Secret Southern Promises (Magnolia Grove #10)

Chapter Three

Dolly

“I’m done.”

I looked up absently from the pot of macaroni and cheese I was stirring, the sound of Nash’s voice barely registering at first. “With what?” I asked, glancing his way.

“My reading,” he said, furrowing his brow. “Are you feeling okay?”

I hadn’t realized my distraction had been so obvious. I plastered on a smile, the kind that moms are supposed to give when they don’t want their kids to worry. “Yeah, of course. I think I’m just a little tired.” The words felt hollow, even to me, but it was the best I could manage. I moved the pot off the stove, grabbing a ladle to dish up the macaroni and cheese, complete with sliced hot dogs—Nash’s favorite. “Ready to eat?”

Nash nodded, his expression still a little uncertain, but he let it go. He was good like that—could always read me better than I gave him credit for, but he knew when not to push. He grabbed two spoons from the drawer, handing me one before sitting down at the small kitchen table.

I joined him as I set down the steaming bowls of macaroni and cheese between us. My mind was miles away, back at Magnolia Mart, and stuck on a pair of blue eyes that I hadn’t seen in fifteen years.

Boone West.

I swallowed hard and scooped up the macaroni with my spoon. The warmth of the meal felt distant as I tried to shake the thoughts swirling in my mind. “How was the book?” I asked, trying to sound normal.

“It’s fine,” Nash said, shoveling a piece of hot dog around on his spoon. He didn’t look too enthusiastic about it. “I’m not really into Shakespeare. It’s kind of hard to follow.”

I gave him a small smile. “You need help?”

Nash shook his head, a bit more confident than I’d expected. “Nah, I just have to read it slowly. I think I’ve got the gist of it. I think this will be the only time I read Hamlet , though.”

I wrinkled my nose, trying to lighten the mood. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve read Hamlet since freshman year. You’re not missing much if you don’t read it again.”

He chuckled, and for a moment, the tension in my chest loosened. We ate in silence after that, just the sound of our spoons scraping the bowls as we shared this quiet dinner together. I glanced at Nash, watching the way he concentrated on his food, his brow furrowed a little like he was still thinking about the play or maybe something else.

And then, as much as I didn’t want it to, my worst fear flashed in front of me.

Boone West.

He had walked into Magnolia Mart this afternoon, looking like he’d stepped out of a time capsule. And now, all the rumors that had once nearly drowned me started to buzz in the back of my mind, louder with every bite of macaroni I forced down. When Nash was born, everyone in town couldn’t help but make comments about how much he resembled Boone. His dark hair, the same striking blue eyes, even the stubborn set of his jaw—it all matched up too neatly.

I had fought hard to shoot those rumors down, telling anyone who would listen that Nash wasn’t Boone’s. That after Boone left town to rodeo when we broke up, I’d gone out with my best friend, Lindsay, and had a one-night stand that resulted in my pregnancy. It wasn’t anyone’s business, really, but small towns don’t let things go. So I stuck to my story, repeating the lie until I almost believed it myself.

But Boone was Nash’s father.

The only person who knew the truth was Lindsay. I had confided in her that I was pregnant but didn’t want to tie Boone to Magnolia Grove because of me or a baby. Boone had the makings of being a rodeo star, and I wasn’t going to take that away from him. So Lindsay had kept my secret and helped me convince the town that Nash was the product of a one-night stand with a stranger just passing through town.

And now Boone was back.

I stared at Nash, the familiar knot of guilt twisting tighter in my stomach. He had no idea. No clue that a man had walked into the store today wasn’t just an old flame from my past but was his father. Nash knew what everyone in town had been told, and now I was terrified of what might come out if Boone stuck around and the rumors started again.

“You okay, Mom?”

I blinked, realizing Nash was watching me, his spoon resting in his bowl as he waited for me to answer. He was a good kid—too good for the mess I had made. I forced another smile, trying to push the memories away. “Yeah, of course. I’m just tired, that’s all.”

He didn’t seem convinced but didn’t press. “You want me to do the dishes tonight?”

