Can't Stop Loving You Read Online Free PDF Page A

evening. The temperature had plunged, and she hesitated, wondering if she should run back upstairs for a sweater. Nah. Bubba’s would be warm, and she could run the heater on the way home.
    Neither of them spoke as she backed the car down the drive and headed toward Maverick Junction. The moon was nearly full, the sky clear, the stars amazing. Maggie considered turning on the radio but realized that would be cowardly.
    Before she could find the right words, Pops cleared his throat. He didn’t look at her, stared straight ahead. “Maggie, honey, it’s time we had a talk. One I’ve put off too long. Shouldn’t have.”
    A groan welled up in her, but she batted it down. She’d waited too long. Someone else had told him.
    â€œIt’s as much my fault as yours, Pops.” She took one hand from the wheel and gave his a squeeze.
    â€œYour fault?” His head snapped around to study her. “Why in the world would you say that?”
    She frowned. “I—”
    â€œNo,” he said. “Just listen. Time I took this old bull by the horns and had my say.”
    â€œOkay.” Jeez, the way her stomach was flipping around, she’d never be able to eat a bite if they didn’t get this hashed out before they reached Bubba’s.
    â€œYou’re a good girl, Maggie, and I’m proud of you. I understand people look at you and see what you want them to see. You like some bling, like your fun. But you also like the status quo. Despite all the glitz and glamour, at heart, you like nothing better than a rainy Sunday spent in an old pair of pajamas, reading.”
    â€œTrue, but—”
    â€œI loved your grandma with all my heart. Always will.”
    What the heck? Maggie shot him a glance. What did Grandma have to do with her move? This definitely wasn’t the direction she’d expected their conversation to take.
    â€œI know that, Pops. But what does any of this have to do with New York?”
    â€œNew York?” He reared back. “Who said anything about New York?”
    She inhaled sharply. “I’m confused.”
    â€œâ€™Course you are. You keep interrupting me instead of listening.”
    And she’d been chastised. Sure not the first time. Better to say nothing, simply wait for him to finish.
    â€œOkay, then.” As if in a rush to get the words out, he blurted, “Dottie and I are getting married.”
    â€œWhat?” The car swerved into the other lane. She whipped it back. Her eyes fastened on her grandfather briefly. His gaze focused on the passing scenery, he braced his feet on the floor, grabbed the hand rest, and pressed his back into the seat.
    â€œPops,” she snapped. “Look at me. Say that again.”
    â€œYou’d best watch where you’re going before the sheriff’s got to send the ambulance out for us.”
    She turned her attention back to the two-lane highway that stretched ahead for miles and miles.
    â€œI asked Dottie Willis to marry me. She said yes.” He swallowed hard.
    â€œDottie?”
    â€œThat’s what I said, didn’t I?”
    â€œDottie Willis?”
    â€œYes, ma’am. Nothin’ wrong with your hearing.”
    Her eyes flicked from the road to him, back to the road. She tried to speak, but no words came. Her grandfather and Dottie Willis? And she’d been clueless.
    â€œI know this probably comes as a surprise to you—”
    â€œA surprise?” she croaked.
    â€œWe’ve been seeing each other on and off since Cash’s Fourth of July barbecue.”
    â€œThat’s almost a year.”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œAll those dinners and nights out with the guys?” She took a sip of her now warm tea.
    He had the good grace to look shamefaced. “Some of them actually were guys-nights-out, but I spent a lot of them with Dottie. We took it slow.” He gave a nervous little laugh. “Although at our age that’s