Page 67 of Home Town

“I’m sorry, sweetie. He didn’t say he would be. I think he’s hoping to get approved for active duty. If the doctor clears it, of course.”

“Of course.” She had to get out of this conversation. Now. “I’d better get back to work setting up the web page for those gala tickets.”

“Okay, sweetie. Thanks again.” With a wave Marie went into her house.

Josie collapsed onto her bed.

He hadn’t even said goodbye.

As much as she’d pretended she was prepared for this—for him leaving once again—she realized she’d been lying to herself.

She wasn’t prepared for how this felt. She might be older but the pain was no less intense than it had been when she was a teenager.

And that’s what she got for letting herself fall one more time for Corey Jacobs.

The text message alert had her jumping up off the bed to look for where she’d laid her phone.

The first thought to enter her head was Corey.

She was ready to slap herself for that vain hope and the resulting disappointment when she saw the name on her display was instead Kirk.

Forcing her breathing to slow, she swiped the screen and read the text.

Kirk

Had a great time last night! Dinner tonight? Wings at the Muddy River?

She didn’t even have to think about her answer, only how to word it.

Thanks but working. Tons to do for the gala. Gonna be tied up until then.

It wasn’t a lie. She did have a To-Do list as long as her arm. She would be busy from now until this event was over.

What she left out was that she was actively trying to keep herself as busy as possible with work because it was the only way she knew how to keep herself from descending into that dark hole of misery she’d fallen into the first time he’d loved her and left her.

Kirk was cute. And nice. Fit and tan. The kind of guy who’d turned girls’ heads last night at the drive-in. And he seemed to really like her.

He was everything that she should be attracted to. Interested in. Great boyfriend potential. Except for one thing…

He wasn’t Corey.

Chapter Thirty-One

“Lapses in memory?” the doctor asked.

“Um, occasionally.”

“How often?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Once a week or week in a half, I guess.”

“Dizziness?”

“A bit.”

“Headaches?”

“No. Not really.” Unless the headache that Josie’s date with Kirk had given him counted.

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