Page 13 of Cuddling Carly

The thoughts warmed her even more, and soon she was lost in Little bliss—a euphoric state where all her cares and worries melted away, and life was absolutely perfect.

She was so caught up in it, in fact, that she never noticed that person gawking at her through the front window, eagerly capturing the moment in pictures and videos.

Chapter Eight

Wade pulled into Valley Spring hoping he was in time to see Carly.

Yesterday, she’d told him all about her big meeting with the mayor while they were taking down her booth, and he was now eager to hear how it went.

Must have been good, he figured, because she’d been there for a few hours.

He assumed that’s where she was, at least.

Her car wasn’t at her house when he’d stopped by, trying to hear about her meeting and get one of those cupcakes she’d offered. So, he figured things went well with the mayor and maybe they were now looking at the property or even sitting at the bank, lining that financing up.

But he didn’t see her car on Main Street, either. And Valley Spring was that kind of town. If someone was there, a person would know it. There weren’t exactly a lot of places to park or visit. He could pretty much see it all as he drove his pickup down the one drag.

The mayor was there, though, standing in front of a vacant storefront, doing something on her cell phone.

Wade pulled into the parking spot directly in front, next to her car, and hopped out.

“Good afternoon, Mayor Sanchez. How are you?”

Looking up, the woman smiled. “Wade. Hey. How are you?”

“Doin’ alright, I reckon. Just wrapped up a meeting with some boys from down in Houston. Interested in beef supply and I think it’s going to work out.”

“Ah. The three men who stayed at the hotel last night.”

Wade chuckled. “Guess word travels fast in a small town.”

“When there’s only one hotel and hardly anyone ever stays in it, three businessmen from Houston is hot gossip.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. Speaking of business opportunities, how did that meeting with Carly go? I was hoping to still catch her here in town.”

The look that now shaded the mayor’s face answered his question.

The meeting hadn’t gone well.

“You are getting pretty close to her, huh? I saw you two talking quite a bit at the fair.”

Wade wanted to say that he was falling in love and that his Daddy radar told him she was the Little he’d been looking for—and the woman of his dreams—but there was no need to go into all that.

“We’ve become fast friends.”

“Well, there might be…” The mayor sighed. “Wade, I think there’s something you need to know.” She looked around as if she was about to reveal nuclear codes and foreign spies might be lurking about. “Look, I’m not one to get into peoples’ personal lives. But I was made aware of something…troubling…about Carly that you probably should know about before you get deeper into a relationship.”

What was Mayor Sanchez about to reveal?

Whatever it was, Wade could work through it. While he’d only recently met Carly, he still knew that she was genuinely a good person; he could just tell.

“Yeah?” he prompted.

The woman sighed. In an even more hushed tone, she said, “Here. I think this’ll explain it better than I could.”

After tapping and swiping on her phone, she thrust it out.

There on the screen was a picture of Carly. In a diaper. Coloring. Her stuffie sitting beside her along with a sippy cup. A pacifier was in her mouth.