Free A Trusting Heart by Shannon Guymon Page A

be scared. Occasionally they’re smelly, but I know this from personal experience: they usually shower and brush their teeth before picking up dates. Let’s see—oh, and the conversation thing isn’t that scary. It’s actually kind of fun. Sometimes it even beats old reruns of Bonanza. Every now and then anyway. And they usually pay for dinner and the movie, or whatever. But, if you’re scared of that part, then I’ll make sure you have an extra twenty in your purse in case he thinks you’re going dutch.”
    Cora raised her red, bleary eyes up to meet her sons and reached for his hand, not even cracking a smile at his joking.
    “What if he tries to kiss me, Trevor? The last man I kissed was your father, and I’ve always wanted to keep it that way. That’s the scary part.”
    Trevor leaned over and kissed his mom on the forehead, very gently.
    “Mom, you don’t have to go on a date, ever, if that’s the way you want it. I don’t want you to be scared or sad. I’ll find some other way to work this out. Why don’t you go on to bed? You look tired. Do you want me to fix you some hot chocolate?”
    Cora shook her head sadly. She wouldn’t be dreaming of dark-haired grandchildren that night. The only thing she could think of was how she had failed her son. He had needed her and she had let him down.
    “I really messed things up, didn’t I, Trev?”
    Trevor reached into his pocket and felt the box holding the diamond engagement ring. He couldn’t seem to put it down.
    “Mom, just so you know, my last three dates didn’t feel the need to kiss me good night. I didn’t even get a hand shake from the last two. You know, Megan did say she wanted to double date. You would never even have to be alone with the man. I can be the one who takes you home. But it’s up to you. Like I said, I don’t want you to be scared about this in any way.”
    “Poor Megan, the last man who kissed her was a complete moron. What are my chances?”
    Cora got up from her rocking chair and walked into the kitchen, thinking about what Trevor had said. It might work if she was with a group of people. She could pretend she wasn’t even on a date at all. Maybe.
    Trevor watched his mother walk into the kitchen, and felt a slight tremor of foreboding. Megan couldn’t have meant him. Surely.

Ten
    MEGAN FLOATED THROUGHOUT THE next day. There was nothing that could get her down. She had a client! A crazy, wonderful client. Her luck was definitely changing. Okay, so the phone hadn’t rung once in the past two hours, but she had hope! Her floor time was from one to six and she was ready for anything. Megan was so energized (or was it bored?) that she found an old bottle of Windex and went to work on the windows. She was only halfway through when the phone finally rang. Megan sprinted across the office and picked up the phone on the second ring.
    “Western Realty, this is Megan Garrett, can I help you?”
    “Megan, this is your mother. Your father is having some people from a magazine over tonight for dinner. We need you to be here. They’re doing a story on him for Business World. This is very important to him. We need to show them a united front. Can you be here by five-thirty for pictures? Dinner will be served at six. Oh, and wear something nice. All right, dear?”
    Megan glanced at the clock. It was five and her floor time wasn’t up till six. She expelled all the air in her lungs, not looking forward to the tug-o-war that was about to take place.
    “Sorry, Mom, if you had told me even yesterday, I might have been able to swing something, but I can’t leave the office till six. I can probably make it for dessert if you’d like.”
    Trish Garrett didn’t like the word no . She never had. “That’s just not acceptable, dear. After all we’ve done for you, don’t you think you could do this one thing for your father? After the fiasco of your wedding, don’t you think you’ve embarrassed him enough for one lifetime? I really