“That counter do something to you?”

“What?” Shelby looked up at Noel’s words.

Noel had come out from the kitchen and was watching her scrub down the counter with a rag. She hadn’t really noticed, but her forearm was sore. He pointed. “You’re likely to put a hole through it.”

Shelby tossed the rag under the counter. “Sorry.”

It was almost time for the early supper crowd, but the diner had been pretty empty today, save a few older women who came in almost every afternoon. Shelby was brewing decaf for them and it was almost ready. While it brewed, she stewed. Her thoughts pinballed back and forth between lots of things she didn’t want to think about at all.

There was Matt. Good, dear, faithful Matt. Shame hung round her neck at the fact that she had only just realized how she had allowed him to stay in limbo, orbiting her as she drifted through life. She had told him no to dating and marriage, but had still somehow let him stay invested. It made her slightly ill to realize how she’d gotten used to his constant presence, his firm love always there. He was the rock in her life, but it wasn’t fair to have him take that role when she couldn’t and didn’t want to offer him more. A conversation was coming, but it was going to be hard and ugly. Better than keeping him on an emotional chain, which is how it felt now. That was thing one.

Thing two was losing their home. Gracielynn’s words from that morning had stuck in her head, the idea that the people made the home. While that was, in a sense, very true, it wasn’t all true. It didn’t account for the memories that places held. Though she wasn’t superstitious in the ghost sense, Shelby was firmly rooted in the belief that places held a lot of their history close. When she thought about losing her home, it was like her memory started playing a slideshow at high speed of all the things she’d be losing and leaving behind. It made her chest tighten up every time. It was the only place where she had any good memories of her mama.

Her dad fit in as thing number three, tied closely to the house. Because she hadn’t told him yet what was happening. Not a word. And she didn’t know how she could or would. She had to, of course, but it felt like the worst kind of failure to admit what happened. She had failed to keep their place. That’s what it came down to. She was a failure.

The last and most surprising thing her thoughts bounced toward was Jake. This one shouldn’t have been so hard or even been on par with the other three. The fact that Jake was there at all concerned her. That she was upset about two long-term relationships in her life, yeah. Losing the house, sure. But thinking about Jake had her more shook up than anything. Gracie’s words in the car kept coming back to her, making her wonder if there was a reason he was here and if God had something to do with it and if either of those things were true, what was she supposed to do about it?

For whatever reason, when she saw his car earlier in the garage, it felt like a dose of reality hit her like a brick to the face. It was like in all those shiny surfaces, she could see the evidence of his life. Here, he was just Jake. A city guy stuck in a small town. But that car was no normal car. Two-hundred thousand dollars? How could a car be so much? How could her whole home be worth less?

And how could someone coming from a world where that’s what you paid for a car ever want her?

When Jake told her that he couldn’t take her home after the mayor’s, it was no surprise. Like, after seeing the evidence of his wealth, it was to be expected. Who pays that much money for a car? It surprised her. She knew he talked about having money, but she didn’t have a real understanding of how much until she heard Slim talk about the price tag on his shiny, blue car.

Now he was swimming at the McClure’s. They were filthy rich too. Maybe not as rich, but ten times as filthy. The thought of Daisy with her especially filthy hands on Jake just burned her up.

She sighed.

“Where do you need to be?” Noel asked.

“What?”

“Hearing problem? Or are you that deep?”

“What? Oh—sorry,” she said when Noel gave her a dark look. “I’m just…I don’t know. Yeah, I am deep in thought.”

“Nah, not that kind of deep. You look like you’re lovesick.”

She jerked her head toward him, blushing. Which reminded her again of Jake. She hissed through her teeth before answering. “No. That’s not it at all. I’ve just got a lot on my plate right now. Sorry for being distracted. I’ll pep up for the dinner rush.”

“You and I both know there’s not going to be a dinner rush. And that you best get out of here. You’ve looked at that clock every five minutes for the last hour.”

