Endless Southern Love – Magnolia Grove Read Online Heidi McLaughlin

Categories Genre: Alpha Male Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
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On my way to the kitchen, my phone rings. Right off I want it to be Wade and then chide myself for thinking about him. Relief washes over me when I see Leslie’s name on my screen.

“Hey,” I say, answering. I put her on speaker, head to my coffee machine, and put a pod in.

“You made it home?”

“Barely. There was a freak storm, and I ended up with a flat.”

“Where?”

I sigh heavily and reach for my cup of coffee, adding cream and sugar. “I honestly don’t know. Somewhere between here and Mobile. There was a tree down on the interstate and I thought I knew a shortcut. Turns out, I didn’t.”

“Where’s your car now?”

“Still there.”

“Which you don’t remember where?”

“Nope.” Jesus I’m a mess.

“How’d you get home?”

“Funny story,” I say after taking a sip of my coffee. Instead of telling her right away I press the video button so she can see my face when I tell her the unbelievable.

“What’s so funny?” Leslie asks as soon as she comes on screen.

“Well, I’m sitting there, waiting for the storm to pass so I can change my tire, and a truck pulls up behind me.”

Her mouth drops open. “Don’t tell me you hooked up with some random roadside hunk?” Leslie fist pumps the air and grins widely. “I’m so proud of you.”

I shake my head slowly.

“Ugh, seriously? Was he creepy and you felt the only way to survive was to run through the woods? Wait, was there any woods?”

“Not exactly. I definitely hooked up with a roadside hunk. It actually reminded me of that song by Heart.”

“‘All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You’?”

I nod.

“But that’s . . .” Leslie trails off. I wait for her to draw her own conclusion, but she just looks confused.

“It was Wade.” I let his name sink in. It takes a second and then her mouth drops open.

“You slept with Wade?”

“In his truck. On the side of the road.”

“Lemon!”

I hang my head in shame.

“Go girl!”

My head pops up and I know my eyes are bugging out. Surely, I didn’t hear her correctly. “What?”

“Oh, you heard me loud and clear. Go you! Get the man.”

“No, Leslie, this is bad. He’s bad for me.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Yes, he is.”

“Only in your head is that man bad for you, Lemon. I was there when he groveled. When he begged you for another chance. As far as I know, unless you’re lying to me, this man has never lied to you. He’s never done anything to you. You live by this notion that because of his daughter, you can’t be happy with him. Yet, you purposely took a job in your hometown, knowing your parents don’t live there anymore to what—put yourself through the agony of seeing him every day?”

I hate Leslie right now because she’s right. Everything she says is fact. I’m the problem. Not Wade. He’d been nothing but honest with me after I broke his heart. When I finally came to my senses and called him, he said he wanted me back, but I needed to know the situation.

Still, to this day, those words haunt me.

“Lemon, I love you and I have for most of my life. This breakup has been hard. So fucking hard, and . . . I have something to tell you.”

“Are you with someone else?”

“No, not exactly. But . . . I did spend the night with someone and now she’s pregnant.”

I hung up on him after those words. Yet, he still called, leaving me message after message, telling me his truth, with his voice, and all I could do in response was text him.

TKTEXTPlease stop calling. Please don’t text me. I don’t want to see or hear from you again.

Wade: Okay, Lemon. Call me when you’re ready to talk.

I won’t be. Ever.

Wade: I’m so sorry, Lemon. I truly am.

And then I came back to our hometown, where all our memories are. Back to where I knew he’d be.

Why?

Because I’m a glutton for punishment, apparently.

Leslie sighs heavily, bringing me to the here and now. “Have you spoken to him today?”

I shake my head and walk into my bedroom to get dressed. “I’m sure I will today. Something is bound to be wrong with the garden or sprinkler system. Who knows what I’m walking into at school.”

“Literally, walking,” Leslie says with a snicker.

After rummaging through my closet, I find a flowy skirt to wear. I don’t mind walking, but doing so in one of my power suits isn’t easy. Although, I could just carry my suit with me and change at work.

“I don’t mind walking. It’s better for the environment. My health. Gives me more time to not think about the dumpster fire my life is. It’s odd, I can easily give advice, but lord knows I’m shitty at taking it.”

“Heed this,” Leslie says. “Give him a chance. Give love a chance. You might surprise yourself.”


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