After The Rain (One Pass Away #1) Read online

  “Me?”

  “Oh, crap. I got so far ahead of myself I forgot to ask. You’ll be my maid of honor, won’t you? Pug already asked his brother to be best man.”

  “I don’t know, Rhonda. Isn’t there someone you’re closer to? Or maybe a family member?”

  “Mama’s my only family.” Rhonda rolled her eyes. “She’ll come to the wedding because it will look bad if she doesn’t. Though just yesterday she was trying to talk me into going back to Elmer.”

  “No.” What the hell was wrong with Rhonda’s mama? Who wanted their daughter to be treated like a punching bag?

  “Yes,” Rhonda sighed. “‘Marriage is for life, Rhonda. In the eyes of God, Elmer will always be your husband.’“

  “Yikes,” Claire cringed. “God, marriage, and life. Three biggies. Was that supposed to be a guilt trip?”

  “Probably. It worked once.” Rhonda ran her tongue over the implant that had replaced her knocked-out tooth. “Since then, she’s like a broken record.”

  “I admire you, Rhonda. Leaving an abusive relationship takes a lot of inner strength.”

  “It’s what millions of women do every day.”

  “And millions don’t.” Claire frowned. “Christ, how screwed up is that? Millions.”

  “I know. I’m sorry I brought it up.” Rhonda slapped her hand on the counter. “Enough sad talk. This is a happy occasion. And you didn’t answer my question.”

  Since she couldn’t tell Rhonda the real reason she had come to Denville, she couldn’t explain that she would soon be leaving. The web of lies lured in more and more people.

  “Have you set a date?”

  “Why? Are you planning to leave town?” Rhonda tone teased until she saw the look on Claire’s face. “Oh, my God. Are you leaving? Does Logan know? When? Why? Will it be for good? How could you?”

  Any guilt Claire felt quickly dissipated in the face of Rhonda’s over the top response. For a moment, she found herself laughing too hard to respond.

  “This isn’t funny, Claire.” Rhonda’s lips twitched. “Damn it, stop laughing.”

  “I will as soon as you do.”

  “I’m not.”

  Rhonda tried, but she couldn’t hold out. Soon, she and Claire were laughing so hard, tears ran down their faces. This went on for several minutes. Finally, they calmed down enough to wipe at their wet cheeks.

  “Fine.” Breathless, Rhonda handed Claire a tissue. “I may have overreacted a bit.”

  “Just a little.” Claire was still smiling when she explained. “I get it, Rhonda. You’re worried that I’m going to abandon Logan. He’ll fall into a deep depression – one he’ll never crawl out of. The beard will return. He’ll start collecting stray cats.”

  “Enough,” Rhonda chuckled. “You can’t blame me, Claire. Logan is an important person in my life. I worry about him. Are you leaving?”

  Claire needed to discuss this with Logan. Rhonda was a gossip. However, when it came to something important, she could keep it locked up tighter than Fort Knox. If he was ready, it might be time to share what was going on. At least with a select few.

  “If the day comes that I need to leave Denville, Logan will be the first to know. I won’t sneak away. That’s all I can say for now, Rhonda.”

  “Is there a problem?” Rhonda took Claire’s hand. “You don’t have to share the details. I want you to know I’m here if you need me.”

  Claire felt close to tears again, but they had nothing to do with silly laughter. Rhonda wasn’t just her friend. She was her… friend. A confidant. Try as she might, Claire couldn’t remember if she ever had one of those before she came to Denville. Now, in the span of a few months, she had two.

  Rhonda was like a sister. Better. Claire’s sisters by blood were scattered to the wind. Before that, none of them had been close. She now knew what it was like to be close to another woman. Someone to share silly jokes with. To shop with.

  If Rhonda was her friend, Logan was her… best friend. Claire knew without hesitation, Logan was the first person she would go to if she were in trouble. Or had something good to share. Or simply wanted to hang out.

  He was the man she— That was where Claire cut herself off. The word love flitted briefly through her brain. Too soon, she screamed silently. If ever.

