Free Dreaming in Dairyland by Kirsten Osbourne Page A

have a weekend manager, but he's got a 'real job' during the week."
    "I can talk to the sheriff, see if he'll put me on nights."  He hated the idea of working nights, but he'd do it so their schedules could match, and they could spend more time together.  He'd spent too many years working nights in Chicago to want to do them again, but he'd do anything for her.
    Cissie kissed his shoulder.  "I'd like that, but I don't want to upset your schedule.  What would your hours be then?"  She wanted to spend time with him but didn't want to mess with his world.  How could she do both?
    "Night shift is three to midnight, with an hour for lunch."
    She bit her lip. "Would it bother you to work the night shift?  Obviously it's not your preference or you'd already be doing it."  She didn't want him to have to change for her, but she knew it would be impossible for her to change for him.  The bowling alley hours needed to remain as they were.
    "It won't bother me.  I'm a night owl.  I'll talk to the sheriff to have it done permanently, but there are always night shift guys who want to trade shifts."  He would do anything to make her happy, and changing shifts was little enough.  Of course, it would mean more time on traffic duty, but he could handle that.  He would hate missing karaoke though.  "It's probably too late to change shifts for this week, but starting next Monday, we can do that."
    "If you really don't mind, that would be awesome. And this week, you can come hang out with me for karaoke, if you don't mind.  Some of our local singers will make your ears bleed!"  She could think of one woman in particular who sang every week and was just terrible.
    Bob laughed.  "I know.  Some of them are god-awful!"
    Cissie looked at him for a moment.  "Have you been to karaoke at the Blevins Bowl?"  She'd thought he looked too familiar for it to be just pulling Lachele over the night before the wedding.  Could he have been someone she had seen on karaoke night?
    He nodded, suddenly nervous.  Was she going to be upset with him?  "Yeah.  I've been going since late July."  Hopefully she wouldn't ask anything else.  He wouldn't lie to her, but neither would he volunteer information on how he'd gotten hooked up with Lachele.
    "So you knew who I was when we met?  You already knew my name?"  No one could be a regular for karaoke and not know her, because she was always introduced as the manager, and she sang the first song every single week.  He wouldn't have hidden the fact that he knew who she was from her, would he?  There was no logical reason for him to have done so.  Unless there was something else he wasn't telling her.
    He took a deep breath and nodded, reaching out to stroke her cheek.  "I wanted to approach you, but every time I tried my tongue felt thick and my heart raced.  Then I started blushing.  I asked Trey about you the first night I saw you."  He watched her face carefully, hoping with everything inside him that she wouldn't get angry with him.
    Cissie pulled back from him, looking at him as if she'd never seen him before.  "You mean, you know Trey?"  He'd acted like he was seeing Trey for the first time when she'd introduced them the week before.  Why would he do that?  What would he possibly stand to gain by pretending not to know Trey?
    He scrubbed his hands over his face, knowing it was time to come clean and tell her everything.  "Just hear me out, Cissie, and I'll tell you how this happened."  He didn't want the anger he knew would come from his deception, but if he waited longer, it would surely get worse.  Better to get it over with.
    Cissie kept her face impassive instead of throwing something at him as she wanted to.  What the heck?   Had he known he was marrying her while she was left in the dark?  How fair was that?  "Go on."  She knew her anger was leaking into her voice just a bit, but she couldn't hide it any longer.
    He looked down at his hands, his voice low.  He was