Bitter Hearts (A Southern Loving Book 3) Read Free Page A

and it’s time to move on. If I could drink with you I would.”
    “But
I can,” a voice said from the hallway.
    They
both looked up to see Austin standing in the doorway with two glasses of brown
liquor.
    “Let’s
go to the table,” Hank said, getting up from the bed. He bypassed them and
stormed into the living room. It felt like he was suffocating sitting in that
room, he wished the smell of the chili would overpower the faint scent of her
perfume, but it didn’t. It also couldn’t hide the fact that the dresser drawers
were pulled out and Natalie clothes were gone.
    Sitting
at the table, Hank tried to regain his appetite but it was no use, he was down
in the dumps. No matter how much Austin and Farrah tried to cheer him up, it
was no use. He spent a period of his life married to a person that he thought
was the most perfect woman on this earth, and now he thought of Natalie as a horrible
sun on this planet.
    “Two
words!” Austin said, leaning back in his chair. “Rebound sex.”
    Farrah
started coughing on her apple juice and looked at Austin with a frown. “Don’t
listen to your cousin,” she said, turning her attention to Hank.
    For
the first time that night a smile formed on Hank’s handsome face. “I think
Austin might have a point. I’ll be a divorce man in a few months, life goes on
right, why should my bed be cold?” He held up his glass and filled it with Jack
Daniel’s. “To moving on,” he toasted.
    “Moving
on,” Austin echoed.
    “I
think we should take some of that anger you have pent up and use it to
something meaningful,” Farrah suggested.
    “Such
as?” Hank asked.
    “I
want you to consult with Kari, the decorator for the baby nursery. I know you’re
good with your hands and the handmade rocking chair is magnificent.” She nodded
to the chair in the corner. “Instead of being depressed, you can create a
McBride heirloom for our little one,” she said and gently rubbed her tummy.
    “I
don’t know what to say,” Hank stammered.
    “Say
you’ll do it, if not, Farrah will hound you each and every day until you say
yes.” Austin sipped his drink when he saw the way his pregnant wife was looking
at him.
    “I’ll
do it,” Hank said happily. Farrah didn’t have to ask him twice to create an
heirloom that would be pass down from generation to generation.
    “Great,
Kari will be on the ranch in two months, where you two can go over designs for
the crib.” Farrah clasped her fingers together. “I can’t wait to see the new
designs.”
    Hank
nodded his head. Damn, he was trying his best not to have a complete meltdown,
his fingers were itching to reach over and grab his phone and text Natalie.
Something inside of him told him no, to let it go, and that rebound sex was
exactly what he needed.

 
    Chapter One
    Two
Months Later
    The
beeping of the alarm clock ripped Kari from her dream, just when she was about
to kiss Chris Hemsworth.
    “Damn
you alarm clock,” she moaned. Rolling over, she stared at the blinking red
numbers on the alarm. Sometime last night the raging thunderstorm knocked out
her power. Reaching for her cellphone on the nightstand, she screamed when the
time revealed it was 8:00 in the morning.  
    “Shit!”
She jumped out of bed.
    Kari
was due at Southern Hearts Ranch in forty five minutes. Racing around her condo
like a chicken with the head cut off, Kari was pulling out clothes left and
right. She needed to look and appear perfect for her new VIP client.
    “God
please don’t let me be late,” Kari prayed, as she brushed her teeth quickly and
curled her hair at the same time.
    Kari
Hayes was still trying to establish herself after moving to Nashville from Los
Angles. Instead of taking her designing talent to New York or keeping it in
Hollywood where she could work a big design firm, Kari thought that it was in
her best interest to move to Nashville and hopefully start her own business. 
Three months ago, Kari finally stuck gold when Melanie the wife