Kiss the Bride by Rachel Johns

Author:Rachel Johns
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2015-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Wind blew gently between the leaves of the ... trees in Crawford Park. A jogger shot by them and a mother pushing a stroller walked briskly in the opposite direction, but Jake couldn’t take his eyes off Magdalena who sat beside him on the bench, delicately licking her chocolate ice cream. Watching her tongue dart in and out of her mouth as she feasted on the ice cream made Jake feel like a horny teenager on a first date. So much for taking things slow, he simply wanted to lean forward and gobble her up.

He ate his ice cream fast and then sat on his hands to stop them misbehaving. “Bella seems to have settled into Marietta okay,” he said, hoping to distract his illicit thoughts at least until she’d finished eating. “She’s enjoying school?”

Magdalena smiled and her shoulders relaxed at the mention of her daughter. “She seems to be. I’m relieved. It was a big decision to uproot her from her old school and come back here.”

Jake couldn’t help noticing that she didn’t refer to Marietta as home. “How long are you planning to stay?”

She’d just bitten into her cone, so finished her mouthful, then shrugged. “I guess it depends on mom’s treatment, the outcome. If Bella’s truly happy here, then I might consider moving back permanently. My work can be done from anywhere and it would be nice to be nearer Selah, Levi, and Lisa. And Bella deserves to get to know her family.”

At the mention of Bella’s family, Jake desperately wanted to ask about her father. Didn’t Bella deserve to know him as well? But he bit down on the impulse, not wanting to pry or annoy Magdalena. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said instead. And he meant it. “Marietta is a wonderful place. I fell in love with it when I came last year for the rodeo.”

“What is it exactly about Marietta that made you want to stay?”

He sighed, not sure how to put his feelings into words. “About a year ago I split up with my longtime girlfriend.”

A crease appeared between Magdalena’s eyes. “Hallie Zetta?”

“Yep.” Problem numero uno about being a celebrity right there – everybody knew your business. “I thought she was The One. I asked her to marry me, said maybe we could have a baby and instead of welcoming this idea, she told me she’d been seeing an actor behind my back and they were getting engaged. I’m sure you read about that in the tabloids, too,” he added bitterly.

She shook her head. “I don’t pay too much attention to stuff like that, but if she could do that to you, it sounds like you’re better off without her.”

“I am. She taught me a lesson I needed to learn – that some people are only with you for what you can do for them. We got together when her singing career was fledgling. Through me she met the right people, moved in the right circles but she was more ambitious than me.

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