  “Are you okay?” Rhonda asked, frowning. “You’re looking a little green around the gills.” Rhonda gasped. “Are you pregnant? I felt the same way the first time. I couldn’t hold anything down and—”

  “Stop. God, Rhonda. First, you have me skulking out of town, and now, I’m pregnant. Once and for all. It’s no to both. Absolutely. No doubt about it. There will be no unplanned little Logans running around in nine months.”

  “Or eight.”

  “Rhonda!”

  “Would it be so terrible?” Rhonda sighed. “Babies are lovely. Pug and I plan on at least two. Maybe more.”

  “I don’t want children.”

  “What?” Rhonda screeched. “Never?”

  Rhonda’s cry of outrage shot straight through Claire’s eyeball. It was painful, yet somehow comical. This time, she kept her laughter to herself. It seemed Rhonda fell into that group of people who thought every woman longed to be a mother. Claire hated to break it to her friend, but that simply wasn’t true. At least not for Claire. Not now.

  “I don’t see myself as terribly maternal, Rhonda. Would it be fair to have a baby hoping I would feel different after it was here?”

  “No,” Rhonda conceded. “You could change your mind. You’re young.”

  “I’m not ruling out the possibility. When my life is more fixed, there’s a chance I’ll want to get pregnant.” When Rhonda started to speak, Claire quickly added, “That day is a long way off.”

  “Why? I don’t mean the baby part. Why isn’t your life fixed? What are you waiting for, Claire?” When Claire didn’t answer, Rhonda shook her head. “Okay. You don’t have to tell me. Just remember. Putting your life on hold, while you wait for something to happen, means you’re losing precious time you can never get back. I could have married Pug a year ago but told him it was too soon.”

  “Maybe it was.”

  “Too soon for what?” Rhonda demanded. “To be with the man I love? To be a real family? Nothing has changed in twelve months, Claire. I knew it wouldn’t. I let my lingering doubts, and stupid worries about what other people would think, stop me.”

  “I’ve never worried about what other people think.” Claire could say that one thing without reservation.

  “I’m getting there,” Rhonda said with a touch of envy. “I’ve narrowed it down to about a quarter of Denville and Pug. When I am able to say the only opinion, other than my own, that I care about is my future husband’s, I’ll be golden.”

  “You grew up here,” Claire reasoned. “When you know people that long, you can’t help but be influenced by what they think.”

  “Is that why you left Iowa? To get away from small town ideas?”

  Yes. Except Claire had never cared what her hometown thought of her. Blinders and earplugs. She put them on the day she decided to get out. If she had stopped to look around, she might have found a friend like Rhonda.

  Was that part of the reason she blocked everyone out? If there had been even one person to care about when she was growing up, would it have made leaving harder?

  The day Claire left Iowa, she did so without a single regret. She knew that wouldn’t be true when she left Denville. The difference was she didn’t have to cut Rhonda out of her life to move on. This time, she had a friend she planned to keep close. Even if it was from hundreds of miles away.

  “I would love to be your maid of honor.”

  “Really?” Rhonda threw her arms around Claire. “The wedding is in October. I love fall.”

  Laughing, Claire hugged her friend.

  October. The football season would be underway. Four or five games in. Logan would be starting for the Knights – Claire refused to believe otherwise – and sh
e would be an assistant trainer. Again, she wouldn’t let herself consider the alternative.

  Getting a day off might be tricky. It was something she would worry about when the time came. Right now, she would order a blue dress and hope for the best. For Rhonda’s wedding. For Logan’s comeback. For her career.

  With a small, silent whisper, she added – for a future with Logan.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Logan,” the breathy voice said near his ear. “You look good enough to eat. Did you miss me?”

  So close.

  Logan sighed. Five more minutes, He would have paid for his groceries, been out the door, and on his way home. Instead, he had to deal with Linda Sue Hemmings. Luck had been his friend since that December night Claire walked into his life. He supposed he was due a couple of bumps.

  If Linda Sue turned out to be the worst the fates had to throw at him, he would figure his luck held.

  “Linda Sue.”