I shook my head, grateful for the offer but needing to keep busy. “No, you did them last night. It’s my turn.”

He nodded, pushing his chair back and stretching. “Alright. I’m gonna finish that reading. If I get stuck, I’ll holler.”

“Sounds good,” I said, watching him as he walked out of the kitchen and down the hall toward his room.

Once I was alone, I cleared the table, and I let out a shaky breath. I leaned against the counter, gripping the edge until my knuckles turned white. Boone’s face flashed in my mind again, and I cursed myself for not being better prepared. I should’ve known this day would come. Magnolia Grove was small, and people didn’t just vanish forever, no matter how much you wanted them to.

Boone’s parents had moved out of town not too long after Boone had left, so I was slightly hopeful he might never come back.

I wasn’t sure how long Boone planned on sticking around, but the fact that he was here now brought all those old fears rushing back. What would happen if Nash ever found out the truth? Would he hate me for keeping it from him? And what about Boone—would he want to know? Would he even care? Would he even believe me?

The truth was, I wasn’t ready to deal with any of it.

I started rinsing the bowls in the sink, trying to distract myself with the simple task. But no matter how hard I scrubbed, my mind kept circling back to the same point. Boone had been my first love, the one I thought I’d spend my life with. We had made so many plans back then—plans that had crumbled when I pushed him to go rodeo and broke up with him because I didn’t want to hold him back. I couldn’t chase after him with a baby while he rodeoed. Knowing Boone, he would have given up his dream of being a bull rider to take care of me and Nash.

I told myself it was better this way. I raised Nash on my own, gave him a good life, and tried to forget the what-ifs. And Boone had become a rodeo star.

But I couldn’t bury the past forever. Not when it walked into Magnolia Mart and looked at me like fifteen years hadn’t passed at all.

My phone rang, cutting through the quiet. I grabbed it from the counter and smiled at the name lighting up the screen—Lindsay. My best friend, even if she lived all the way in Spokane. I swiped to answer and kept my voice low so Nash wouldn’t overhear me. “Could you sense that I was in the middle of a freak-out?”

“Dolly Hanes!” Lindsay’s voice was loud enough to make me pull the phone away from my ear. “What in the world is Boone West doing back in Magnolia Grove?” she demanded.

I let out a chuckle, though it was more nervous than amused. “Oh, you heard about that?”

“Jack called me this afternoon after he spotted him on Meadow Drive. He said Boone bought the house at the end of the road.”

Holy crap.

My stomach dropped, and I felt a cold sweat break out across my skin. That house? The one right at the bend of the river? The one that, if I went down to the shore behind my own house, I could see clear as day?

Oh my god.

“Wait, wait. Are you sure he lives there?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. “Maybe he was just visiting someone. It doesn’t make sense for him to settle down here after all this time.”

Lindsay clicked her tongue, the sound sharp over the line. “Oh, he lives there, alright. Jack talked to him. In his front yard. Said Boone mentioned something about wanting to be back home.”

Home. Magnolia Grove. The place we both had sworn we’d never leave when we were teenagers without each other, the town where our love story was supposed to have a forever. Now, Boone was back, and the past felt like it was breathing down my neck.

My heart raced, and I felt my face flush. He was going to be right there, just a ride down the river from my backyard. How was I supposed to deal with that?

“You know,” Lindsay continued, her tone teasing, “the only thing keeping me from rushing to your house is the fact that I’m twenty-four hundred miles away. Allen’s already looking at plane tickets.”

I shook my head, gripping the phone tighter as I leaned against the counter for support. “Wait, what?” I called out louder than I meant to. My eyes darted around the kitchen, making sure Nash hadn’t heard me. “You’re not coming here.”

Lindsay’s voice came through the phone, calm but insistent. “Boone West is back in town, Dolly. What on earth are you going to do? You need me there.”

My stomach twisted at the mention of his name. Boone. It seemed to be doing that today.

“Linds, you don’t need to do that. Seriously,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “You’ve got Allen and the kids to think about. Plus, you just visited last month.”

