Page 81 of Love Me Boldly

He chuckled. “You’ve gotten sassier since college. I like it. Unblock my number.”

“How do you know I haven’t deleted it?”

“You haven’t.” He rocked back on his heels.

“How very presumptuous of you.”

Graham’s grin continued to grow larger. “Maybe, but I know you have it. You might have done what you thought was right, but that doesn’t mean you wanted to say goodbye to me completely.”

I glared at him.

He smirked. “Tell me you deleted it, then, and be honest about it.”

I was a lot of things, but I wasn’t a liar. “How do you get that large head through the neck hole of your shirts?”

His hands went to the bottom hem of his shirt and curled around it. “Want me to show you?”

“No,” I cried and yanked my gaze back on Jonah. But I was smiling, and it seemed stuck there. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wipe it away.

“Unblock me, Holly.” I swore he’d moved closer. “And don’t skip out on seeing me tomorrow. I won’t give up nearly as easily as I did all those years ago.”

With that parting threat, he turned and whistled as he headed back to his gray truck.

I hadn’t seen it when we hurried up to Mellie’s, but I wouldn’t forget it.

If he was intent on sticking around, I still believed it was smarter for me to avoid him.

Maybe after tomorrow night, he’d finally see how beneficial that would be to both of us.

TWENTY-SIX

HOLLY

I slid the bill and folder onto the customer’s table and cleared away their plates. “Thank you for stopping by tonight. Y’all have a great night.”

“Thanks. You too.” The woman smiled up at me while the gentleman with her pulled the bill folder toward him.

Dinner rush was insanity. I couldn’t figure out what made tonight different than any other, and I certainly wasn’t complaining, but for the first time in over a year, we still had people waiting outside on picnic tables for dinner, and it was well after seven. Usually we were winding down by now, but I couldn’t move quick enough tonight to help bus tables and take orders and deliver food.

The bonus was that it made time go by faster, and while I swerved around tables and chairs to dump the plates in my hand into a bin, I didn’t have time to think of Graham or tomorrow night.

I dumped the plates and took the cleaner and cloth to tables in the old smoking section that needed to be cleaned. The sooner I got the tables cleaned and cleared, the sooner diners could get their food and then eventually, give me a minute to breathe. Luckily for me, since I insisted Caroline take Saturdays off, she and Paul kept Jonah for a sleepover. He was taken care of.

Graham was gone, at least for tonight, and all I had left were the worries I was trying not to think about until Dr. Myers called.

It had all started with stomach pain. At first it was worsening cramps around my cycle. Then the cramps lingered. My stomach swelled slightly, but not really enough for anyone but me to notice due to the fit of most of my clothes. I’d thought I was retaining water. Maybe eating too many fries. But when I started working out, substituting fries for salad, and things continued to worsen, I figured it was time for a visit. I’d convinced myself it was all in my mind for a while. Things in my life weren’t typically good, and since I was actually settled and Jonah was mostly happy and doing well in school, I was just creating a problem in my mind because I didn’t know how to relax and be at peace.

But then my bloodwork came back a littleoff,according to my doctor. My Pap smear showed inconclusive results.

Now, I was waiting, but everything on Google told me what I’d already started to suspect. And the worry in my doctor’s tone didn’t help. I’d set to searching online, and all the results came back worse than the one before…

Something was most definitely wrong with me.

Cancer. It was the worst possible conclusion to jump to. I was far too young. And yet, it was there every time I searched, making my head spin with fear and worry, not for me, but for Jonah. Of course my life wouldn’t be as pretty as everyone else’s. Of course something else would go wrong just when I finally had my feet on firm footing. It was the way my life rolled.

“Hey, Holly.” I jumped at hearing my name and spun.

“Hi, Emily. What’s up.” I quickly scanned the restaurant.

---