Free A Heart to Heal by Synithia Williams

get Shayla to look at him like that. With a mental shake to rid himself of that idea, he nodded before walking off the porch.

Chapter 7
    Shayla let her breath out in a huff and tapped her hand against her leg. When the woman ahead of her in line at Piggly Wiggly looked at her, she smiled tightly in a weak attempt to hide her annoyance. What was supposed to be a quick trip into the grocery store for bread and lunch meat had quickly turned into a long wait. The lines were ridiculous, everyone had a buggy full of groceries, and there were only three registers open. She tried to summon some small amount of patience as the woman ahead of her double checked the price of every item rung up and handed the cashier one or two coupons per item.
    â€œNo, no, that soup is buy one get one free. I saw it in the paper,” the lady said pulling out the sales ad.
    The teenager at the register sighed before answering. “It’s not this soup, ma’am. It’s the ones with the blue label. Everyone’s making that mistake today.”
    The lady looked at her paper then the dozen cans of soup in her buggy. “Oh. Well, can you wait a second for me to go get the right one?”
    â€œOh, good Lord!” Shayla hissed under her breath. She tried to peer over the candy display at the people in line next to her, but from what she could see it wasn’t any better over there. She was tempted to leave the damn bread and walk out. Someone behind her chuckled. She whipped her head around, ready to lacerate whoever found the situation amusing. Her words were forgotten as Devin and his dad approached with a cart behind her.
    â€œAre you laughing at me?”
    Devin continued to smile as he walked around his cart to stand beside her. “Yes. You were never patient in check out lines.” He reached over to gently massage the back of her neck. “Calm down.”
    The urge to melt into his hands was strong. He used to do the same thing whenever she was nervous or upset when they were in high school. She never understood where his endless amount of patience came from, but it always balanced her need to keep moving. She turned to gaze at him and his hand stopped its massage. Heat slid across her body and she shivered when his thumb gently rubbed her throat. His fingers flexed and brushed against the hair at the base of her neck, reminding her of the way he gripped her head and kissed her earlier in the week. She was right to skip the “
we’ll pretend it never happened
” speech because she’d never forget what it was like to kiss Devin. Never stop wanting to kiss him, but she wouldn’t repeat it. Her reputation was damaged enough.
    She stepped back and he let his hand fall before turning to look at his dad. Mr. Jones was watching them like a hawk, his eyes unreadable. For the first time she worried if he was disappointed in her too. Mr. Jones was the only father figure she’d had growing up. She only had vague memories of her own dad, who moved to Tennessee when she was six without a goodbye. When Devin’s father accepted her into his family fold she’d soaked up his love like a sponge. A rejection from him would hurt as much, if not more, than from Devin.
    â€œHi, Mr. Jones,” she said.
    Roscoe Jones’ face split with a huge grin. “Don’t ‘Mr. Jones’ me. You’re just as bad as Devin when I come to his office.” He pulled Shayla into a warm welcoming hug. “It’s good to see you, Shayla. I’m glad you came home.”
    Relief and happiness rushed through her as she stepped back and grinned at Roscoe. “It’s good to see you, too.”
    He looked at Devin. “Isn’t it good to see her, Devin?”
    Devin shook his head and smiled. “I’ve seen her already, Dad.”
    Roscoe waved a hand. “It’s still good to see her. What are you getting?”
    Shayla held up the loaf of bread and lunch meat. “I plan to