In a Moon Smile by Sherri Coner Read Free Book Online Page A

go over to the Blake family home and drop the big fat bomb.”
    “Wasn’t that place sold?”
    “Yes,” Chesney nodded. “But for some reason I just want to drive past it again. I want to be where I once loved to be, even if it’s just for a while. You remember all the holidays and summers I spent there with my grandmother?”
     
    “Oh, gosh, I loved Grace,” Becca’s hand spread across her heart as if it was suddenly spilling over from sweet memories. “Remember when she invited us to help with the Christmas cookie party at church? She was so amazing. And she loved you so much, didn’t she?”
    Chesney smiled and nodded even though her throat was filling up with grief. Just a few days ago, she had knocked around the idea. But the decision to go had not been made until last night when Jack showed up unannounced at Chesney’s apartment. He begged her to have a drink with him at what used to be their favorite pub on Madison. So Chesney followed him like a puppy dog out of her building and down the block. Even though she did not want to sit with him or hear anything Jack had to say, she went with him anyway. In the dark bar, Chesney was stunned to feel so relieved that she was not marrying the jack ass.
    “I think it was cold feet that made me do that…” Jack had said in a l ow voice.
    “Do what?” Chesney challenged.
    “You know…what I did with Belinda…” Jack dropped his eyes and his face got red.
    “What you did with Belinda…” Chesney sat there for a moment, quietly stirring her drink. “If I remember correctly, what you did with Belinda involved some handcuffs and...”
    “She meant nothing to me,” Jack said.
    “And obviously, neither did I,” Chesney added dryly.
    “I didn’t know what you meant to me until I lost you,” Jack said in a high, squeaky voice. While he continued to claim a deep, unending love for her, Chesney tuned him out as well as she tuned out the busy chit chat from her mother or her sister.
    Somewhere between her second and third dirty martini, she made a couple of decisions. One was that she definitely hated Jack’s guts. And second, that she definitely needed to be somewhere safe. A vision of Grace’s house flooded her mind and made her smile.
    “I didn’t really mean what I said the other day,” Jack was saying when Chesney decided to tune back in to the conversation. “Chesney, I still love you. And I do want to marry you. In fact, I want to go with the original date and all the plans, okay? I’m telling you, sweetie, it would have been more than terrible for both of us if these troubles had been leaked to the media. Can you imagine? Here I am, running for a seat on county council and I’m second in line for partner at my firm. And you, well you write those cute little love books. My career would have taken a big beating, you know? What in the world was I thinking? Of course we will go through with the wedding, honey, just like we planned.”
    Her mouth was numb from the evening’s alcoholic jaunt through heartbreak and Chesney grinned stupidly across the table at Jack. What was he saying? Her mind felt fuzzy from the drinks. “Go through with the wedding?” she stared at him, suddenly very aware that she was drunk. No, actually she was more than drunk. She was downright shit-faced, as her male friends in high school used to say. “You said you still want to marry me?” She looked at Jack, puzzled. “Is that what you said?”
    “Yes,” he nodded happily. Isn’t that great news, honey? I didn’t mean what I said that day in my apartment about not wanting to marry you. And I know, Chesney, that you didn’t mean what you said either.”
    “Oh no, no, no,” Chesney wagged a finger back and forth like a windshield wiper. “Oh no, Jack. I absolutely did mean what I said to you. I absolutely do hate your hairless little ball sack and your slick chest. I absolutely do hope Belinda Fat Ass suffers from terrible crotch rot. I absolutely do hope that