Free Stardust Miracle by Edie Ramer Page B

prepared.”
    She looked him in his eyes, not grinning, not smiling – as serious as the divorce papers she’d left on the kitchen counter. “Don’t take too long. I’m not waiting for any man anymore.”
    “I’ll remember.” He stared at her for a long moment, then he took out a piece of paper and pointed at the pile of stuff by the big doors at the front. “Here’s the list and here’s the bill. You can call Marsh to check it.”
    “I will,” she said.
    It took another twenty minutes to look at the pile of parts and signs and a few things she didn’t even know the names of, but she trusted he wrote the right things down. She’d been let down big-time by Jim. But she had to keep trusting or she’d be angry and bitter for the rest of her life.
    As she stood on the front porch and watched Trey drive away, his last words echoed in her ears and her mind and her heart. 
    ‘I’ll be back for you, Becky,’ he’d said. And then he gave her the slow smile that creased the dimples in his cheeks and slit his eyes and made her chest, plus a few other places, feel as though a match flared up inside her. “I’ll be back.”
    Heading into the house, she remembered she was going out to eat with Derek tonight.
    After this last hour with Trey, it was going to be hard to give Derek her full attention.

 
    Chapter Twelve
     
    Sitting across from Becky at the table for two, Derek looked spruced up and young. He glistened like one of the silver candlesticks in her father’s house. His shiny purple shirt wouldn’t look out of place on a hip-hop star, and Becky suspected he’d bought it for tonight. Probably he’d gone to Wausau to shop so no one from Miracle would see him. He was dressed better than she was in her black slacks and red top that was too loose since she’d lost weight.
    She wished now she’d taken her skinny clothes to Sarah’s house. She hadn’t dreamed she might fit into them again.
    Sarah had offered to let her wear one of her tops, but Becky had thanked her and said it wasn’t necessary. She hadn’t expected Derek to look so... good.
    As she read the menu, she suspected her thinness wouldn’t last long. Did Italians like everything with cream or cheese or both in it? Or were those the Americanized versions? Or just the menu items that caught her eye?
    Why were the things that looked so good so bad for her? 
    That made her think of Trey. Not for long, though, because he wasn’t here and the food was. She was ravenous. While looking at the menu she’d found her lost appetite and realized she hadn’t exactly lost it. It had just gone on sick leave.
    Now she was healthy again – and perhaps not so sad – and she wanted to order half the items on the menu. And all the desserts. In fact, she wanted to live here and never, ever leave.
    The waiter came with their wine, a sweet Riesling for her and a Chardonnay for Derek. After the waiter left with their order, Derek leaned across the table toward her.
    “I heard what you did today.”
    Her heartbeats thudded in her ears and she clutched the table edge. Lately, life felt like a carnival ride and she needed to hang on tight.
    Did the whole town know she’d necked with Trey in the storage building? That she’d been ready to do more, but he backed off and gave her the ‘you’re not ready, and I don’t want to take advantage of your fragile emotions’ line? Not in those words, but that’s what he’d meant.
    As if Trey didn’t know she wanted to take advantage of him .
    “Heard about what?” she asked, her voice squeaking as she tried to think up excuses for being in the building with Trey for so long.
    Derek reached across the table and held out his hand. She unclenched hers from the table edge. Feeling like she was having an out-of-body moment, she grabbed his hand as if it were her lifeline. As if without it, she’d fall into the deepest part of Lake Miracle and she needed to hang on or drown.
    “That you filed for