Once in a Lifetime by Jill Shalvis

Author:Jill Shalvis [Shalvis, Jill]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Adult
ISBN: 9781478925606
Amazon: 1455521132
Barnesnoble: 1455521132
Goodreads: 17899855
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2014-02-18T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

With a week and a half left until her grand-opening party, Aubrey stood in the crap-food aisle of the grocery store, trying to decide between cool ranch and salt-and-vinegar potato chips. It was an important decision, and one she took very seriously. Whichever flavor she picked would be keeping her company through tonight’s TV session. She went back and forth for a ridiculously long moment before deciding the hell with it and tossing both in her cart. That’s when she saw the barbecue-flavored chips as well. Damn. She wasn’t supposed to be able to choose between them all, was she? She was reaching for a third bag when she heard her name.

Turning, she came face-to-face with Pastor Mike, smiling his easy smile.

She quickly backed away from the barbecue chips and briefly wished she had fruit and vegetables in her cart. Which was silly. Pastor Mike was a man, not God. He didn’t care how many bags of potato chips she consumed. And probably God didn’t care, either. Still, she moved to stand in front of the cart so he couldn’t get a good look at its contents, which so far consisted of Advil and the chips.

“How are you?” Pastor Mike asked.

“Great.” She wanted that third bag of chips.

Pastor Mike smiled. “Is that why you’re chip-loading? Because you’re great?”

She sighed and glanced at her cart. “Saw that, did you?”

He smiled. “I love those salt-and-vinegar chips.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

“So,” he said in that calm voice. “How are you really?”

“Well, as you can clearly see, I just loaded about ten thousand calories of chips into my cart, so…” She shrugged.

“I’ve been hoping you’d come to another meeting.”

“Oh, I don’t think—”

“There’s one tonight.” He flashed a charming smile. “Better for you than chip therapy.”

“Is there anything better than chip therapy?”

“No,” he admitted. “But this would be really close. We’d love to see you there. It’s at eight thirty.”

Well, hell. “Maybe.” She paused. “And thanks. You’ve been so kind—and helpful, too.”

He cocked his head, eyes curious. “I haven’t done anything.”

She thought about the list and how she was working her way down it. And how, in spite of having about a fifty-percent success rate at the moment, it’d felt really good to face those ghosts. “You did a lot,” she said. “You motivated me.”

He smiled. “Well, then, I’m glad. You’ve got my number if you need a ride. Otherwise I hope to see you tonight.”

She nodded and then went through the checkout. And if she added a candy bar from the evil, evil rack right before the cash register, no one but she had to know.

She had one more stop to make before heading home, and suddenly she needed the candy bar to face it. Chocolate courage, she decided. She inhaled it and then headed to the Love Shack. She knew that someone from her list went there every night for a quick nightcap before heading home.

Sue Henderson.

Back when Aubrey had been eighteen, Sue had been an assistant DA. She’d moved up the ranks in the years since.

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