Page 64 of Hello Tease

Bernice raised her eyebrows like my suggestion surprised her.

“Bad idea?” I asked nervously.

“Not that. Most people just want better chairs for the break room, things like that.”

I chuckled. “I mean, that would be nice too.”

She smiled at me, like she was seeing through me. “I know you love being a nurse, but I won’t be able to work here forever. With your heart, I could see you doing a great job as a leader here.”

My eyes stung at the compliment. At someone seeing my good qualities instead of looking for the negative, like Seth and his parents. Was there some kind of magic about Cottonwood Falls that led me to Knox and now this? “That means a lot, Bernice.”

“Oh, honey,” she said, reaching out and patting my hand. “I call it like I see it, you know that.”

I smiled and nodded. “I do. Thank you.”

“Let me think on the yoga and I’ll get back to you, okay?”

“Sounds great.”

She left my office, and I had to wonder how I could feel so many different emotions in the span of a few hours. But now a sense of desperation was covering it all. It felt like I could have a real future here in Cottonwood Falls, not just a stopover while I was recovering from the divorce. But how could I have a real future here when the choice was stay with the man I was falling for or support myself and my children?

My phone vibrated on my desk, and I half hoped it was one of the more affordable childcare centers calling to let me know a spot had miraculously opened for both of my children.

Instead, it was a new text message.

Liv: Are we still on for lunch?

“Shit,” I muttered. I’d completely forgotten we’d set a lunch date for when I came back from Dallas. There was so much going on in my personal life, I wanted to cancel and sulk by myself in the break room, brainstorm new ideas, but Liv knew so much more about Cottonwood Falls than I did—maybe she could help me come up with a solution.

But first I needed to text Knox and see if they needed me over my break.

Larkin: Hey, everything good there? Do you need me to come home and help at lunch?

After a few minutes, I got a text. A picture of Emily on a horse.

“Oh my gosh,” I whispered to myself as I zoomed in on the picture. Emily was smiling so big up there. She was having the time of her life. How could I let Seth and Nancy take this away from her?

Larkin: That’s amazing!!! How did you make that happen?!

Knox: Took the kids out to my dad’s!

He sent me another picture of him holding Jackson, a red barn in the background. At this point, my heart was a puddle.

Larkin: Have I mentioned you’re the best?

That I’m falling in love with you? I didn’t add that last part, but it was more than true.

My feelings were coming so fast, so strong, but Knox was so different from any man I’d known. Liv had been right to hope there’d be something between us.

I changed my messages to the thread with Liv and texted her back.

Larkin: I’ll be there.

But then I flipped my phone over so I could focus on these charts until it was time for my lunch break.

I was walking to Woody’s Diner when my phone rang with a call from Knox. Hoping everything was okay, I answered and said, “How’s it going? No broken bones? No one bucked off a horse?”

“We’re great, more than great,” he said.

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