“That was before Boone decided to come waltzing back into town like he’s got no business being anywhere else,” Lindsay shot back. I could hear her pacing in the background. “What are you going to do, Dolly? Pretend like it’s not happening?”

I pressed a hand to my forehead and felt a headache start to creep in. “I don’t know yet, okay? The man literally waltzed into the grocery store four hours ago,” I groaned and ran my hand through my hair. “But you’re not coming. You were just here for a long weekend, and you told me you couldn’t come back until Christmas or you’d run out of PTO and lose your job.”

Lindsay made a disgruntled noise on the other end of the line. “I’ll figure it out.”

“No, no, no,” I countered quickly, straightening up and trying to sound more confident than I felt. “Tell Allen to stop the airfare search. I have enough to worry about with Boone being back in town. I don’t need to also worry about you losing your job.”

“Dolly,” she sighed, dragging out my name in that way that meant she wasn’t convinced. “I knew moving to Spokane was going to bite me in the butt one day. You need me right now, and I stupidly ate up all my PTO.”

I let out a short laugh out of disbelief more than anything else. “Now you know you need to save at least three days for a Dolly crisis.”

“This is the most crisis-y crisis of them all,” she moaned dramatically.

I couldn’t argue with that. Boone’s return was definitely stirring up a mess of feelings I wasn’t ready to unpack. But as much as I wanted Lindsay here to lean on, this was something I was going to have to handle myself. Boone wasn’t going anywhere unless he wanted to, and no amount of Lindsay flying in to help would change that.

“I’ll be fine,” I said, trying to believe it myself. “And you’re always a phone call away if I need help.”

Lindsay huffed, clearly not buying it. “I can also tell Jack to help you if you need it.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “How about we just leave Jack in the dark about this right now, yeah? He doesn’t need to know every detail of my life.”

Jack, Lindsay’s brother, was sweet, but the last thing I needed was for him to come storming in like some sort of knight in shining armor. He’d only make things more complicated.

“Fine,” Lindsay conceded, though I could hear the reluctance in her voice. “But what are you going to do? Just avoid Boone?”

That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? I sighed, leaning back against the counter and stared out the window at the oak trees swaying gently in the breeze. Magnolia Grove had always been small, the kind of town where everyone knew everyone’s business. Avoiding Boone would be impossible.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice small. “Maybe he’ll decide Magnolia Grove is too slow for him, and he’ll move on,” I added, not so much hopeful as wistful. “A girl can wish, right?”

“You really think that’s gonna happen?” Lindsay asked, her tone softening. “Boone left once, but maybe there’s a reason he’s back. And maybe that reason has something to do with you.”

I flinched at her words. I’d spent so many years trying to forget Boone West. He’d been my first love, the boy I thought I’d marry straight out of high school, and also the father of my son that he had no clue about. Life had other plans back then, and we’d gone our separate ways. I’d made peace with that. Or at least, I thought I had.

“It’s been fifteen years, Linds. A lot’s changed.” Like the fourteen-year-old down the hallway.

“Yeah, but not everything,” Lindsay said gently. “You two had something special. That doesn’t just disappear. And maybe it’s time he found out about Nash. If he’s back in town, maybe he’s ready to settle down.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I stayed quiet. Memories of Boone and me laughing, kissing under the oak trees, and dreaming about the future we’d never had came flooding back. It was too much.

“I just…” I swallowed hard, pushing the memories down. “I don’t want to get into all that again.”

“I get it,” Lindsay said softly. “But you’re stronger now, Dolly. And you’ve got Nash to think about. You’ll figure it out.”

Nash. My sweet boy. Boone didn’t know about him. How could he? The thought of Boone meeting my son. His son. Whoa. That was a whole other level of complication I wasn’t ready for.

“I will,” I said, more to myself than to Lindsay. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Good,” she said firmly. “And remember, if you need me, I’m just a phone call away.”

“I know,” I replied, my heart warming a little at her unwavering support. “Thanks, Linds.”

“Anytime, babe. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up the phone and let out a long, shaky breath. Boone West was back, and my world had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.