Southern Attraction (Southern Heart 3)

I pick up my fork to finish my salad when my phone vibrates across the table.

Mike: Me too, James. Me too.

Again with the warm gooey feeling. What is it about this guy that has me feeling like a teenager with her first crush?

I don’t reply. Instead I pick up my trash, place it on the tray and toss it all in the garbage can. Appetite gone—I have too many butterflies in my belly. I don’t know if they’re because of his words, the fact that he’s thinking about me, or that in just five short weeks I get to see him again.

Now to decide if I’m going to tell him or make it a surprise. I’ll need to make sure Whit is in on it so she can warn everyone not to spill the beans.

The bar is closed on Mondays, and normally that’s fine. I go in, take inventory and make sure everything is good to go for the start of the week.

I’ve done that. I’ve also done laundry and cleaned my house. I’m sitting on the couch watching the sports network, but really I’m just biding my time, watching the clock. I want to call Jamie and ask how her day went. She didn’t reply to my last text, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Was it too much? I’ve never been one to mince words. What you see is what you get with me. I wanted her to know that I wish I were with her. So I told her. Now as I sit here hours later, watching the clock slowly ticking toward seven o’clock, I wonder if for once my blunt honesty has bitten me in the ass.

I pick up my phone to call her when it pings with a text. When I see her name flash across the screen, I release the breath I’ve been holding what seems like all afternoon.

Jamie: Hey, Country. How was your day?

I smile.

Me: Uneventful. How’s city life?

Jamie: Same old.

I hate that we’re texting when I could hear her voice. I tap on her name and place the phone next to my ear.

“Miss me?” she laughs.

“Yes,” I say honestly.

“That’s refreshing.” Her voice is a soft caress to my ear.

“What is?”

“Your honesty.”

“I’ll always be honest with you, Jamie.”

“Favorite cereal?” she asks.

I relax into the couch. “Fruity Pebbles, hands down. You?”

“Lucky Charms. When I was little, I would pick all the marshmallows out of the box and eat them first.”

“I bet you still do that.”

She laughs. “Actually, I eat it dry as a snack. I always have a sandwich bag of it in my desk.”

“I’ll have to remember that. Board game?”

“Hmmm… although I loathe it just as much sometimes, Monopoly.”

“Oh we so have to play. I’m the champion when it comes to Monopoly.”

“Oh please. I hold that title.”

“All right, next time we’re together, we’re playing.”

“That list is growing,” she murmurs.