One Night with her Bachelor by Kat Latham Read Free Book Online

life—taking Josh to live with his dad and step-family in Boulder so he could get the care he needed.
    With an avalanche of bills smothering her, Molly couldn’t afford to take unpaid leave from her job. So she’d had to say goodbye to her baby boy and trust Greg and his wife Sharon to become Josh’s everyday family instead of people he saw every couple of months. Every Friday afternoon, Molly had driven ten hours to Boulder and slept on Greg’s couch so she could spend the weekend hanging out with Josh at the rehab unit Greg was paying for. She’d been there when her boy had learned he would probably spend the rest of his life sitting down. She’d screamed and yelled and attacked a punching bag alongside him when he’d discovered his rodeo days would never come.
    She would exchange everything she had for a chance to see Josh on a bronco. It made no sense, since she would probably wet herself with fear, but every cell of her body raged at the unfairness that he would never be able to make his one dream come true.
    She’d driven home overnight every Sunday, showing up at work on Monday mornings completely unprepared to face twenty five-year-olds who wanted to sing “When You’re Happy and You Know It.” But she only had to make the journey one last time. Josh was graduating from the rehab program tomorrow, and on Sunday she would bring him home.
    At least she still had a home to bring him home to. A month from now, she might not. She’d fallen a few months behind on her mortgage payments and couldn’t seem to get on top of her mounting debt. Tension pounded in her temples. The knot that had taken up residence between her shoulders grew tighter, harder.
    “When are you taking off to get him?”
    “In about twenty minutes.” She dropped her arm from Lily’s waist. “I need a sandwich first. Hungry?”
    “Starved. Let me make it, though. You have a long drive ahead of you. Put your feet up.”
    Panic hit Molly, and she rushed after Lily into the kitchen. “No, no, I can do it! Lil—”
    “What the hell is this?” Lily pointed at the open refrigerator door. Its light was off and its shelves empty. She spun and looked at the ice chest on the floor next to the back door. Giving Molly a hard stare, she opened the ice chest and glared at the cheese and vegetables packed in the snow Molly had gathered this morning. Then she straightened and flipped the light switch on the wall.
    Nothing.
    Crossing her arms, she tipped her head to the side and raised her brows. “Want to tell me something?”
    “I thought Josh and I should get back to basics and live a simpler life, Little House on the Prairie style.”
    Lily shook her head. “When did they cut off the electricity?”
    Molly’s shoulders slumped. “A week ago. It should be switched back on later today, though, so it’ll be on by the time Josh and I get back. I borrowed the money from Greg.”
    “Jeez. How did that go down?”
    Molly cringed. “About as well as you’d expect.” He’d accused her of seeing him as a cash cow and even made her sign a piece of paper saying she’d pay it back with five percent interest. “He’s actually been really good to Josh since the accident, but he loves making me squirm since I threatened him with a lawsuit for not paying child support a few years ago. I really, really don’t want to ask him for more.”
    Problem was, she might have to. She’d received two bills this morning stamped with Final Notice in big, red letters. She bit her lip. She was desperate, and there was a subject she’d been meaning to broach with her friend but she didn’t know how. Lily’s former career was a sensitive subject, not something they’d ever talked about openly. Unlike most people in Marietta, Molly had met Lily long before she’d moved here to make a new life, so she’d always known how Lily had made her living in Billings. Also unlike most people in Marietta, Molly had never judged her for it. “Lil, can I ask you something