She gave him a dead-eye stare. “Noel, you know that’s creepy.”

He grinned and shrugged. “I’m too old for you by about thirty years. My stare is purely that of a concerned citizen. And friend. But because I’m also your coworker, I’m telling you to go. I have a sense you should be out somewhere specific right at this moment and that it’s vital to your happiness.”

Shelby hesitated.

“Do I need to fire you?” Noel said.

She lifted her chin. “You’re not the boss of me. Noel, I’m fixin to take the rest of the day off.” She balled up her apron and tossed it to him.

“You just see if you have a job tomorrow, woman,” he said.

She kissed him on the cheek and pulled her phone out of her back pocket as she walked out of the front door. The house was a bigger problem Shelby couldn’t tackle tonight. But if she kept her wits about her, she could take down two of the other issues on her mind.

“Matt? Hey. Sorry for the late notice, but can you give me a ride?”

When he picked her up in front of the diner ten minutes later, he still had the set in his jaw he’d had that morning. Why had it taken Shelby so long to realize how she held him close while pushing him away? The thought of her own selfishness, even if she hadn’t fully been aware of it, made her want to vomit. Matt deserved someone far better.

“Where you off to?”

“My house. Then the McClure’s.”

Matt jerked his head to look at her. “Shelby—”

She held up a hand. “Matt, don’t.”

He closed his mouth again, his jaw working, and just drove. Ten minutes later they pulled up to her house. “Be right back,” she said. Inside she kissed the top of her daddy’s head and put on her best bathing suit with a tank top and shorts over top.

When she came back to the truck, she handed Matt a bottle of water. “What’s this for?” he asked.

“Don’t have any beer. Thought you could use a drink,” she said. If she had beer, she would have brought it. He might need something to take the edge off. But water was it. There wasn’t a way to sugarcoat what needed to be said. Didn’t stop her from taking a few minutes to try and plan out something that didn’t sound so awful or cliché.

As they got closer to the McClure’s, clear on the other side of town near some other large farms and mansions, Matt seemed to grow more agitated.

“Shelby, I’m sorry but I have to say something. Why are you doing this? I can’t think of any good reasons for you to be going there right now, but a few bad ones.”

“Yeah? You know what’s good for me?” The anger in her voice was, she knew, because she was angry at herself, not because she was angry at him. But it worked, given the situation.

He gave her a quick, hard look as he turned down the McClure’s long drive leading to the enormous white-columned plantation that might have looked more at home in Georgia or Alabama. Ostentatious was too nice a word for their house and Shelby wanted to sneer at it some more, but she had other plans to focus on.

“Shelby, what is going on with you?”

“Something that should have gone on a long time ago. Matt, I’m breaking up with you.”

“We’re not together, Shelby! You made sure I knew that. Many times.” He was yelling now.

“Maybe we aren’t officially together, but for too long you’ve been at my beck and call.”

“You’re complaining now that I’ll come pick you up at the drop of a hat? Like this very moment? Come on, Shelby.”

This wasn’t going well. She should be apologetic, not angry. But maybe anger would be the thing that would push him away like he needed. He had to stop seeing her as someone who needed saving and to see her as who she really was: someone willing to use the feelings of a good friend to help her out when she needed. She accepted help from no one else but Matt. This, too, was a revelation.

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. I can’t let you keep helping me. I can’t keep asking. I’m letting you go, Matt. For real this time.”

“I’ve done nothing but be there for you,” he said.

“And that’s the problem. You can’t anymore. You need to let me go and move on. I’m not yours and I won’t ever be.”

He sucked in a breath and stopped the truck in front of the mansion next to the two cement lion statues that stood on either side of the paved walkway. Shelby’s gut twisted and for a moment she stared at those lions, hard, willing her tears back into her eyeballs. What she said was just plain mean. True, but mean. To the person who had maybe been the nicest to her in the world.

Shelby opened the car door and then turned to look at Matt. Her heart broke just a little as she did. He stared at his knuckles on the wheel of the car.

