Chapter 5

Harry felt like someone had taken a chainsaw and opened the top of his head, then reached in with a sledgehammer and started playing polo with his brain. Everything he did caused more pain. He slowly opened his eyes just enough to see, and was surprised to find himself in his own bed. The last thing he remembered was telling Sheri Spencer she’d ruined his life, so how in the world had he gotten back here?

Gingerly, he sat up and almost lost it. Not only did the movement cause his head to hurt worse, but suddenly his stomach had joined the revolt and was doing flips, trying to expel whatever was in it. He jumped up and ran for the bathroom, barely making it.

When he finally quit paying homage to the god of hangovers, he crawled into the shower and cranked on the hot water, trying to wash away the last vestige of his escapade last night. Even his skin hurt. He finally climbed out of the shower when the water turned cold. Next, he brushed his teeth and most importantly used the tongue scrapper on the back of his toothbrush to try and remove the wool coat that had grown there overnight. How did people do this all the time? There was nothing even remotely fun about it.

He pulled on a pair of jeans and was reaching for a shirt when someone frantically knocked on his front door. He hurried that way with his dress shirt on, but not yet buttoned, and opened the door to see the one person he never expected to see on his porch. But there she was, staring at him like he was a leper.

“Glenna, what are you doing here?”

She just stared at him for a minute. What was wrong with her? Or more importantly, what was wrong with him that she kept staring at him like that? He waved his hand in front of her face startling her. “Earth to Glenna!”

She finally blinked a couple of times “Oh, uh, what?”

He chuckled. “I asked, what are you doing here?”

She bit her lower lip again and, just like yesterday, he wanted it to be him nibbling on it, not her. “I came to check on you. You didn’t make it to the meeting last night and you didn’t answer any of Josephine’s, your father’s, or my calls. Are you okay? What happened?”

He hung his head to hide the shame. “What happened? Nothing happened. I just decided since I’m not on the council and I’m not a city official, there was no need for me to waste my night at some stupid meeting. What do you care anyway? It’s not like you wanted me there.”

Harry was shocked to see the flash of anger in her eyes before she composed herself enough to answer. “So, we’re back to that are we? I thought I made it plain last night how I feel about you.”

Harry nodded “Yes. I’d say the bruise on top of my foot made that very plain. So, why don’t you just go away and leave me alone? If you don’t bother me, I won’t bother you.”

Now her anger did erupt, and if it hadn’t been directed at him, he would have thought it made her more beautiful than ever. Such fire and passion shook him to the core so hard it took a minute for him to understand what she was saying. “Wait, back up. What did you say?”

“I said, you deserved that bruise. You don’t kiss a girl the way you kissed me just to piss off some waitress. I didn’t deserve to have you play with my affections like that. I told you last night what you do to me, and then you had to go and kiss me like no one has ever kissed me in my life, and all for the wrong reason.”

Harry’s eyes widened. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? Only one way to find out, and he sure hoped he was right, or his other foot might end up with a bruise on it, too. “I’m going to kiss you again, Glenna.”

She blinked. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m going to kiss you again right now and there’s not anyone here to piss off ... but you.” He put his hands on the sides of her face and leaned in, letting his mouth smoother hers. He groaned at how perfect her lips felt responding to his and how sweet she tasted. Better than he’d ever dreamed it would be. He almost lost it completely when she groaned with him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. She opened her lips to let his tongue in to taste hers. He hoped this wasn’t a dream because if it was, waking up was going to kill him.

All too soon, she pulled back and looked up at him. “Well, it took you long enough. I’ve been waiting for you to do that since debate club.”

“Oh crap.” Harry said as he stepped back enough to not claim her lips again. “Now I have to go admit to Mysti that she was right.”

Glenna giggled. “Well, she did tell you she’s never been wrong about the important stuff.”

“Yeah, but she isn’t going to ever let me live this down.”

Glenna smiled. “No, she probably won’t.” Then her eyes got big. “Oh, I almost forgot.”

She reached into her purse, pulled out two salmon colored, mid-weight, pieces of paper and handed them to him. Harry looked at them and then back up at her. “These are my permits. How in the world did you get Hal to approve them?”

She smiled. “It wasn’t hard. I made a deal with him. I’d give him a unanimous vote on the name change in return for your permits.”

Harry shook his head. “Nah, it cost you more than that. I know Hal. He demanded something else. What?”

She smiled and placed her hand on his bare chest and, like always, his brain was derailed. “I didn’t give him anything that I wouldn’t have done anyway as a city councilwoman after the vote was passed. He wants me to encourage other people to change their business from Gladstone to Phantom Horse. No big deal.”

Harry looked down at her. “It is a big deal, but I thank you. I want to kiss you again, but I need to finish getting dressed and go see Mike so he can get started.”

Glenna smiled. “I want you to kiss me again, but you’re right: you need to get the expansion started. How about you come get me after work and we try dinner at the Backwoods again?”

“Umm, how about we go to Garcia’s instead? I may not be able to show my face in the Backwoods for a while.”

Glenna frowned “Why not?”

He grimaced. “I may have gotten myself banned for a while. I felt so bad after you left that I may have gotten blackout drunk and told Sheri off.”

“You didn’t?”

He cocked his head to the side as he tried to remember exactly what had happened. “Yeah, I kind of think I did. I’m not sure how I got home though.”

“Well, your SUV is in the drive so you got here somehow.”

His eyes got super big. “God, I hope I didn’t drive. I honestly don’t remember anything after fussing at Sheri.” He rubbed his hand up and down his forehead. “I’m going to have to spend today apologizing to people.”

Glenna smiled. “Okay, so dinner at Garcia’s. Pick me up at my place around six, okay?”

He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her again, breaking off with great restraint before he lost himself in her taste and scent again. “Okay. Thanks again for your help with the permits.”

“You’re welcome. See you tonight.”

She headed to her car and Harry greedily watched every sway of her backside all the way to her pink Mirage. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was going to marry her. Now all he had to do was convince her of it. He needed to call Mike, then go eat crow with his cousin, then with Toby and Sheri. Plus, he had to find out how he got home last night, or it would bother him and ruin his first date with Glenna. But first, he need to get to the YMCA for a round of racquetball to work the rest of the hangover out of his system.

He went to the kitchen to grab a travel mug of coffee. He saw a note sitting on the counter from his sister.