Page 69 of Small Town Firsts

“Is that even a real question?”

“No, ma’am, I just wanted to hear that sweet, sleepy voice of yours.” I can feel my cheeks pinken at his swoon-worthy words.

“Well, get in here, babe.” Setting the tray at the end of the bed, Cash carefully gets back into bed before passing me my coffee—with just the right amount of half-n-half—along with a plate of bacon and fruit. Maybe not the most balanced meal, but it’s perfect to me. Just like the man who made it.

“Hey, Cash?”

“Yeah?”

I fidget, turning to face him a little more fully. “Would you wanna come with me to my doctor’s appointment Friday? I mean, you don’t have to, but?—”

Cash silences me with a quick kiss. “Darlin’, there’s no other place I’d rather be. Text me the time and address, and I’ll be there.”

“You’re something else, Cash. An entirely different breed of man. The kind my Grams always said they didn’t make anymore, but I know she’d be gaga over you.”

“Well, that’s an honor, from what you’ve told me about her.” Yep, he knows every right thing to say to make my heart pitter-patter. “Now, eat up. We both have busy work days.”

CHAPTER 37

MYLA ROSE

“Yup,my appointment’s at ten, Simon,” I huff out, struggling to hold my phone and get dressed. “Sim, hang on. Gotta put you on speaker.”

“Do you want me to come with you? This is the big appointment, right?”

“It sure is. But, no. You don’t have to come with. Cash is.”

“Cash, huh? Y’all serious?”

“I–I love him. So, yeah, it’s pretty serious.”

“Well damn, girl. Look at you all grown up.”

I can’t help the laugh that topples from my lips. “I’ve been grown.”

He responds with a deep chuckle of his own. “You keep telling yourself that, Myles. No matter what, I’ll always see you as that scrawny little freckle-faced girl with knobby knees and braces.”

His words transport me back to when we first met.

I was sitting on Grams’ porch—like I’d been doing every day since Mama dropped me off a week ago, waiting for her to change her mind and come back.

I was staring down at my lap, drawing shapes in the dirt on the bottom step, when a raspy voice called out, “She ain’t coming back. You gotta know that.”

I looked up, only to come eye-to-eye with the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen. Blue like a swimming pool on a hot summer’s day. Far too pretty for a boy, but belonging to a boy all the same. “S–she might,” I told him defiantly. I could tell he was older, but not by too much.

“Naw. She ain’t. Heard your Grams telling my mom. She’s gone.” I burst into tears at his words, realization blanketing me. “Now, don’t cry, girl.”

But I can’t help it. I devolved into a teary, snotty mess. She may not have been a good mother, but she was all I’d ever known.

“C’mon, please don’t cry.” The boy wrapped me tightly in his arms and held me until my tears dried. “You’re better off without her.”

“You think so?” I asked, taking the time to really look at him. He was scrawny, with matted hair and covered with dirt smudges.

“I know so. Now, what’s your name?”

“Myla Rose,” I told him, thankful to have a friend.

We both startled when from beyond the clearing, we heard a booming voice roar, “SIMON, YOU GET YOUR ASS HOME, BOY.”

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