Where Azaleas Bloom Read Online Free

woman, what’s the attraction? You wouldn’t be
thinking of trying to rekindle something with Lynn Morrow, now that she and Ed
are divorcing, would you?”
    Mitch blinked at the way she’d cut right to the heart of the
matter before he’d even had a chance to consider such a thing himself. “What’s
to rekindle?” he asked, hoping to throw her off stride. Not that a full-speed
train heading in her direction would cause Grace to falter once she was on a
mission. “Lynn and I were never an item.”
    Since Wharton’s wasn’t yet busy because, as she’d noted, it was
barely past dawn, Grace settled down opposite him in the booth and gave him one
of her don’t-fool-with-me looks. “You must think my memory’s bad, Mitch. I can
recall perfectly well the way you trailed around after her back in middle school
with that lovesick expression written all over your face. If she came in here
for a soda or a milk shake with her friends, you were never far behind with that
adoring look about you.”
    He winced at the probably accurate description. “Was I that
pitiful?”
    “Not pitiful,” she soothed. “Just a boy suffering from his
first unrequited love, as near as I could tell.”
    “Well, if you knew it was unrequited, then you also know
there’s nothing to be rekindled. Besides, I rarely catch a glimpse of Lynn while
I’m working over at Raylene’s.”
    “Sometimes it doesn’t take more than a glimpse to know when a
possibility’s intriguing,” she said. “Seems to me she could use a steady man
like you in her life. Ed Morrow wasn’t exactly a prize, and if I didn’t think
much of him before, I think even less of him now.” There was a weight behind her
words that suggested she’d heard things that maybe others didn’t know. There
were, despite what everyone in town thought, things not even Grace would share
with the world, not if she felt somebody stood to be hurt by the talk.
    She looked Mitch directly in the eye. “And you already know
what I think about it being time for you to move on.”
    He laughed. “Grace, you probably know a lot more about romance
than I ever did, but it seems to me that being steady almost never sends a
woman’s pulse scrambling.”
    “It does when she’s been dealing with a man like Ed. And you
know exactly what I mean, a man with a broken moral compass,” Grace replied
firmly. “Trust me on that. I hear things.”
    Mitch nodded. “More than you need to, I suspect,” he said
wryly. “And I’ll keep your advice in mind should something change. Now, do you
suppose I could get my eggs, ham and grits?”
    “You’ll get oatmeal on a chilly morning like this,” she
countered, then gave him a wink. “Then we’ll see about the rest.”
    “How on earth do you keep customers coming in here if you boss
’em around like this?”
    “What can I say? I have a charming personality,” she said. “And
I always have the best gossip in town.”
    That, to his dismay, was all too true. “Just as long as I’m not
your hot topic for today, I’ll put up with the oatmeal,” he called after
her.
    “Why would I talk about you? So far, you haven’t done a single
outrageous thing,” she called back, then added, “more’s the pity.”
    Trying to imagine what would happen if he did break any of the
hard and fast rules he’d lived by since Amy’s death, Mitch prayed for the
fortitude to keep it that way. As much as he loved Grace’s sass and vinegar, he
wasn’t quite ready to be on the menu right along with the tuna melt.
    * * *
    Satisfied that she’d grilled Jeremy sufficiently to eke
out a passing grade on his history test, Lynn sent him off to school, then
walked into town. Outside Wharton’s, she grabbed the local weekly, then went in
for a cup of coffee she intended to nurse as long as possible. Grace gave
frequent refills, so it was usually enough caffeine to get Lynn through the
day.
    “Well, well, look who’s here,” Grace said loudly as she
entered.
    Only then