Uninhibited in Apple Trail, Arkansas - Volume 2 by Keri Ford Page B

he would. He would marry Tiffany McBride in an instant. “No. But she wouldn't marry me anyway.”
    “I think it’s only fair to ask and find out.”
    “Fuck, Jessie.” He turned in the small kitchen. When he caught sight of the stove missing all but one of the burners and the oven door gone, he turned back to Jessie, unable to take all of this in, at the same time. “She won’t even date me.”
    Jessie smiled and placed her glass down. “You don’t have the right ammunition. I’ll be right back. In the meantime, you better start figuring out where she is.”
    Mike walked to the back porch and stared at the tree line. Hundreds of acres. She could be anywhere. His pond, maybe? It would be a walk, thirty minutes or so from here to his pond. That’s the only place he knew to start looking.
    Jessie moved down the steps and held out a black box.
    He took the box and opened up to see a set of wedding bands. One gold man’s band. One slimmer gold band with a modest round diamond set high in the center.
    Jessie looked up and blinked, her eyes watery. “Her momma and daddy’s set. She doesn’t know I have them. I told her they’d been buried wearing them. I knew she’d do something like sell them for money otherwise.”
    Mike looked up from the pair in the velvet soft box. “Do you know how her father proposed?”
    Jessie shook her head. “Not really. I heard it was very romantic and in the woods or something. Anytime they started the story, it turned a little mushy and we ran from the room.”
    A memory flashed and he blinked it away, wrapping Jessie in a hug. “I think know where she might be.”
    “Where?”
    But he didn’t answer. Instead he ran for the woods.

Chapter Fourteen

    At the sound of footsteps, Tiffany looked up. And rubbed her eyes. God, she was losing it. She’d sat here crying under this tree long enough, dreaming that Mike would find her and make all this shit go away that she was now seeing things, seeing him coming to her.
    He squatted in front of her, looking so real, smelling so real, she dared not breathe before the image would fade away. She reached up and cupped his cheek, the warmth of his skin reached through his roughened cheek against her palm. Lord have mercy, but he even felt real.
    “Tiffany.”
    She pulled in a quick breath. Sounded real, but he couldn’t be. Nobody knew of this tree. No one would know how to find her. She’d never told a soul of this place. Not even Jessie.
    “I love you,” he said.
    “I love you, too.” Now he would sweep her in his arms, spin her around and tell her that, yes, he would take her and they would hide until after the elections. That she was brilliant and he was so thankful for having such a caring woman in his life that would make such a sacrifice. Not only sacrifice—but insist!
    He nodded. “I love you more than anything in my life, would give you anything you asked of me, but your idea?” He shook his head. “It’s shit and it’s not going to happen.”
    Oh, wait.
    She frowned and blinked. That was not part of her dream.
    He gathered her hands in his and pulled her to her feet. “And you’re just going to have to see that.”
    Her mouth opened and closed. She wasn’t expecting this. She needed time to brace for this. “How did you find me?” tumbled out of her mouth.
    He smiled and nodded toward the tree. “That tree is right on the border between my property and yours. I walk a lot out here, looking for deer tracks and such. I used to find trash out here.”
    “I—”
    He covered her lips with his fingers. “Not much. A gum wrapper that probably fell out of your pocket. Little tiny pieces of candy wrapper you’d torn off and the wind likely caught and such. I always wondered where small things like that came from. Jessie just gave me something to give you, I remembered this place and it all just fell together and I knew you’d be here.”
    She turned and looked at the heart carving on the tree. “My parents