Southern Pleasure (Southern Heart 1)

“The one?” Mom asks.

Evan turns his head to look at her. “Yeah, the one woman who makes my heart race, who consumes my thoughts. The one I spend the rest of my life with. I never pictured this scenario, and I’m at a loss,” he confesses.

My heart melts and aches at the same time. Evan is such a great guy, any woman would be lucky to have him. I hate that this is happening. Not the fact he’s having a baby out of wedlock, or even the fact Misty is not ‘the one,’ but the fact he’s having to do this alone. His parents are in Alabama as his dad battles cancer for the third time and both sets of grandparents are getting up there in age.

“Well, for us, we wanted to be surprised. Of course, it was hard to shop. We had lots of yellows and greens,” Mom laughs. “I assume you will be there for all her appointments?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to miss any of it. I already heard the heartbeat.” The dazzling smile I’m used to lights up his face.

“Well, how far along is she?” Mom asks.

“Nine weeks or so. Everything happens in weeks,” he mumbles.

Mom and I chuckle at that. “Yes, certain weeks are markers. Usually, it’s about halfway—so twenty weeks—when they do an ultrasound and determine the sex of the baby,” Mom explains.

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” my dad says as he and Aaron come walking up from the barn.

“Just enjoying the day,” Mom says, not missing a beat.

Aaron and Evan bump fists, and Dad nods in greeting. “So what are you getting into?” Aaron asks Evan.

“Just got back from the attorney’s office.”

“She sign?” Aaron asks.

“Yeah,” Evan sighs.

“Good. Give me ten to shower and we can go grab a bite to eat.” Aaron doesn’t wait for an answer. He races into the house and flies up the stairs.

Mom and Dad both just shake their heads and grin. Aaron and I are twenty-two and twenty-four years old, both old enough to be living on our own. Aaron loves the farm and one day in the near future it will all be his . He’s in no rush to live on his own. He’s content. It helps that our parents are awesome. At least I have the excuse I just graduated from college.

“Shower’s calling my name too.” Dad leans down and kisses Mom quickly.

“I’ve got a meatloaf in the oven.” She stands and looks at Evan. “I’m proud of you. You need anything at all, you let m

e know.”

Evan nods and we watch as my dad holds the door open for her and they disappear into the house.

And then there were two.

“That goes for me too,” I tell him.

“Yeah?” he asks. His voice is soft and his brown eyes are watching me intently.

“Yeah.” I bump my knee into his.

Aaron comes barreling out of the house, having taken the quickest shower ever, hair still wet, pulling his t-shirt over his head. “Ready?”

Evan stands but doesn’t take his eyes off me. “See you around, Kinley.”

I wave and watch as the two of them climb into Evan’s old truck and head down the drive.

As we drive to town, I catch Aaron up on the day’s events.

“It just goes to show, you never really know someone,” he says.

“I agree to an extent. But really, I can only blame myself. I didn’t try to get to know Misty. We were exclusive, but it was just fun for us. We both knew that’s what it was and we were okay with that.”