“I’m sorry, Matt. I should have done this a long time ago and I’m sorry I didn’t. I was the jerk. You deserve better and I hope you get it. Thank you again. For everything.”

Shelby did not wait for him to look at her, but slammed the door of his truck and marched to the door of the McClure’s house, hoping like heck that Rhett wasn’t the one who answered the door.

Jake realized very quickly just how foolish he’d been to promise Shelby that Daisy wouldn’t get her claws in him. From the time he stepped out onto the back deck by the pool, he hadn’t been able to escape her hands. Unlike Shelby’s touch, which he welcomed, Daisy’s advances felt like a predator hooking into her prey. Her overt sex appeal made Daisy Duke look like a school marm. And her slippery charm would have sent any Gatsby into a tailspin.

Daisy giggled and grabbed his arm again, squeezing his bicep and brushing her body against him. He was sitting on the edge of the pool, sipping some kind of fruity rum punch. Mayor McClure had insisted he try it when one of the servants brought out a drink tray. The mayor watched Jake from a chair in the shade under a fan, smoking a cigar and grinning. He seemed amused by Daisy’s advances. Which was all kinds of messed up and awkward.

This was not the schmoozing Jake had planned to do. He was even worse at getting Daisy off him than he was sweet-talk. Jake set down the drink and pushed off into the pool. He kicked across and all the way down to the bottom of the deep end. He could hold his breath for a while and knew Daisy wasn’t a strong enough swimmer to follow. The bathing suit she wore, made seemingly of pocket squares and dental floss, wouldn’t stay put if she tried to swim an actual stroke, so he hoped she didn’t.

Jake paused on the bottom for a moment, watching her legs so he could know where to come up for air. He found that despite Daisy’s long, toned legs, he had other legs on his mind. Shorter, more muscular and attached to someone he really wished was here beside him.

Expelling a last breath, he kicked to the surface and grabbed the diving board, pulling himself up to sit.

Daisy clapped as though he’d performed some kind of Olympic feat. He could see her working out how to best get close to him when he was sitting on the edge of the board. It was the perfect position—easy exit and hard access. Plus closer to the mayor.

Jake hadn’t had a full conversation with McClure because of Daisy throwing herself at him, which was making him tense. Borderline angry. He hated mixing business with anything else. It was clear that the mayor was very much about mixing. He wasn’t sure if Daisy was meant to be a distraction or if he was hoping she could snag a billionaire, but either way, McClure was fine playing this game. Time to channel Xander and get this done.

Striding across the board, Jake made his way back onto the pool deck and into a chair near the mayor.

“Let’s talk land and permits,” Jake said. His voice sounded firm, sure. He hadn’t used this voice much during the time here in Lucky. As he told Xander, he didn’t like smooth-talking. But he’d learned to channel Xan when it was time for tough conversations. It was easier when he kept the goal in mind. This time was a little harder since his goal was getting a casino built that ultimately ruined the life of the girl he liked, but hey. It felt good to hear the command in his voice again.

“You don’t need foreplay.” The mayor laughed at this crude joke. Daisy hadn’t moved and in fact had downed Jake’s whole drink. She seemed to have enough sense to know it was time for business talk and kept back.

“I don’t like play,” Jake said.

“That’s what your reputation tells me. Now what do we need to get things in order?”

“This is happening. I just would like for it to happen with the town rather than to it. For that, I want to be sure we’re all getting what we want and need. You are a big part of what we need and we want to make sure you understand that and feel our appreciation.”

“What do you need?” McClure puffed on his cigar and did not offer Jake one.

“We secured the land along the Sabine, east side of downtown. Now we’ve got some trouble with the permits office and city zoning to extend Main further that direction and reroute Kincaid Boulevard. We need you, specifically you, on board to make this happen for Lucky.”

“And what are you offering?”

