One Last Call (17 page)

“Call me Sarah.”

“Sarah,” Julie’s voice became serious and businesslike. “I think that would be doable.”

“Wonderful. So, I will see you at three o’clock tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there!”

“Oh, and Julie?”

“Yes?”

“Wear comfortable shoes.”

Sarah said her goodbyes and was surprised she sounded so normal under the circumstances.

Josh knocked before announcing himself. “Sarah, it’s me. Can I come in, honey?”

Sarah blotted away the residual tears from earlier and cleared her throat. “Come in.”

He nudged the door open, shoving the chair barrier along with it. So much for that false sense of security. About six feet of gorgeous man stepped over the threshold, carrying a serving tray with an icy glass of pop and what looked like a basket of hot, buttered rolls. Sarah stacked her papers and shoved them to the side so he could put the tray down.

“Now, I know you only wanted Dr. Pepper…”

“Diet.”

“I got you diet, darlin’. Anyway, I thought some bread might help sooth your stomach.”

“How did you know my stomach needed soothing?”

Josh stared down at where Sarah was holding a hand against her midsection.

“Just a guess. Tell you what, you start sippin’ on your soda pop, and I’ll get your roll all set up with cinnamon butter.”

“But I’m not…”

“I know, you’re not hungry. Still, your stomach needs somethin’ to work on. Come on, take a few bites for me. I hear the dinner rolls here are legendary.”

That made Sarah smile. “I know they are. I’m the one telling everyone that.” The bread basket was overflowing with enough servings for four people. “Thank you. Why did you get so many? I’ll be lucky to eat one.”

He eyed the food. “I was hungry too, and they smelled so damn delicious that I couldn’t resist adding a few more in case you wanted to share.” Josh grabbed the chair resting against the door and set it next to her. “So, do you?”

Sarah took a sip from her straw. Ah, now that was good. “Do I what?”

“Do you want to share some legendary dinner rolls with me?”

“Oh! Of course. Help yourself. I don’t know where my mind is.”

“It’s all right, Sarah.”

“Do you want something else to eat? Go back to the kitchen and order whatever you want. Tell them it’s on me.”

“That’s generous, sweetheart, really. I can buy my own dinner. I was fixin’ to before the karaoke stuff got messed up.”

“You were fixin’ to?” Sarah did a bad impression of a southern accent.

“Yeah, I was…hey, now! You pokin’ fun at me?”

“Only a little. I like to listen to you talk.”

“I like to listen to you talk.”

“Really? Why? I don’t have an accent.”

“You don’t need one. Gettin’ to hear your voice after all these years is enough for me.”

Josh went about slathering cinnamon butter on the roll like frosting. The butter to bread ratio was skewed in favor of the butter, but Sarah didn’t say anything. He set it in front of her on a carefully opened napkin. Sarah watched his hands move over his task. They were large, with short blunt nails and a few scar lines here and there over the back of them. They were beautiful, masculine, and looked strong enough to fix anything.

If only he could fix me.
Sarah shook her head. She refused to think of herself as broken. She was a little bent out of shape, but she would be fine.

Josh nudged the roll closer to her. “Take a bite and make me feel better.”

Sarah bit into the majority of the butter until she hit bread. The cinnamon butter squished up to the roof of her mouth in an explosion of comforting flavor. “Mmm.”

Josh watched her eat until the last bite had been chewed, swallowed, and rinsed down with her soft drink. He encouraged her to take more sips until the glass was almost empty.

“I thought you were hungry.”

“I was. Watchin’ you eat is more fun. You make cute little sounds of appreciation as you go.”

“I do not.”
Did she?

“Do so.”

Sarah was embarrassed to think that she moaned her way through food. If she did that when she ate, did she…

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” He didn’t know what she was thinking.

“Yes, you make sounds of appreciation in
everything
you’re enjoyin’.”

SARAH
was blushing something fierce. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought up that she was a moaner. Not under the circumstances. He didn’t want to remind her of Richard.

“Sorry, I didn’t think.”

“No. What happened between you and me is nothing like what Richard tried.” She pressed the napkin to her lips and continued. “What he did…that wasn’t about making love. That wasn’t even about sex. What Richard had in mind was about some sick, twisted need for power over me.”

