Free Blessed Vows by Jillian Hart

stranger?
    His chest ached with sympathy for her. And love. He splayed the palm of his hand on the top of her downy head. “Let’s steer you to the end of the line, cutie. You can help me figure out what to get. Do you want some of this?”
    â€œNope. There’s gonna be cake, too. And ice cream, but we gotta wait for that. There’s candies and nuts, though.”
    â€œGotcha. We’ll make a loop past the goodie table on the way out.”
    That suggestion went over with success. Sally hung close as he waded through the slow-moving line. The food smelled great. There was everything from barbecue to fancy sandwiches to a lasagna that looked like the most delicious thing ever. He loaded up on that, and a few juicy pieces of barbecue chicken. Made sure hegot plenty of fries—homemade just like Rachel had fried up for him last night—and tartar to go with it. He added buttermilk biscuits and that delicious coleslaw.
    He wasn’t the only one loading up. The wedding had been a small event because Cadence was on a limited budget, but Paige was hosting the reception and had invited the entire town. More people kept streaming in through the door carrying gifts and good wishes. Folk called out to one another by first name and stood around talking as if they were good friends.
    So this is normal life, he thought as he managed to crowd three big pieces of garlic bread onto his plate. This is how most people spend their lives. Everyone surrounding him was talking and laughing with one another. These were friendships and family bonds and community ties that he’d never given much thought to before. He never had the leisure time to stand around and think about it. He’d been too busy lobbing grenades and trying not to get killed.
    Sally tugged on his jacket hem. “The candy’s over this way.”
    â€œLead on, princess. Where you go, I’ll follow.”
    â€œThey’re pretty.” She halted in front of the cloth-covered table where various glass bowls of nuts, mints and chocolate and colorful candy crammed the surface. Sally helped herself to a small paper plate and began to pick through the pastel mints. “The pink ones taste best.”
    â€œThen you’d best get a lot of ’em.” He waited patiently—and he wasn’t the most patient of men—while she scored a half dozen pink mints. The crowd swirled around them, the conversations crescendoed as even more folks arrived. Rachel popped through the open side door, where a patio was visible behind her, looking for children in the crowd. She didn’t look his way.
    Good. The image of her standing and innocently talking with that Derrick dude still made him mad. It didn’t make sense. Feelings weren’t logical. He didn’t like them, he didn’t trust them, and he never made decisions based on them. Cool logic, that was the best way to make decisions. And the truth was, he was leaving town in about an hour’s time. If he did step foot in this town again, it wouldn’t be with the express goal of dating Rachel McKaslin.

Chapter Six
    E xcept for the fact that Jake was avoiding her, he had to be the most perfect guy. Rachel did her best to stay focused, but her gaze kept sliding to the back corner of the enclosed patio where he sat at a patio table with Sally at his side. Uncle and niece stayed in companionable silence as he downed his heaping plate and she picked apart her hamburger.
    Amy poked her head through the doorway. “How’s it going out here? Do you need anything? More root beer? More fries? Oh, and I left the box of stuff for the games on the bench by the front door. It looks like the kids are starting to get restless.”
    Rachel glanced at her sister and replied, “Yep. We’re almost done here. I figure we’ll run off some of that energy at the park and come back for cake and ice cream. Thank heaven for our cousin Kelly. She’s been great with