  Logan put the bran flakes back on the shelf before turning around. How had he missed that perfume? It was French – Linda Sue made sure everyone knew. If she doused on any more of it, the French would pick up the scent all the way from Oklahoma.

  “What do you think?”

  Linda Sue posed, one hand on her hip, the other moving toward Logan. Deftly, he sidestepped her attempt at contact. Nice move, Price. There wasn’t a defensive lineman in the NFL as cagey as Linda Sue. If he could elude her grasp, he knew he was ready for Seattle.

  “Nice…? Shirt?”

  Logan hoped that was a satisfactory compliment. The sooner he figuratively gave Linda Sue a stroke, the sooner he could get home to Claire. This was their night off. Tuesdays were slow. His dad would close up after the last customer. If things held to form, midnight at the latest.

  Logan’s plans were all about Claire. Linda Sue was a pain in the ass he could do without.

  “Silly,” Linda Sue giggled. “I meant my tan. We just got back from Cozumel.” She leaned closer, her whisper conspiratorial. “Hint. I’m brown all over.”

  Logan looked around, hoping no one witnessed Linda Sue’s not so subtle maneuvers. He wasn’t worried about word getting back to Claire. She wasn’t the type to jump to unwarranted conclusions. Gossips could whisper all the trash they wanted, Claire would come to him for the truth. And he would tell it to her.

  Logan worried about Linda Sue’s husband. Darryl wasn’t the brightest bulb – being trapped into marriage by this harpy was testimony to that. However, he didn’t deserve to hear about his wife coming on to another man on the first day back in town.

  Not that Darryl had anything to worry about from this quarter. Logan wanted one woman and one woman only. The overdressed, over-perfumed, over-made-up Linda Sue held no interest to him. He hadn’t wanted her in high school or any of the times she had come on to him since he’d been back in Denville. He certainly didn’t want her now.

  He knew what it felt like to hold perfection. The thought of touching Linda Sue made Logan slightly sick to his stomach.

  “Welcome, home. I have someplace to be, Linda Sue.” Logan tried to push his cart toward the checkout aisle.

  Undeterred, Linda Sue wrapped a hand around his arm, her long, red, lacquered nails biting through his shirt.

  “I heard.” Linda Sue’s breath washed over his face. “Word has it you’ve gotten the lead back in your pencil. I’m sure your friend won’t mind if you share a little of it with an old friend.”

  “The problem was never my lack of lead, Linda Sue. It was all about who was doing the sharpening.”

  Mouth agape, Linda Sue watched Logan get away – again. She wanted him. Had wanted him for as long as she could remember. The best-looking boy in Denville, she had assumed he would want to date the best-looking girl. She never understood why he wasn’t interested.

  When Logan’s football career ended, Linda Sue knew that this time he would be hers. He had been thoroughly knocked off his high horse, and as before, she was the hottest woman around.

  Nothing changed. Logan rebuffed her every come-on. His excuse? She was a married woman. Linda Sue laughed. Nobody cared. Not even her husband. Darryl was so besotted, he let her do what she wanted with no repercussions.

  She took one more glance Logan’s way. She had been after him because he was the one that got away – her one defeat. Suddenly, she realized it was more than her ego. Linda Sue was in love. Or as close as she would ever get.

  Without that scruffy beard and long hair, Logan looked like a movie star. She sighed. For him, she would consider having children. Imagine the beautiful babies they would produce. All he had to do was ask and she would leave safe old Darryl in a heartbeat.

  Watching Logan leave the store without a backward glance, Linda Sue knew her dreams would never come true. She would never have Logan Price.

  Her back went stiff when a plump, brassy redhead sauntered up to her. God, she hated this town. You couldn’t turn around without someone being witness to your humiliation.

  “Why do you keep putting yourself out there, girl? Logan Price has never been interested. Now that he’s doing that blonde, he’s even less likely to take what you’re offering.”

  Charlene Thomas was Linda Sue’s closest friend. They had been thick as thieves since the first grade. So she felt justified in eavesdropping from one aisle over. Now that Logan shot the other woman down, she rushed over to rub salt in a very old wound. After all, what were friends for?

  “Who the hell is she?”