“Your ex-husband can’t get away with attempted”—her gaze flicked up to meet his—“assault. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him. Hell, he’s lucky you didn’t kill him. That bastard needs arrested, Sarah. If you don’t press charges, I’m going after him myself.” Josh thought another swift kick in the nuts was in order too.

“I’ll call Seth in the morning. I don’t want to talk to anyone else tonight.”

“I thought you went ahead and called him. Who were you talkin’ to before I came in?”

Sarah wrote something on a form in front of her and slipped it into a folder. “Julie, a new waitress I hired. She starts tomorrow.”

“So you’re done with business now?”

She looked her desk over and set everything in neat little piles. A chain of paperclips got shoved into a drawer. “For now.”

“Great, you’re goin’ home.”

“Excuse me?”

“C’mon, sweetheart. My chariot is gassed up and ready.”

She must have forgotten her Mini Cooper was still in the shop. Sarah sat back and rubbed her hands over her face. “I’m so damn tired.” Her fingers left little black smudges of makeup under her eyes. She saw the mascara smears and groaned. “I probably look like a raccoon.”

Josh handed her a napkin so she could wipe away the rest. “Cutest raccoon I ever saw.” He took her hand and tugged her out of the seat. “Come on. I’ll drop you off at home.”

“You’re not going to…never mind.” Sarah was a proud woman. Hell would freeze over before she admitted she wanted him to stay with her.

“I got some stuff to take care of.”

“Of course you do. You can go if you want.” She dropped his hand and motioned toward the broken door. “I’ll catch a ride with Sophie.”

“No, you won’t. You’ll catch a ride with me.” He gathered her purse and phone and held them under one arm.

“What’s your fascination with carrying my purse? You need to get your own.”

“Cute.” At least she was still showing some sass. That was a good sign. “C’mon. Ally said she’d take care of closin’ up. If we leave now, we’ll miss Sonny’s turn at singin’. I think he’s up next.”

Sarah’s eyes widened in mock alarm. “In that case, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Josh took her by the hand again and laced his fingers with Sarah’s. “C’mon. We’ll head out the back and make our escape.”

“Good. As soon as I get home, I’m taking an extra hot bubble bath and drinking half a bottle of wine.”

There went Josh’s bathtub Sarah fantasy again. The steam, the golden hair, those teasing bubbles barely covering the taut points of her…Damn, he needed to get a grip. “Sounds like a plan. If you need any help scrubbin’ those hard-to-reach places, let me know.”

Sarah paused by the destroyed doorjamb. “I thought you had things to do.”

“Yeah, I do. Shouldn’t take me long, though.” He hoped. Some things were tricky in the dark. “I could get back to your place before your fingers start to get pruney.”

She laughed since she didn’t know he was serious. “I think I can manage a bath on my own.”

“Suit yourself. You’re the one’ll be missin’ out on one of my world-class foot rubs.”

He led her out the back and did a visual sweep of the parking lot to make sure that her ex hadn’t decided to hang around. Most likely, Richard was home nursing his wounds and icing down his nuts. That is if they’d dropped back down from his stomach yet.

“Are they anything like your shoulder massages?”

“Better even.”

Sarah fell quiet for a few minutes as they rounded to the front of the bar where his truck was parked. A couple of college-age guys in concert T-shirts were standing near the exit, smoking cigarettes and talking trash to each other. Josh gave them a nod, and Sarah waved at them.

She settled into her seat and took her purse and phone from him. “I didn’t know you had another truck besides the tow truck. I like it.” Sarah was referring to his silver F-150.

“The tow truck is for work. This one’s for pleasure.” He grinned when her gaze shot up to meet his. “I mean, for when I’m not workin’.”

“Do you still have the old Mustang?”

Now there was a car that was used for pleasure. That brought back some fond memories of him and Sarah testing the boundaries of teenage passion. “Sure do. Dad’s got it in the back lot. We’re still tinkering with it. Wanna see it?”

“Maybe some other time. Too bad you have stuff to do.” Sarah buckled in and folded her hands primly on top of her purse. She was remembering too.

“Hmmm.” He started the engine and fiddled with the radio.

“So, what is it you have to do?” Sarah bit her lip. “Never mind. None of my business.”

