Tough Luck Hero Read Online Free PDF Page A

turning toward the gift shop that was located across from the café.
    He didn’t want to see her point, but he did. His mother was already on the verge of a breakdown, and he was going to be the primary topic of town gossip for months. Adding to it all with this weird marriage and a quick divorce seemed...well, it seemed like the path of most resistance.
    Lydia clicked after him. “You do?”
    â€œI have a reputation in the community that I need to maintain.”
    â€œI suppose drunkenly marrying your former fiancée’s bridesmaid doesn’t really jibe with that.”
    â€œLess so quickly divorcing her. I’m not sure if Natalie told you about my father.”
    Lydia blinked. “It may have escaped your notice that Natalie and I weren’t exactly on fantastic terms there in the end.”
    â€œOh, it did not escape my notice.” He began to rifle through the clothing racks. There wasn’t anything normal in this place. It all had dice and glitter on it. Lydia didn’t seem like the sort of woman who would wear either. “What size do you wear?” he asked. He was happy enough to change the subject away from his family.
    â€œI can find my own clothes,” she said, grabbing hold of a large pair of sunglasses that had small glittery dice on the earpieces and putting them on quickly. She turned around, grabbing a fuzzy black zip-up hoodie off a rack, followed by a matching pair of pants. “These will do fine.”
    He turned around, snagging a white T-shirt from a nearby rack and holding it out. It just so happened to say Bride across the chest in rhinestones. “You might want something short-sleeved,” he said.
    She frowned. “That’s tacky.”
    â€œBut true,” he said.
    Lydia scowled, taking a pair of black shoes with gold dice on them that looked an awful lot like men’s smoking slippers. Then she took everything over to the counter, where a young woman was waiting to check them out.
    â€œSo,” the girl said, taking the sunglasses from Lydia and scanning them. “You just got married?”
    Lydia smiled, and it might have looked genuine if he was standing a little farther away. If it wasn’t so apparent to him how intensely she was grinding her teeth together. “Yes. I bet you don’t get a lot of newlyweds in here.”
    Lydia’s dry tone completely went over the woman’s head. “Oh, we do. Getting married is a pretty popular pastime here.”
    â€œWhat else are you going to do in a desert?” Colton asked.
    â€œPretty much nothing,” the girl responded, folding up the sweatshirt and then starting on the pants.
    â€œActually,” Lydia said, “I kind of want to change now.”
    â€œMust have had some party after the wedding, huh?” the checker asked.
    Lydia touched her hair again. “Or something.”
    â€œShe’s dressed a lot fancier than you,” the woman said, this time directing her comment at Colton.
    â€œYes, well she was standing outside a chapel waiting around for her groom. I just happened to show up.”
    â€œI should have been waiting where you were waiting,” the checker said, winking at Lydia.
    â€œIf only you had been,” Lydia responded drily. “I’m just going to go change.”
    Lydia disappeared for a few moments and Colton pretended to look at the merchandise in the store. Merchandise he would never in a million years consider buying. But it was better than attempting conversation with the woman at the counter. When Lydia reappeared her hair was still a disaster, and she looked a little like a Real Housewife of Somewhere. All she was missing was a small dog.
    â€œAre you checking out?” the sales clerk asked.
    â€œYes,” Lydia said emphatically.
    â€œIn a hurry to start the honeymoon?” the woman asked with a grin.
    â€œSomething like that,” Colton said as they left the store.
    While they