Free Vibrant Heart: Book 1 in the Great Plains Romance Series by Corrissa James

Her eyes lit up when she saw the crystal punchbowl, and she held it protectively while showing it to Stan.
    Melanie’s father rolled his eyes playfully. “Well, now you’re gonna have to come back for many, many visits, Mel, because this one is gonna want to throw a party every night!”
    Trish returned with their salads, and Evelyn was quick to show the waitress the crystal bowl. To the girl’s credit, she oohed and ahhed appropriately, which made Evelyn glow with pride. Trish set the last salad plate in front of Jake, then rested her hand on his shoulder. “Anything else?”
    “We’re good, thanks,” Jake said.
    Trish patted his shoulder, glanced around the table, then moved on to a neighboring table, where a tall man was calling “Miss, Miss” in an increasingly irritated tone.
    Melanie stabbed at her lettuce with a fury that she told herself she had no right to be feeling. She was the one who wanted a fling, and Jake had given her exactly what she asked for. He’d even given her an easy out, practically handing it to her on a silver platter. But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that everything was exactly as it should be, she couldn’t get past the hurt she felt seeing him flaunt his conquests in front of her.
     
     
    After they finished their lunch, Trish brought them coffee and cleared the remaining plates. Evelyn placed the punchbowl in the middle of the table, still obviously giddy over her gift.
    Stan turned to Jake. “Missed you at the meeting this morning.”
    Jake smiled like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Yeah, sorry about that. I just couldn’t tear myself away from a previous engagement.”
    Meeting? Melanie cast a sidelong glance at Jake, who seemed intently focused on his coffee. Sundays were the one day her father relaxed, making exceptions for only two events: church and his AA meetings.
    The blood drained from Melanie’s face. Was Jake in AA? But he’d been drinking last night when he came to see her. A queasiness rose in her stomach no matter how strongly she concentrated on pushing it back down. If he’d been drinking, it was her fault. She could have spurned his advances from the beginning, but she didn’t. She could have clarified the Raymond situation before it got out of hand or, better yet, let Jake think that she had been the initiator. Instead, she’d played right into his anger, letting her passion and desire for him trump all rationality. He’d gone out to right the wrong that Raymond had committed—something that Melanie had already done in her mind—and when he returned to her, she never even asked him what happened.
    “Everything okay, Melanie?”
    When she heard her name, everything seemed to crash down around her. Her breathing became shallow. She was desperately trying not to look at him. She knew if she did, if she looked into his eyes or saw him flash his smile, she was done for. She would give up everything—her job in Chicago, her life, her freedom—just to spend more time with him. Jake was the kind of man worth risking it all, and she had no doubts that it would be a tremendous risk. They might last a few months, maybe even a year, but men like Jake weren’t satisfied with just one woman. Raymond certainly wasn’t. And then where would she be? Stuck back in Bender with no career, no life, just another one of Jake’s conquests. Not that Jake was even interested in her anymore. Was that why he’d left so early, why he was flaunting his closeness to Trish in front of her—because he held Melanie responsible for him falling off the wagon?
    Just like Raymond had.
    A coldness settled in over her heart. She would not risk that kind of humiliation, not again, no matter how loudly every fiber of her being was screaming at her to do just that.
    She took a steadying breath. “Listen, I can’t—we can’t—do this, not here, not now.”
    She pushed back from the table. Both Jake and her father stood up as she did, and she could