“Got a few things that can’t wait.” That’s all he could really say about it.

“Okay. Thank you for the ride home.”

“It’s my pleasure, honey.” He pulled out of the parking lot and started planning how fast he could get his stuff done.

“Josh?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not afraid of you if that’s what you’re worried about.” It never occurred to him that Sarah would be afraid of him.

“I know that, darlin’. I’m as harmless as a bunny.”

“A thumper bunny in heat, you mean.”

“See? I told you that you could call me Thumper if you wanted to do the bunny thing again.” Josh laughed at her scrunched up face.

“Pass.”

“On which part?”

“Calling you Thumper!” She gave him a playful shove to the arm.

“So that means you’re still up for gettin’ bunny with me?”

She shook her head. From what Josh could see of her expression in the dim truck cab, Sarah was grinning. Josh considered that a win.

“All right, Sarah. Just puttin’ it out there. Let’s get you on home.”

“Home sounds wonderful.”

“Sure does.”

* * * *

After saying good-night to Josh with what she considered a way too short kiss, Sarah tiptoed around the house so she wouldn’t wake up her mom. It was late, and Lucy was normally in bed by ten. Sarah took a hot, soothing bath and let Calgon take her away for a while.
Dear God
, that was so good on her poor, aching muscles. Soaking in the tub felt indulgent. Drinking a glass of moscato while sunk to her neck in bubbles was heaven. After the last few days, Sarah figured she’d earned a little pampering without guilt. She couldn’t stop imagining Josh in there with her, though. He would have helped soothe her aches better than the bath.

Strangely enough, she hadn’t shared a bath with someone else since she was six and Sophie was four. Richard had always wanted his privacy, and she’d never gotten to the shared bath or shower stage with any of her past boyfriends. She bet Josh wouldn’t be shy where that was concerned. Sarah mentally added that to her bucket list, along with finding out what Josh’s tattoo was.

Sarah still slept in her childhood bedroom, although it had been overhauled to represent her adult side. After her divorce, she’d left all the bedding and bought new stuff that was to her taste and not Richard’s. He favored blacks and whites. He liked everything colorless. It was depressing. Her queen-sized quilt was a patchwork of blue and cream. Now that she thought about it, the blue had a suspicious similarity to the cobalt shade of Josh’s eyes. Deep blue mixed with a splash of gray.

She’d always loved Josh’s striking blue eyes. Since the day he’d caught her staring at him in study hall, she’d been a goner. Sarah remembered how he’d walked into the classroom with a casual air of bored disinterest, tossed his books on the table, and took a seat. All day, she’d caught fleeting glimpses of him as he passed by in the hallway in between classes. This was the first time she’d gotten a chance to really study him up close. Everything about Josh Logan attracted her attention, from his light brown hair all the way down to his scuffed boots. She couldn’t
not
look at him.

Sarah had heard the gossip about Josh Logan. Teenage bad boy from down south. She hadn’t known what he’d done that was so bad, and no one else seemed to have any specific details either. Whatever it was made him intriguing compared to the other boys she’d gone to school with forever. He was different, and in Madison Falls, different was good. She couldn’t help but be drawn to him.

Josh’s eyes were downcast toward the table, and his square jaw seemed slightly tense as if he had something that was bothering him. In an instant, Sarah wanted to learn everything she could about him. What was bothering him? What was his favorite song? What was his middle name, and did he have a girlfriend back home? Was he homesick? How many girls had he kissed, and was he good at it? With those perfect lips, Sarah would guess that would be an absolute yes, he’d be an exceptional kisser.

She’d probably never get her answers since her shyness outweighed her curiosity. Sarah wouldn’t even know how to approach a boy like him, so talking to Josh was out of the question. He looked like he wanted to be left alone anyway. Still, Sarah didn’t see the harm in checking him out, learning what she could from a distance.

Safe in thinking he wouldn’t notice her, it threw Sarah for a loop when he glanced up and stared right back at her. Her breath caught in her throat. She’d been so surprised, she forgot to look somewhere else. Josh checked to his left and to his right, then back to her. Did he think she was staring at someone else? How the hell was she supposed to play it cool when eye contact with him caused a flurry of butterflies to take off in her stomach?

Don’t mind me, just adoring you from afar over here.