LOVE YOU NOW by Julia Kent

Author:Julia Kent [Kent, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter Thirteen

Dennis

* * *

Bilbee’s Tavern was the last place he should bring a sugar glider, but his mom put him in a double bind.

“You go out with your brothers and sister and have some fun or I will personally call Annabeth and set you up on a date.”

“I’ve been blackmailed by professionals, Mom, and they were far better than you.”

“That right there is the key difference.”

“Huh?”

“Mom. I’m your mother. Not a professional. Now shoo.” She had literally waved a kitchen towel at him like he was a fly she needed to evacuate.

As he drove slowly through town, he let out a long, grumbly sigh. All his regular parking spots were taken, the sidewalks thick with tourists. It was the week before Valentine’s Day and all the gullible, shallow people who thought the love-themed crap in town was fun were here.

In abundance.

“Okay, that’s harsh,” he said aloud. “They’re just gullible. Not necessarily shallow.”

And they were annoying him because he couldn’t find a place to park, eyes scanning for–

Aha! Tail lights. The big SUV pulled out just as Dennis approached, as if God himself heard Dennis’s curmudgeonly complaint and provided assistance. The spot was in front of Love You Chocolate, all the way across the downtown area from Bilbee’s, but beggars couldn’t choose.

Or something like that.

Parking his truck, he made sure Magic was safe in the pouch of his Army-green hoodie and pulled his coat on over it, the creature curled up nice and sweet in there. Luview was hopping tonight, and Bilbee’s would be packed.

Steeling himself for the onslaught of people, he began walking along the sidewalk, deep in his thoughts, when he heard someone call his name.

A shaky voice, more frail than he’d ever heard it.

“Miss Lucinda?” he asked, turning to find her standing in the doorway of her store, clutching her unzipped coat to her chest.

“Come on! Come in!” she said, waving her arm.

You didn’t defy an order from Miss Lucinda.

Stepping fast, he walked over and entered the store, the lush aroma of chocolate assaulting him, salivary glands activated. Working at Love You Chocolate had been his first real job at age fourteen, other than chopping wood for his dad.

And Lucinda Armistead was like a grandmother to him.

“I understand you have developed an unnatural affinity for carrying a rat on your person?” she said, upfront and direct as always. Time had shrunk her. The imperious woman who scared the hell out of him as a teen was just a little old lady.

Regal and composed, sure.

But her time on Earth, living and breathing, was winding down.

“Not a rat,” Dennis said with a chuckle, surprised to hear himself reply from a position of certainty and stability. Maybe he really had grown up. Cupping Magic in his hand, he pulled the little beastie out to show her. “A sugar glider.”

Unimpressed, her face was a sheet of granite. “Normal people don’t walk around with a rat in their sweatshirt, Dennis.”

“Since when have I ever claimed to be normal, Miss Lucinda? He’s injured and needs a little extra foster care.

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