Second Chance at the Sugar Shack (27 page)

“And planning a wedding.”

Her heart burst with happiness. “Definitely planning a wedding.”

“Then what does he want you to call him?”

She reached down and pulled the pup into her arms. “He wants me to call him . . . Happy.”

Matt smiled and pressed a kiss against her lips. “You can call me that too.”

O
n Thanksgiving Day, Kate set aside her empty dessert plate. She’d eaten far too much and was tempted to unbutton her jeans. She couldn’t have been more satisfied than being snuggled on the sofa next to Matt while Happy lay across her lap. On the TV they watched her brother throw a touchdown pass.

“God, his arm is like a rocket,” Matt said in awe.

From his recliner, her dad laughed. “Well, don’t tell Mr. Perfect that. His ego can hardly fit in the door as it is.”

Edna, sitting in her mother’s recliner chirped in, “Mr. Perfect. Ha! He’s gotten too big for his own britches.” She waved her moose-head cane at the TV. “He needs to get home and shovel some manure. Nothing like shoveling crap to make you eat a little humble pie.”

They all laughed. Kate stroked Happy’s fur. “I wish Dean and Kel could have been here today. I hate to think of them having turkey dinner all alone.”

“Judging from the magazine cover I saw at the Gas and Grub yesterday,” Matt said, “I hardly think your brother needs to worry about being lonely.”

“Yes, but can the supermodel du jour bake a melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin swirl cheesecake?”

“It only matters that you can,” Matt said with a kiss on her forehead.

“I think I’ll call Kelly. Just to see if she’s okay.”

“Make sure she’s coming to the wedding,” Edna said.

“She has no choice. She’s my maid of honor.”

Their upcoming nuptials had barely made a splash in the Hollywood tabloids, but it had created a whirlwind of excitement in Deer Lick. The Grange had been rented for their reception. Ollie would bartend. Maggie would serve as a bridesmaid. And her father would make their cake. Kate had put Edna in charge of decorations. God knew what she’d come up with. It was hard to tell with a woman who dyed her own stockings and wore a pumpkin suit on Halloween. But to Kate it didn’t matter if her newfound friend used tumbleweeds and saw grass.

She only wished her mother could be there.

An ache floated around her heart and she nudged Happy from her lap and stood. “I left my cell in the car. I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry up, sweetheart,” her dad said between bites of a turkey sandwich. How he could eat so soon after their enormous feast, she had no idea. “You don’t want to miss the last five minutes of the game.”

“I’ll be right back.” Kate knew her phone was in her purse in the bedroom and she’d already talked to her sister earlier. But there was one person she’d yet to wish a Happy Thanksgiving.

She opened the car door and slid inside, shivering at the crispy cold air. “Mom?”

For several minutes there was no response. She’d been about to give up when suddenly, without a key in the ignition, James Brown screamed from the radio “I feel good!”

Kate shook her head and laughed. “Another theme song?”

“Couldn’t find one that said
I told you so
.”

Kate turned in the driver’s seat. Her mother was riding shotgun. “You sound pretty pleased with yourself.”

“Eh, I’ll take all the credit I can get. That’s one hell of a man you’ve got.”

“I know.”

“You better never run out on him again.”

“I promise I won’t.” She couldn’t imagine being without him.

“No regrets?”

“Not a one. Will you be at the wedding?”

Her mother chuckled. “Wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

Kate sighed. “Mom? Thank you. For everything. But especially for loving me when I wasn’t so easy to love. And for never giving up.”

Her mother laid her hand on top of Kate’s. A tingle traveled up Kate’s arm and into her heart.

“I told you, sweetheart, nothing can stop a mother’s love. Not even death.” A grin swept across her face. “It can’t stop one from meddling either.”

The tingle in Kate’s heart turned to dismay. “So is this it? The end of your mission?”

“What? With a perfect matchmaking record you think I’m just going to give up and go hang out on some boring cloud?”

“Nah, not your style.” Kate smiled. “So who’s your next target?”

“Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” Her mother shrugged. “One kid down, two to go.”

“Will I still be able to see you?”

“I’ll be there on the day you marry. I’ll be there when your children are born.”

Kate’s eyes widened. “
Children?
As in plural?”

“Oh yeah. I’ll be there for each and every one. Angels couldn’t drag me away. And believe me, they’ve tried. Oops. Gotta go.”

Kate blinked and her mother was gone. A knock on the car window made her jump. She looked up to find Matt standing there with snowflakes in his beautiful dark hair. She opened the door and he slid in next to her.

“Hi,” he said, pressing his lips against hers.

“Hi.”

“You okay?”

“I’m . . . great.”

“Who were you talking to?”

Did she dare tell him? “It’s kind of a long story,” she said tentatively.

He drew her onto his lap and grinned while he slipped his hands beneath her sweatshirt. “I’ve got all night.”

Kate laughed as he hugged her close. She brushed his mouth with hers. “Then I can think of better things to do with that mouth than talk.” Everything inside her melted into a puddle of love and need. “You’ve got exactly five minutes to take me home and make love to me.”

He gripped her bottom and she ended up flat on her back on the bench seat with him on top of her. “Who needs five minutes?” His warm breath whispered against the side of her neck.

Kate moaned as his hand covered her breast and he kissed her soft and sweet. She knew how lucky she’d been to find her way home again and into the arms of a man she could trust with her heart. And she certainly didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

She’d found exactly what she’d been looking for when she hadn’t even been looking.

Welcome back to the Sugar Shack with the second book

in Candis Terry’s fabulous, sweet and sexy small town series . . .

A career-ending injury sends NFL Quarterback Dean Silverthorne home to Deer Lick, Montana, with a chip on his wounded shoulder and no idea what to do with the rest of his life. Accustomed to living large on and off the field—often with an actress or model
du jour
on his arm, Dean’s none too pleased to be in his backwater hometown . . . even if he loves his ridiculous, bakery-running family. But with a little motherly advice from beyond the grave and an instant attraction to a tenderhearted but feisty kindergarten teacher, Dean learns that there’s more to love than life between the goal posts.

On sale November 2011

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

Candis Terry was born and raised near the sunny beaches of Southern California and now makes her home on an Idaho farm. She’s experienced life in such diverse ways as working in a Hollywood recording studio to scooping up road apples left by her daughter’s rodeo queening horse to working as a graphic designer. Only one thing has remained constant: Candis’ passion for writing stories about relationships, the push and pull in the search for love, and the security one finds in their own happily ever after. Though her stories are set in small towns, Candis’ wish is to give each of her characters a great big memorable love story rich with quirky characters, tons of fun, and a happy ending. For more, please visit
www.candisterry.com
.

C
OPYRIGHT

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SECOND CHANCE AT THE SUGAR SHACK
. Copyright © 2011 by Candis Terry. All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non–exclusive, non–transferable right to access and read the text of this e–book on–screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down–loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e–books.

EPub Edition July 2011 ISBN: 9780062105226

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062115720

A
BOUT THE
P
UBLISHER

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