Page 69 of Love in Riverbend
Together, we walk to Dax’s car. It’s slick and black with an expensive logo on the front grill. “Not a good car for baling,” I say.
“Maybe a truck is in my future.”
“Don’t change for me, Molly, or Riverbend.”
“I’ll do whatever I need to do to earn your love, Kandace.”
“You have it. Please don’t break me again.”
He pulls me to him and takes my lips. When we pull apart, Dax grins. “I’ll be back.”
It’s the last thing we say before he gets into his car and drives away.
Every cell within me wants to believe him, yet I’m frightened.
I’m so frightened.
Telling me he’d return was the last thing he said six years ago.
Chapter 25
Kandace
“I can finally start paying you,” I say to Chloe as we ready for another busy Saturday at Quintessential Treasures.
“Is it official?”
“Mr. Murphy called me over to his office, and I signed on the dotted line. He said Dax didn’t want me to pay, but by the stipulations Ruth made…yada yada. It doesn’t matter. I wanted to pay. I had the money ready.” My smile grows. Lifting my arms, I spin around. “As of yesterday, Quintessential Treasures is officially mine.”
Chloe cheers. “Don’t even think of firing me. I can’t imagine sleeping in on Saturdays or not working my butt off.”
“I know. Isn’t it the best?”
She peers out the large windows where customers are beginning to congregate. “These festival weekends are crazy. Before we get all bogged down, tell me how often you’ve spoken with Dax since he left.”
My face fills with a grin. “Every night. He calls after nine, so he knows Molly is asleep and I have time to talk.”
“How’s it going in Chicago?”
“I really don’t know,” I say as I arrange a new line of lotions made by a woman in Riverbend. “He says he’s busy, but he doesn’t elaborate. Mostly, he asks about me and Molly, and we talk about things here.”
“You two are meant to be. You know that.”
“I know Dax has always been the man I love even when he was a boy. Molly asks about him every day. I don’t think I could bear if she’s heartbroken.”
Chloe crosses her arms over her breasts, covering the Quintessential Treasures monogram. “Dax has already contracted Mick for work on the house. That good-looking man is jumping in with both feet.”
The buzzer on my phone goes off and with a deep breath, I turn the sign and unlock the front door. As the hours pass, we are even busier than we were the week before. By the time we close the store at a little after five, I’m exhausted. The problem is that my dad set up a meeting with Lynell Jacobs to look at the upstairs.
“Do you want to grab a bite to eat?” Chloe asks. “Mick is helping out at the Gordon farm today, and they always put on a huge spread for the workers.”
“You mean you don’t want to go eat with a bunch of men who have been lifting bales of hay all day?”
Her nose wrinkles. “I don’t even want to be with one of those men until he showers. Twice.”
“We could go to the diner. Dad and Lynell Jacobs are supposed to be here at six.”
“Yeah,” Chloe says, “Mick said you were going to use both of them.”
