The Grandma

Melinda's phone burst into song, startling her from where she sat in the stairwell, Daniel's arm still wrapped around her. Despite the cold concrete, she hadn't been that comfortable in a long time. She pulled her phone out of her purse and saw that it was her mother.

"I better take this," she told Daniel, and unraveled herself from the floor. She stepped back into the hallway to avoid the echo in the stairwell. "Hi, Mom. I know we should have been there ages ago," she said. "We had a wardrobe malfunction and—"

"None of that matters now," her mother said in a voice that was unusually shrill, even for her. "Your sister, it appears, has come down with something—she's 'puking her guts out,' as

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• Borrowing Amor   The Wedding Dinner

  Melinda knocked on the door and waited for Bree to answer. When she didn't come right away, Melinda knocked again. "It's just me," she called.The door opened and revealed Bree wearing a bathrobe, her hair in a ponytail. She held a tissue in one hand, her eyes red and puffy. She didn't say anything but motioned for Melinda to enter.Once the door had shut behind Melinda, Bree started crying again. She sank into the closest couch, her sobs escaping like machine-gun fire. "Apparently Mark has told everyone that I'm sick and unable to make it to the dinner tonight. Mom called to see if I was all right and Grams called to make sure I wasn't planning on ruining the weekend for everyone. She said I better be standing at the altar tomorrow, because she can't come out to my wedding twice."

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• Borrowing Amor   The Realization

  Daniel held Melinda's hand as they waved goodbye to Bree and their mother. Dinner had been delicious, and despite the initial shock of Bree's appearance, everyone had seemed happy to have her there, with Mark and their grandmother being the exceptions. Even their father's business associates thought it was nice that Mark had found a girl who was so “down to earth.”“I can’t believe she didn’t tell them,” Melinda muttered under her breath as they left the restaurant. “That was the whole point, wasn’t it? She was supposed to show up in her bathrobe and declare the engagement over. After we ate up all the incredible food, of course.”“Do you think she is having second thoughts?” Daniel asked. Maybe the lavish lifestyle that

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• Borrowing Amor   The Only One

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. He didn't like the sound of that. "You mean like…steal?""I wouldn't call it that," Melinda said. "It's just that we don't really have another option, considering that the office is closed, and we need one of their golf carts."Daniel didn't want to seem like the stiff who didn't do anything adventurous or risky. But he'd been there and done that, and it had only led to trouble. “I’m sure they lock up the keys. Let's just come back in the morning."Melinda laughed and pulled him toward the doors that would lead them toward the golf course. "You’re probably right, but let’s check it out for the fun of it. We would have the cart back before they knew it was gone. B

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• Borrowing Amor   The Proposal

  Melinda woke the next morning with a smile on her face. What had she been dreaming about? It must have been pretty good, because she felt like nothing in the world could bring her down. And then she remembered, it hadn't been a dream. It had been Daniel, lying with her in the sand under a full moon. She snuggled deeper under the covers, wishing it never had to end. But Bree was supposed to get married today. And then tomorrow, Melinda would be back in Amor. If there were only a way to convince her mother to stop listening to Grams and allow Melinda to move on with her life.Except, nothing was how it was supposed to be. The elation Melinda had felt instantly vanished. Bree couldn't marry Mark, which meant there'd be no celebrating. And with everyone in such bad temper, there was no way they would agree to sell the diner. A sense of dread washed over Meli

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• Borrowing Amor   The Wedding--Sort Of

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• Borrowing Amor   The Thief

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• Borrowing Amor   The Icy Fist

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• Borrowing Amor   About Time

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• Borrowing Amor   All of It

  Bev stretched out in bed, her toes dangling over the edge. Katie had encouraged her to take a long weekend, and it was the best thing Bev could have done. Of course, that didn’t stop her mind from drifting to Charles, or keep her from constantly looking at the picture that Katie had given her. The one where she was floating in zero gravity, the earth behind her…while she kissed Charles. It was a picture-perfect moment, and one that she kept coming back to.Bev kept asking herself if she had overreacted. Maybe. She would never know, though. She had texted Charles several times over the previous few days. Even if nothing else happened between them, she wanted the chance to apologize. She felt bad about how she had left things, and the things she had said to him.But he’

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• Borrowing Amor   Money is Money

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• Borrowing Amor   The Truth

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