Free Kiss Me That Way: A Cottonbloom Novel by Laura Trentham Page B

repair. Before the town separated, area businesses would play baseball against each other for bragging rights. The older people on both sides of the river still talked about those days with a smiling nostalgia.
    He gestured toward the white envelope she held. “You dropping something off for Tally?”
    “Invitation to a fund-raiser for my girls at risk program.”
    “Not sure you’ll get her into a cocktail dress, but maybe I can drum up some money to donate.”
    “That’d be great. I want to expand the services I offer into counseling.”
    The conversation waned, and Monroe looked out the back window. Two bays of the hulking metal garage out back were up and the long shadow of a man moved.
    “I’ll get out of your hair.” She shuffled backward toward the door.
    “You can leave that on the table if you want.”
    She looked down at the invitation and back up to the window. Cade emerged from the garage and riffled in a metal toolbox on wheels, disappearing back into the garage with a long metal object.
    “I’m going to check on my patient.” When Sawyer looked confused, she added, “Your brother.”
    Sawyer’s gaze razored through the window, his body growing taut. Tension enveloped the small kitchen. “I’m surprised he’s still around. I figured I’d wake up one morning to find him gone.”
    “I’ve only met with him twice, but he seems determined to get his hand better.”
    “So he can head back to Seattle at the earliest opportunity no doubt. Not sure why he agreed to come home. He shook off this town—and us—and I can tell he hates being back. He’s been at it with our daddy’s old truck almost since he landed.”
    She wanted to respond to the bitterness in Sawyer’s voice. Tell him how Cade had worried over him so long ago. Worried about keeping him safe and fed, worried about his grades and girls, worried about the pain he hid behind his ready smile. She didn’t say anything and escaped out the back.
    The sun had dropped to the top of the trees, but the heat hadn’t abated. The air had surrendered and lay heavy and dense and unmoving. Bugs swarmed in pods that darted back and forth with one mind. She waved a hand in front of her face to ward off the gnats.
    The opposite bay doors had been opened, too, giving the garage a barn-like feel. The sun shone through the back, and she shielded her eyes with a hand. Cade was hunched over the engine compartment of the rusted old red-and-gray truck, elbow deep in hoses and metal. Country music played from a portable speaker sitting on the cab. His blue jeans were faded and ripped at one knee, and his white cotton T-shirt was half-tucked. Both were dirty.
    Cooler air circulated around her legs from two box fans set up to give some relief from the heat. When she was within ten feet, he straightened and propped his hip on the grill of the truck. “Well now, this is a surprise. Did you miss me so much you came out for a house call?”
    She’d learned early on how to hide her truths behind a wall of confidence. No one had guessed that behind her smiles she wrestled with demons. But Cade seemed possessed with X-ray vision, her smiles no match for him. She reverted back into an unsure teenager confronted with her crush. She pulled at her blue-and-white-striped skirt. The inches of fabric between the hem and her panties seemed to shrink exponentially.
    She made a few word-like noises before her tongue began working again. “Of course I didn’t miss you. Next session, I’ll see what I can do about your inflated head.”
    His smile was fleeting, and she had the feeling he wasn’t in the habit of using it often.
    “I came to give Tally an invitation to the Tarwaters’ fund-raiser. Maybe you can talk her into going.”
    He used his shirt like a rag, black stripes of grease decorating the hem. “Let me see.”
    She held it out. His fingerprints dirtied the creamy parchment envelope as he pulled out the invitation written in black embossed letters. “ Mr.