June Bride: Now and Forever Romance Read Free Page A

again.

 
    CHAPTER 4
    C hris spent the rest of the day juggling students and classes, and trying to figure out how he was going to tell Meredith about his scheduling snafu. He wasn’t going to cancel their date. He just couldn’t. But somehow, he would have to deal with the fact that Karen was right—he did have a date already for the evening.
    By six o’clock he felt tied up in knots. Once he scooted the last of his tae-kwon-do kids out the front door, he barely had time to rush upstairs and change into street clothes. Owing to the nature of his pre-existing date, he’d laid out his dark blue suit, white shirt, and green tie. It was too late to do anything about it before Meredith arrived. He would just have to wear what he’d brought, and as for the rest of the evening, he’d wing it and hope she still had a sense of humor.
    Meredith was standing at the front door when he got back downstairs. He glanced at the wall clock. Six-fifteen on the dot. He opened the door.
    “Wow, you look great,” he said.
    Meredith’s eyes widened at the sight of his suit. “I feel a little underdressed.”
    “No worries. You’re not. I’ll explain. Shall we go?” Chris knew he was babbling again, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was all jitters over being so close to Meredith, and he was plain nervous about what lay ahead. “Shall I drive?”
    Meredith handed him the keys.
    “I hope you don’t mind, but I know where we’re going.”
    “And as soon as you tell me, I’ll know, too,” she said.
    He skipped ahead of her and opened the passenger door.
    Meredith seemed pleased.
    Chris got in behind the wheel and started the car. He kept looking at Meredith. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “You really do look wonderful,” he said.
    She smiled and dropped her gaze. “You used to tell me that every time we had Shakespeare class. Three days a week, without fail, I knew I was going to get a compliment. It was really nice.”
    Chris smiled back.
    Meredith said, “You might want to look at the road before shifting into drive.”
    “Hmm? Oh, sorry. Right. You’re just so beautiful.” He cleared his throat and forced his eyes to stare out the front window. “So, tell me all about what you’ve been doing since graduation.” He pulled into traffic.
    “Oh, the usual. Working at a boring job that I took out of desperation. Regretting that I left California. Getting engaged, and then getting dumped. Same old story,” she said, somewhat sarcastically.
    “I’m sorry you got dumped. No, wait. I’m sorry you got hurt. But I’m glad you’re not engaged anymore. That would make this evening really awkward.”
    Meredith smiled. Then, “What about you? No wife? No fiancée? No break-up stories?”
    Chris shook his head. “Nope, nothing like that. I’ve been too busy getting the gym going, doing the marketing, the promo, and all the business stuff. I found out that maybe I should have taken bookkeeping in college.”
    Meredith grinned. She watched the scenery change outside the window. “Where are we going for dinner?”
    Chris took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, here’s the deal. And I promise you, I’ll make it up to you, okay? I mean, I just wanted to see you so bad, get back in touch, you know?” He glanced at Meredith and saw two tiny furrows between her brows. He rushed on. “I already had plans for tonight, and when I saw you, I forgot all about it. But it’s okay. All we have to do is make a quick stop, and then we’re on our own.”
    Now she really looked confused. “What? You mean you’re taking me with you to cancel your other date?” She sounded annoyed.
    “Oh no, it’s not like that. Not exactly. Honest. It will just take ten minutes. I swear.”
    Meredith’s voice sounded artificially calm. “Why don’t you just stand her up? Or reschedule?”
    Chris turned right onto a long driveway that curved like a horseshoe in front of a three-story building with white columns flanking the entrance.