Page 6 of Only By You: Prequel
She stiffens as those fluttering lashes rise.
As best I can, I push out the words I should’ve spoken months ago, “I’m here because you owe me a date, Miss Ball.”
Stunned, she gapes at me. “I do?”
“She does?” Shawn blurts out. I turn in his direction with what I hope is a heated glare in warning, and when his face flames before breaking eye contact and looking elsewhere, I take the win.
Focusing on my reason for being here, I nod. “You do. You may recall, a little over two months ago, we ran into each other at the farmer’s market,” I say, my attention solely trained on her and not the three other sets of ears, now including her mother at the top of the stairs, listening in. “We reached for the same jar of Mrs. Betty’s homemade peach jam. You fumbled trying to hand it back to me—you couldn’t stop apologizing.” I chuckle. “And do you remember what happened next?”
She smiles, wider this time. “You dropped the jar on the pavement. Shattered the whole thing to pieces,” she says.
“Me?” I bark out a laugh. “I think we both know who dropped that jar, darlin’.”
Finally,finally,I get a laugh out of her. The same airy, sweet sound she graced me with all those weeks ago. It was more than music to my ears—it was a calling. I knew, right then and there, I could listen to that laugh for the rest of my damn life. I had to make her mine.
And that’s what I’ve been trying to do every day since.
“Mrs. Betty was so upset.” She giggles. “It was her last jar of peach.”
“It was.” I grin. “I paid for that broken jar, two of her raspberry jams, and—”
“And you asked me if I wanted to join you for a picnic that afternoon,” she muses, a sparkle in her eye as she recalls what happened next. “I told you I’d love to, but…I had to get back to my shift at the office.”
My heart swells.She remembers.
“Took me a while to find out who you were. I suppose I have that car horn busting my eardrum to thank,” I say. “And when I saw you…I wasn’t sure what to say. Or if you’d remember an ugly mug like mine…but a day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t recalled your beautiful face and how you dropped an entire jar of jam at my feet.” I hold out my hands with my palms raised. “So, darlin’, how about that date?”
Her smile steadily grows.
Someone clears their throat, stealing her attention—much to my displeasure—and I quickly realize it was therealunwanted guest in the room: Shawn. “As great as that speech was, whoever you are. Unfortunately, Julie andIhave a date this evening. So, if you’ll excuse us—” He takes Julie by the arm and tugs her toward him with a hard yank.
At her gasp of surprise, I move before I can think better of it. Clamping a heavy hand around his wrist, I twist.Hard. He squeals like a pig ready for slaughter, whimpering for release.
“Touch her like that again, and it’ll be the last mistake you make,” I growl.
I loosen my grip as he reels backward, eyes wide as his back slams against the door. “Is this some kind of joke?” he shouts, panicked eyes darting between Julie and her parents. “We had an agreement, William. I marry your daughter, and you get to live out the rest of your life knowing she’s with someone who can afford to take care of a family. Unlike half this damn waste of a town with families who can’t rub two dimes together.”
“Watch yourself, boy,” William says loudly, drawling out the anger in his tone. “You live in this damn town, too. It’s about time you start learning to respect it for the sanctuary that it is.”
Mrs. Ball has made her way down the stairs, coming to stand beside her husband with a glare of her own. “Amen to that.”
Clearly flustered, Shawn bristles, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve. “And here I thought a man’s word was law around here. Seems a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”
As proud as I’ve known William to be from word of mouth, he deflates a little at Shawn’s words. His gaze sweeps to his daughter. And I hate the look he’s giving her. The one that says,He’s right.
I open my mouth to argue my point until Bill Ranger’s cows come home thatIwas promised a date long before any deal was made, but Julie halts my readying words in their tracks.
She steps a bit closer to me, a slight mischievous curl to the corner of her lip as she eyes me before facing her parents. I can’t help but grin a little when her posture straightens.
What is she up to?
“I did agree to go on a date this evening,” she says, gesturing openly between her parents and…Shawn.
My smile immediately falls. Heart in the very pit of my stomach. Thoughts of how I can change her mind begin to rapidly swirl, colliding with one another in a panic.
Shecannotchoose him over me.
“And out of respect for my parents,” she continues, “I will be.”
