”

Both Cherise and Milo nod as though reflecting on their own experiences.

“Tell me about it,” Ryan says. “I work in my dad’s business. I get to put up with my obnoxious brothers all day, every day.”

“I haven’t seen my brothers in a long time,” Cherise says sadly. “They’re in the military and deployed, far from home.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. She’s so young, in her early twenties, and I wonder what circumstance brought her here of all places. Probably she needed the money. She didn’t have the wasted look of a drug addict, or the nervousness of an alcoholic. She drank water and coffee with the meal. I told myself she was better off here in a comfortable house with Maggie than selling herself on the streets in Reno or Vegas.

“Why don’t you write to them tonight?” Maggie tells Cherise, compassion in her voice. “That always makes you feel better.”

Cherise brightens. “Good idea. I’ll have something to talk about.

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