Free Rum and Raindrops: A Blueberry Springs Chick Lit Contemporary Romance by Jean Oram

his wife were no longer together and that his kids had grown up in Blueberry Springs, but not much beyond that.
    “I don’t change the subject when anyone asks.”
    Okay, she had to give him that one.
    She scratched her neck and glanced over her shoulder toward the wide doorway that led into the store. Maybe a customer had come in and they hadn’t heard them enter. She should go check.
    “Don’t run off. There are no customers,” Wally said sternly.
    “I wasn’t.” She crossed her arms, then realized she wasn’t helping, and held the chain out of the way so Wally could pull the tire.
    “I think the next step in your journey is to let people in,” Wally said.
    “What journey?”
    Wally continued to work, head bent.
    “I let people in,” she said. She hated it when he clammed up and she wanted him to spill everything on his mind. She was like a cat and he was curiosity. He was going to kill her with his games.
    Wally glanced at her and she recalled Amber’s shocked expression when she’d discovered Jen hadn’t talked to her parents in years. She sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay, but why can’t anyone understand that I’m better off without them?”
    “Without whom?”
    “My parents.” She crossed her arms again.
    “Why’s that?” His tone conversational, his attention focused on getting the tread off the bicycle rim so he could swap out the split tube for a new one.
    “People break promises.” Jen’s voice was hard and full of pain she hadn’t realized was still as deep as ever. “People don’t care how you feel when they rip your life apart. They…they betray you. They make you think they care and you get all wrapped up in loving them and then they sleep with your best friend!”
    Wally’s head popped up in surprise.
    “And now,” Jen continued in a wobbly voice, “you’re saying I should do something I can’t.” Her voice grew tight with held back tears. “I can’t let people in, Wally. I’m in trouble. Big trouble and it might get really bad.”
    Wally’s brow wrinkled, but he remained silent, not coming in for a hug or any of the things she thought he would. Instead, he kept on working, giving her space to sort herself out so she wouldn’t run away.
    Wally put the tire back together, fitting it back onto the bike frame. “I found having a social network to be reassuring during difficult times. Lawsuits can be very difficult emotionally, physically even.”
    Jen’s body stilled. “What do you mean?”
    “A social network can determine whether one makes it out okay.”
    “I meant the lawsuit.”
    Wally turned away, resting his wrench on the workbench behind him, shoulders drawn.
    “Have you been to court?” she asked.
    “The divorce wasn’t kind to me, Jen.” He turned to face her. “But people around town supported me. Even people I thought of as only acquaintances. People who were supposed to be on the other side.”
    He met Jen’s eye and for some reason she thought of Rob. Wally gave her a small nod as though reading her thoughts. Really? Rob?
    He gave another slight nod, a tiny smile tugging the corner of his lips.
    It felt as though someone had taken heeled boots to her chest and knocked her a good one.
    She couldn’t love Rob!
    Love? What did love have to do with it?
    She needed to get a grip.
    “Am I going to be okay, Wally?” she asked, her voice weak.
    “We’re social beings. Our bodies release chemicals when we touch each other. We need contact, Jen. Just like newborns need skin-to-skin contact, adults do, too.”
    “I don’t need a boyfriend,” she said darkly. What was it about Blueberry Springs wanting to hook up all the single gals anyway? “Life’s complicated enough as it is.”
    “Contact tells our bodies to relax and that we aren’t under attack. Lowers our stress response. Improves our overall physical health.”
    “Well, aren’t you Mr. Science today.”
    “It’s from a book I’ve been reading.”
    “I have nature, Wally. I’m