SunnyWithAChanceofTrueLove Read Free Page A

them in one pocket of her overalls before pulling a notepad and pen from another. “I promised my friend Remi I’d cover the Armadillo Day story for her while she’s down with the flu. I’m glad I haven’t missed any of the action.”
    “Remi Wheeler?” Tulsi asked.
    “Yeah, we met in drawing class when we were in grad school,” Elodie said. “I’m renting her spare room while I get my parents’ old place fixed up.”
    “You’re moving back?” Suddenly Ross felt like someone had taken a deep breath and blown away all the rain clouds that had been hovering over his head for the past few days. It was silly—he didn’t even know Elodie anymore—but he couldn’t deny he was happy to have her back in Lonesome Point.
    “Already moved. Been here almost a week.” Elodie smiled up at him and his heart did a spinner dolphin flip in his chest.
    Stupid heart. He wasn’t twelve years old anymore, but apparently it didn’t matter. He was still as much of a sucker for Elodie’s crooked grin as he’d been when they were kids. But thankfully, for once his nearly non-existent brain-to-mouth filter stepped in and stopped him from saying something embarrassing like, “That’s the best news I’ve heard all year.”
    Or, “I always hoped you’d come back, Elodie.”
    Or, worst of all, “Would you have dinner with me tonight?”
    Instead, he nodded and mumbled, “That’s great,” before taking a sip of his coffee and shifting his gaze back to Adolf’s burrow.
    Elodie had grown into a beautiful, confident woman. She might not even be single, and even if she were, he’d have to be in top pretending-to-be-normal form to have a chance in hell with a girl like her. He’d learned a long time ago that “just be yourself” was advice for people who fit the mold better than he did. For people who knew when to keep their mouths shut and their sometimes odd opinions to themselves. For people who understood there might be challenges in going straight from working for the highway department collecting dead animals to opening a restaurant with their meager savings. People who would have anticipated the “Roadkill Café” jokes that would be bantered about town and known how to banish mean gossip with a wink and a smile.
    Ross was none of those things, but he’d been able to convince Meg he was for a while. Maybe he could convince Elodie, too, though he didn’t like the idea of putting on an act with her. With anyone, really.
    He was twenty-six years old and tired of pretending to be something he was not. Tired of pretending he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. Tired of playing hard to get, playing games, and playing the fool when yet another relationship failed to launch. Most of all, he was tired of being alone. Even with his best friends, a part of him had always felt alone, a part that had found kinship only once, all those years ago, when he sat in the dirt with Elodie Prince and twisted pipe cleaners into monster shapes while she told him stories.
    And if that wasn’t reason enough to man up and ask her out, he didn’t know what was. Sometimes you have to take a risk, no matter how slim your chances of success. Some things—like beautiful girls with magical smiles—are worth it.
    He pulled in a breath and turned to Elodie, a question about her dinner plans forming on his lips, when a collective gasp rippled through the sleepy crowd. Ross turned back to the burrow in time to see a massive armadillo barrel out of his burrow and make a run for the bluffs in the distance, waddling at a surprisingly brisk clip straight into the sun, casting a long, lumpy shadow behind him.
    After a moment of stunned silence, the small gathering of Armadillo Day spectators broke into applause.
    “Yes!” Clementine pumped her fist in the air. “Winter is over! Call Grandpa and tell him we’re going on a trail ride tomorrow, Mama!”
    “How about we go eat breakfast and check the weather, first,” Tulsi said with a laugh.