“Besides the obvious surge in jobs, revenue from tourism, and real estate development, we have cash. Obviously, not in the way that we could pay you directly, since that would be fraud. You understand.”

“The catch being that small towns don’t like this.”

“They don’t. They should, and they will, but they never do at the outset. People fear change. This will change Lucky. But it will provide jobs and security and things that Lucky has never had and will never have without it.”

The mayor puffed his cigar. “And this deal isn’t half bad for you.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t be here without knowing this was a sure thing for all parties.”

“I like sure things. Cigar?”

“I don’t smoke,” Jake said. He felt like he could finally take a breath. The conversation had shifted from convincing to celebrating. Didn’t take long, just like Xan said.

“Well, let’s at least shake on it,” McClure said.

Jake hated so much about this man, even after an hour at his home. The servants that he treated like slaves, the daughter he watched oozing sexuality, the need to have his ego massaged. But he held out his hand.

Jake had never done a deal in a bathing suit. He should have felt uncomfortable, but the opposite was true. He had the usual thrill from getting what he wanted, but somehow felt even more powerful, especially with towering over the mayor, who had to look up and shade his eyes to make eye contact.

Daisy sidled up beside Jake and pressed her body into his, her arm around his waist. Dang. He hadn’t seen her coming.

“Well, look who the cat dragged in,” Daisy said.

Jake turned to see Rhett walking shirtless to the pool with a loose arm around Shelby, who was clearly trying to shake him off. Her eyes widened when she took in Jake with the mayor’s hand in his and Daisy draped over him. Then her eyes narrowed and she shook her head just slightly. Jake dropped the mayor’s hand.

“Why, Shelby,” Mayor McClure said. “Have you finally come to take Rhett’s proposal seriously? You know we’d all love to see you in the family.”

Daisy stiffened, giving Jake the opportunity to step away from her. Clearly not everyone would love to see her in the family. He wondered what bad blood ran between these two. Likely it ran back to childhood. Both were beautiful, though in different ways. Clearly both were hot-headed. He could sense a temper coiled under Daisy’s perfect tan skin.

There was an awkward moment of greetings and hellos. Mayor McClure patted Jake on the back and said, “Now that business is done, I’m going to leave y’all to enjoy. Dinner will be out in a bit.”

A housekeeper appeared with a tray of fresh rum drinks. Jake didn’t take one and watched, concerned, as Shelby drained one in a long swallow. Daisy giggled and Rhett watched Shelby the whole time with a grin that Jake did not like. At. All.

Jake pushed past Daisy and hooked an arm through Shelby’s. “I’ve been staying at Shelby’s Airstream. She’s on Airbnb. It’s been pretty incredible. I’m kind of glad you all don’t have a hotel here.”

Shelby squeezed his arm. Not in a good way. “Y’all,” she corrected softly.

Daisy wrinkled her nose. “Oh, how cute. Is that your latest money-making scheme, Shelby? Let’s see—you’ve been a baker and a delivery girl and a floral arranger and what else?”

Rhett still looked like he was about to move on for the kill. Jake instinctively shifted his weight so he was between Rhett and Shelby.

“Your cupcakes are delicious,” Rhett said with a wicked grin. He grabbed Shelby’s arm and pulled her toward a lounge chair. She held Jake’s arm for a moment, but when he didn’t fight to hold her, she slipped away.

“You’ve got your suit. Let’s swim,” Rhett said. He tossed Shelby’s bag on a chair.

Rhett stepped into the pool, waiting for Shelby. Daisy had left Jake’s side for a moment to refresh her drink. Jake stepped closer to Shelby.

“Business,” Shelby hissed, hands on her hips. “What business do you have with that...that...overstuffed armchair?”

Jake couldn’t help but laugh. Out of all the looks he’d seen, this angry Shelby might be his favorite. He didn’t mean to laugh, especially since she was deadly serious. She was also smart enough that she might figure out some of what was going on.