  “Logan’s piece of ass?” Charlene never pulled punches with her speech. Crude was her thing. “Some old girlfriend. She showed up just before Christmas and they’ve been going at it like rabbits ever since.”

  “Maybe she’s his… what do you call it?” Linda Sue wracked her brain. “Beard. That’s it.”

  Charlene laughed so hard she almost fell into the display of canned peas. “You think it’s all for show? Honey, go into the bar some night. If those two aren’t knocking boots on a regular basis, I’m a size two. And we both know I ain’t ever been one of those.”

  Linda Sue’s ears burned and her temper rose as she listened to Charlene cackle her way toward the bakery department. Bitch. Not just Charlene. It went for every woman she knew. Her so-called friends. Her mother-in-law.

  Before she died, Linda Sue’s mother qualified as the biggest bitch of all.

  Now, there was a new one. Claire Thornton.

  Linda Sue felt the blood rushing to her face. She stomped her foot like a petulant child denied a bright, shiny toy that she had coveted for most of her life. How dare Logan refuse what she offered? How could he want someone else? Men in this town would jump through hoops to be with her.

  Goddamn, Logan Price. Goddamn, his whore. The so-called love she had so graciously bestowed upon him just minutes earlier dissipated like a puff of smoke.

  They would pay. Linda Sue didn’t know when or how. She could wait. One day soon, she would find a way to make them both suffer.

  “Hey, Linda Sue.”

  Rafer Macafee sauntered over, his stomach straining at the buttons on his flannel shirt. In one hand, he had a can of Copenhagen, in the other a bottle of cheap whiskey. The grin on his face said that he deluded himself with the idea that he still possessed the somewhat limited appeal he had in high school.

  Linda Sue was about to set him straight when an idea percolated in her fevered brain. If there was one person in Denville who hated Logan more than she did, it was Rafer. She could use that.

  Pushing out her considerable chest, Linda Sue gave Rafer her best fake smile. The man disgusted her, but she had slept with worse to get what she wanted. If she played this right, she might get Rafer to do her dirty work with only a few kisses and a promise of things to come. He always had been dumber than dirt.

  “Hey, yourself,” she purred. When Linda Sue saw the interest in Rafer’s eyes intensify, she knew she had him. “You’re just the man I was looking for.”

  “WHEN WAS THE last time you went d
ancing?”

  “You mean on purpose?” Logan nuzzled Claire’s ear.

  They were sort of watching an old movie, though he had lost track of the plot after the first five minutes. Who cared what Fred and Ginger were up to when Claire was so close – smelling so damn good?

  “Have you ever accidentally gone dancing?”

  Claire tilted her head to allow Logan better access. She loved the feel of his lips. He had a knack for finding that one little spot that drove her crazy.

  “Can’t say that I have,” Logan chuckled.

  The vibration against her skin sent a lovely shiver through Claire’s body.

  “We should.” She knew it wasn’t a complete thought, but it was becoming more and more difficult for her to put together a sensible thought.

  “Definitely.” Logan’s teeth closed over her lobe. “What should we do?”

  I have no idea. Claire’s hand drifted up Logan’s thigh towards an interesting bulge between his legs that she wanted to check out.

  “Dancing?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You want to go dancing?”

  Why the hell would she want to go dancing when Logan’s hand was up her shirt, teasing the slope of her breast? One more second and he would have it out of that pesky bra.

  “I’m not big on it, but we can give it a go once we’re back in Seattle.”

  “Logan.” Claire took his face in her hands, her eyes meeting his. “Stop talking. Your mouth should be occupied doing crazy good things to my body. Now!”

  “Bossy Claire is my favorite,” Logan said with a wicked grin.

  She was about to tell him where he could shove it when he did what she asked. He put his mouth on her body. Her lips, to be exact.

  The kiss went from teasing to tempestuous in a heartbeat. By the time they came up for air, their clothes were strewn in every direction and they had equally satisfied smiles on their faces.

  “I know I should get up.” Claire snuggled closer. Logan’s arms tightened around her.

  “Why?”

  “Because tomorrow is a big day. We need to get some sleep.”