Page 120 of The Moment They Can't Forget

That made the women giggle.

“We’re discussing Zoe and JD,” her mother said.

“Mom!”

“Ah, I have an opinion on that,” Bradford said.

Zoe gulped down her drink.

“I think they are a great match. JD’s a cool guy but a bit uptight. I think you’ll loosen him up?—”

“Oh, I’m sure she does,” Nina said with a dirty laugh.

“Plus, he’s possibly one of the few guys in Lyntacky that will stand up to your brothers. He’s okay to look at, I guess, and he’s rich. He can argue about most things, which tells me he’s intelligent,” Bradford said, ticking off the points with his fingers.

“Typical of a man to approach this rationally,” Mrs. C said.

“He has a point about her brothers, though,” Cill said.

“They are good guys but total boneheads sometimes,” her mother said, which had them all laughing.

“Plus—and this is the biggest tick in his column for me—he loves animals,” Bradford said.

They all raised their glasses to that.

“I want him and Sawyer to remain friends,” Zoe said. “That friendship is important to both of them.”

“They will,” her mother said. “Sawyer and JD have talked.”

“What? When?”

“Yesterday.”

But he hasn’t called me because I hurt him.“Did he say when he was coming home?”

Her mother shook her head.

“We need to get you ready for when he does,” Nina said. “Let’s start waxing.”

“I love him,” Zoe whispered.

“Well, duh,” Nina said.

Zoe’s phone signaled a text.

“I’ll get it for you,” her mother said, reaching for Zoe’s bag. Taking out her phone, she handed it to her daughter, who read the message.

“JD is coming home tonight,” Zoe said, reading it again. “He’s coming home,” she said again, pressing the phone to her chest.

“That gives us time,” Nina said. “Now, let’s start with your bikini line. Bradford, look the other way.”

Chapter33

JD had arrived home after dark. The vise that had been clenched around his chest since he’d left Lyntacky and the people he loved most in the world had eased slightly as he drove down his drive.

Yes, he loved his family, but this was different. Zoe held his heart, and Sawyer might not be his blood, but he was his brother and understood him better than anyone.

Leaving his family all those years ago, he’d not planned to end up in a small town with crazy, invasive locals. Not planned to have a friend who communicated by grunting and a woman that had the power to destroy him with just a few words. But that was now his life.

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