Marriage to the Second Degree - Part 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

other plant life, thinking her courage had probably abandoned her so she’d have to face him alone, and wondering why she had thought wearing a denim mini in this weather was a good idea. 
    “Just do it,” she muttered out loud.  “For crying out loud, the man doesn’t bite.” 
    Well, at least not that she recalled.
    After dumping her keys into her purse, she exited her car; a bit surprised Sawyer hadn’t noticed her sitting out here.  Maybe he wasn’t home.  She had already spotted his truck, but he might be out on his motorcycle, although that was unlikely in this weather.  The more preferred scenario was that he was writing, and hadn’t heard her pull into the drive. 
    She rang the bell, the air chilling her bare legs, her jittery nerves still tapping away at her stomach, although at this point it felt as if her nerves had graduated to choreographed numbers.  The kind with a lot of movement to really stir up her uneasiness, but no real finesse to ease her uncertainty.
    “Mckenzie,” Sawyer said, clearly surprised to see her on his doorstep, his manner one of relief.  No doubt he had given up on her calling.  “What are you doing here?”
    “I know I said I would call,” she said in a rush, the squishy, squirmy of her emotions doing their best to make her look the fool, “but I didn’t know what to say, and then I found myself driving out here – “
    Thankfully he choose that moment to interrupt.  “It’s okay,” he said , his smile encouraging as he took her hand, and helped her over the threshold.  “I’m glad you’re here.”
    He closed the door on the blustery autumn day, although the faint scent of pine mingled in the air.  Nerves on red alert, Mckenzie tugged on the string that tied the hood of her navy blue hoodie.  She already had one side longer than the other.
    “So,” he said, leading the way into the kitchen where the subtle fragrance of coffee laced with the air.  “What brings you out here?”
    Doing her best to not notice how his denims hugged his hips, or how he’d let his hair grow slightly long again, she managed a shaky laugh that was triggered more by edginess than actual amusement.  “I really don’t know.  I’m not any less confused now than I was before.”
    She leaned against the counter as he lifted two blue ceramic mugs from an overhead cabinet.  It was easier to focus on the floor than him as she hadn’t broken any promises to floor, or walked out on it after a heated argument.  Sawyer however had yet acknowledged her lack of eye contact as he continued their conversation.
    “Well you must know something, or you wouldn’t have driven out here.”  His reasonable tone should have struck the right chord and inspired her to overlooked her anxiety, but her nerves had made a total pain of themselves ever since she followed him into Gabby’s, and clearly they weren’t willing to surrender control.
    Her silence triggered a pause, then Sawyer padded over to her, her insides jangling with every step of his bare feet.  Why oh why had she come out here?  She was never any good at emotional confrontation.  It made her want to crawl into some forgotten hole until the next ice age. 
    “Babe.”  His softly spoken word of endearment was reminiscent of days past.  Mckenzie knew some women found the term ‘babe’ offensive, and although it wasn’t very feminist of her, she rather liked it when Sawyer called her that. 
    His hand crept to her waist, as he continued, “This would probably be a lot easier on both of us, if you just told me what’s on your mind.”  Lightly he nudged her chin until their eyes met. 
    Again her inner turmoil spiked as the words he wanted to hear stuck in the back of her throat.  Her courage, which up to this point, she had thought had flown off to Barcelona, must have taken the express flight back as she acknowledged the lack of accusation in his dark gaze, which she took to mean he had no interest in dredging up the