She gave him a hard shove and then he was in the pool. Another two splashes and he came up, shaking water from his hair. Daisy was back and moving in his direction. Rhett hung on the edge of the pool leaning on his elbows, watching Shelby. Jake’s stomach turned. There were no redeeming qualities in this family.

Jake glanced up at her in time to see her take off her tank top and shorts. Her bathing suit had about ten times the material that Daisy’s did, but she looked about a hundred times better in it. She caught him looking and he turned away and worked to swallow. Daisy had gotten back in the pool and was almost on him. Jake dove down, going deep again right underneath her, thankful for the 10-foot area of the pool. He felt Daisy’s foot touch his back, as though she hoped to slow him down or stop him.

He didn’t go to the bottom this time, but came up near the side in the deepest part. Shelby was on the diving board and he swam to the edge to get out of her way. She dove straight down with almost no splash.

Jake looked up and every set of eyes was on the spot where she disappeared. Rhett still being completely unabashed in his lust and Daisy in her jealousy. Jake wondered what his own gaze looked like. He tried to look down.

Before thinking twice, Jake pushed himself down through the water to where Shelby hovered, just above the bottom of the deepest part. Her eyes were closed and a steady stream of bubbles went up from her mouth. He grasped her hand and she didn’t even flinch, like she’d expected him to follow her. He let go of her hand and grasped her around the waist.

Her eyes flew open then. Startled and then peaceful. He kicked and began pulling them both to the surface.

When they reached it, both taking long gulps of air, he continued to hold her waist loosely, as they treaded water. For a moment it was like they were the only two people in the world. He zeroed in on her eyes, which were locked on his. His heart jolted and his nerves screamed awake. She looked at his lips, then back up at his eyes. Jake’s heartbeat went erratic and he felt his whole body flush with warmth.

And then Shelby grabbed his face and kissed him. It was a kiss with all the fire and passion he would have expected from her. Totally shocking in the moment, but his body responded immediately, his lips meeting hers and matching her rhythm. He kissed her just as passionately, feeling his body light up even as he had to kick to keep them both afloat.

It had been a year since Jake kissed anyone. That person had been Hannah. He couldn’t trust one thing that came from her—words or kisses alike. But even if he’d had a great and true kiss to compare this to, Jake knew there was no comparison. This was a kiss that meant something real and lasting. It was a kiss that held promises and hopes and a future—his future—in its touch.

Lord, let this be real, he thought, even in that heady and passionate moment. It felt strange to pray while kissing someone. But if you couldn’t pray about that, what could you pray about?

As suddenly as she had started, Shelby pulled away without saying a word. Jake dropped his hands and she swam away. She swam past Rhett and Daisy with their open mouths and simply went to the steps and climbed out.

Jake tried not to stare, but the way the water dropped from her body was about the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. He dove under again, letting the cold settle his skin. When he came up again, Shelby was dressed again. Rhett was trying to drape her in a towel and she was trying to wiggle out from under his grasp.

“You coming, Jake?” Shelby called. “You’re my ride home.”

While Jake was distracted by Shelby, Daisy managed to swim closer. “Daddy asked Lupe to make dinner,” she whined, trying to clutch at his biceps. “Don’t go.”

Jake pulled himself from the pool in a quick motion. The kiss from Shelby had thrown him, but he still felt poised with the confidence and power that came from his conversation with the Mayor. He could see Shelby trying not to look at his body, while Rhett’s jaw hardened, looking him up and down. Though he’d never been in a fight, he could see that look in Rhett’s face. A fight was not far off. Pulling on his shirt, Jake grabbed his towel and bag.

“Good to meet you Daisy,” Jake said. She pouted and shot a dangerous look at Shelby, but did not try to get close to him again.

Jake held out his hand to Shelby. “I’m ready if you are.”

Shelby looked at him for a moment, her face clouded with a mix of emotions. He thought his heart would beat right out of his chest before she took his hand and they both walked toward the house, leaving Rhett and Daisy behind.