The Spring of Candy Apples (A Sweet Seasons Novel) Read Online Free Page A

that she wear something specific, he would have given her fair warning.”
    “Good to know,” Candace said. “I gotta go.”
    “Later.”
    Candace walked back into Tamara’s room. “He’s wearing a tux.”
    Tamara’s face lit up. “That will be so much easier,” she said.
    “Let’s hope so,” Candace muttered under her breath.
    An hour later Tamara looked stunning in one of her favorite purple formals and matching pumps. Candace had helped her put her hair up.
    “You know, this guy has really done something for you,” Candace commented.
    “How do you mean?”
    “Somehow you’re even more beautiful. Your eyes are always shining.”
    “It’s called love,” Tamara said with a contented sigh. “I highly recommend it.”
    Candace smiled. As much as she liked Kurt, she had never been sure she could actually say she was in love. Watching Tamara with James, she was becoming more and more sure that she wasn’t. She was also questioning her hypothesis that she and Kurt might be in love someday.
    “What’s wrong?” Tamara asked.
    “Nothing,” Candace said. There was no need to bring Tamara down with her love problems. At least not right before James arrived.
    As if on cue, the doorbell downstairs rang.
    “Can you get it?” Tamara begged.
    “Want to make a grand entrance?”
    “You know it.”
    Candace hurried downstairs and opened the front door. James was standing there in a tuxedo holding a bouquet of flowers. She was relieved to see that Josh’s intel had been right on the money.
    “Come in,” Candace said.
    “Thanks.”
    James stepped in the house, and Candace had to admit that he looked just as good in a tuxedo as Josh did. Where Josh brought a look of casual elegance, James brought an air of excitement and mystery.
    “Can I get you a martini, Mr. Bond?” she teased.
    “Shaken, not stirred,” he said with a grin.
    Tamara appeared at the top of the stairs, and Candace heard him suck in his breath sharply.
    They did make a gorgeous couple. Candace was pretty sure that two months was a dating record for Tamara. Her friend had always had a string of guys dangling after her, but since she had met James, she seemed to have eyes only for him. Candace stepped into the living room for a moment to give them some space.
    Her phone rang.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey, it’s Kurt. Do you want to grab some dinner?”
    “Sure, where?”
    “IHOP.”
    “So breakfast it is,” she quipped.
    “Meet me there in thirty.”
    “Okay.”
    She hung up the phone and moved back into the foyer.
    Tamara had already managed to put her flowers in water and was ready to go. Candace wondered wistfully where James was taking her. Knowing him, it could be somewhere really nice or somewhere really fun.
    “So, where are you guys going?” she asked.
    James smiled. “Can’t ruin the surprise.”
    Candace nodded. Wherever it was, she bet it wasn’t IHOP.

3
    “My sister is getting married,” Kurt said by way of greeting.
    “Congratulations,” Candace said as she slid into the booth across from him.
    Candace couldn’t remember him ever talking about a sister. Then again, Kurt didn’t spend much time talking about his family at all.
    “When?” she asked, after a long pause in which he didn’t seem ready to say anything else.
    “Easter weekend.”
    “Interesting choice.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Do you know the guy very well?”
    “They’ve been dating for a while,” Kurt said with a shrug.
    “How old is your sister now?”
    “Twenty-one.”
    Only about three years older than Candace. She shivered for a moment. She couldn’t imagine being ready to marry anybody in three years’ time. Then again, if I met Mr. Right, maybe that would change.
    For a moment, she sat very still as the impact of that thought came home to her. Kurt’s not Mr. Right.
    She had always known that, or at least, always suspected. She felt very, very sad, but also somehow relieved. She shook her head and returned her attention to Kurt. Fortunately,