Reading Online Novel

Town of Chance 5:Sweet Caroline(24)



She jerked and stepped away from him but pretended to fix the books.

“Caroline, are you okay?” he asked. She glanced up and she realized by the concerned expressions on Mike and Marlena’s faces as well as C.J.’s that maybe she reacted on instinct too quickly and brought attention to herself.

“I’m fine, and you?” she asked and then looked away from them and out toward the crowd, hoping someone else came along to buy some books.

“Caroline, I already grabbed lunch. It’s your turn if you need a break,” Marlena said to her.

“That’s great because I was just going to take a lunch break. I’ll walk with you to the café or something,” C.J. said to her.

“I’m not interested,” she said and he smiled.

“Not interested in eating lunch? Have you had Rita’s grilled cheese bacon tomato sandwich on fresh sourdough bread? It’s awesome,” he said and then started to walk.

“Come on, my treat. It’s the least I can do considering you’re a princess,” he teased and bowed before her. Some people around them chuckled, including Marlena and Mike.

“You’ll be safe, Caroline,” Mike said to her, surprising her.

She reached under the table for her bag and started walking with C.J.

She didn’t want to make a scene back there, especially when Mike and Marlena were looking at her so suspiciously already. She looked toward the park and saw the empty picnic tables as most people enjoying the sunny day were on blankets on the gorgeous green grass. There was even a large gazebo with white beautiful hanging baskets of red flowers in them. She smiled.

“We could get the lunch to go and eat it at one of the tables in the park?” he suggested as they walked onto the sidewalk and were one store away from Rita’s.

“I guess so,” she said, and he smiled as he pulled the door open for her.

He was a very attractive man, older than her, but not by much. If she had to guess maybe he was twenty-seven or so. He had dark brown hair and scruff along his cheeks and chin that made him appear more sexy than rugged. His very distinguished nose and firm lips added to his masculinity and of course the man looked good in uniform. The thought had her looking around them and waving hello to a few people she had met from working in Martha’s clothing store.

Mike ordered the sandwiches to go as well as two ice teas while she spoke to Doreen, one of the waitresses who asked when the new shipment of bathing suits were coming in because she wanted to get a new one for some big BBQ event next month at one of the marinas and beach clubs. Caroline was telling her that she had yet to venture out to any of the beaches but that today her sister and some friends were at the beach. Doreen went back to working, and C.J. gave her a nudge. She turned to look up at him. He really was tall. Not as tall as Hunter but pretty close.

“How come you didn’t tagalong with Shelby and the girls?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I like books and Marlena had mentioned that volunteers were needed today.”

Rita passed them a small box with their ice teas and lunch in it and they said thank you and left the building to head to the park.

“Thank you for buying lunch.”

“My pleasure. So, you were really sweet to talk to Mora and get her interested in that book.”

“Well she was looking for something with princesses so I thought she might like it. The story is one of my favorites.” They set everything onto the table and she helped C.J. place the food down. Instead of sitting across from her, he sat next to her so they could look out at the rest of the park.

“Why is it your favorite story?” he asked as she took a sip from her ice tea and then began to unwrap her sandwich.

“God, this smells incredible,” she said to him.

He winked at her and smiled. “I told you that it was worth it,” he said, and she smiled softly and then took a small bite as he bit into his.

“Wow,” she said and then wiped her mouth.

“So tell me about the story.”

“Oh, you don’t want to hear about the princess story.”

“I do. If it’s a story you like, I want to know about it,” he said to her.

She felt a little embarrassed but figured it would pass the time while they ate so she could get back to the book table.

“Well, it’s just a sweet story about a young woman going through some hard times. No matter what happens to her, she always finds it in her heart to do good deeds even for strangers. She struggles and wishes that she were a princess with special powers and an ability to make her wealthy, to live in a mansion, and have all the things she ever wanted including a family and people who love her. So then she makes a bad decision, in hopes and desperation to get what she thinks she wants. It nearly cost her everything. Because of those kind deeds, when she gets into a predicament and is about to get hurt, someone she helped comes along and intervenes. She learns that she had this power all along. The power of love, of compassion that come along with giving, not receiving. The magic she feels when she does a good deed to help a stranger or someone in need, those people feel it, too, and so they do the same thing and it continues. It’s a beautiful story,” she told him.