Ugly Ducklings Finish First by Stacy Gail

lately, it was amazing he had ever been able to make it to first base with anyone. “If you were single and you knew my reputation, would you still be interested in getting to know me?”
    “Um.” Sounding like she was on the verge of laughing herself, Leslie Ann cleared her throat. “Well, I guess that all depends. What kind of woman am I?”
    “Grounded. Smart.” He reconsidered. “Really, really smart.”
    “Did I know you when you were at the height of your, ah, Coyote-ness?”
    “Yes.” Unfortunately .
    “Oh. Yikes.”
    His heart sank. Talk about damning.
    “Well, to be honest it’d make me hesitate, Wiley. But there is an upside to this.”
    It was pathetic, the hope that flared in his chest. “Yeah?”
    “If she’s as smart as you say she is, she’ll be smart enough to weigh the man you are now against the boy she used to know.”
    “You think that would be enough?”
    “Wiley, the man you are now is more than enough for anybody, trust me.”
    “I can’t take it anymore,” Donovan said while Wiley digested this. “Are you going to tell me who this mystery woman is, or do I have to guess?”
    Wiley rolled his eyes. “Payton Pruitt.”
    “Who?”
    “For crying out loud.” It was crazy, how angry and offended Wiley was on Payton’s behalf. She had been born and raised not three miles from the Cross house, yet she had been so shunned by the community she may as well have been invisible. “Deborah Pruitt’s daughter, my tutor during my junior and senior years. Does this ring any bells?”
    “I was a few years ahead of you, so I never had a chance to meet her.” Donovan’s tone was baffled. “I do remember you used to call her Baby Brain.”
    “She’s a doctor now,” Wiley said, cringing at the name that plagued her all the way into adulthood. No wonder she hated his guts. “And the last thing I’d call her is a baby.”
    “A doctor?” Leslie Ann’s voice filled with excitement. “A medical doctor?”
    “Yup.”
    “Is she coming back to Bitterthorn to practice?”
    “I think she’d rather eat a scorpion.”
    “Ouch.” Donovan whistled while his wife made a sound of disappointment. “I don’t suppose you could turn on the old Coyote charm and talk her into staying a while longer?”
    “My charm never worked on Payton.” And that fact spoken aloud depressed him to an alarming degree. “Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe I should just leave things as they are.”
    “I’ve never known you to give up on a woman, dude.”
    “We’re not talking about just any woman, Donovan, we’re talking about Payton.” A familiar white picket fence surrounding a lush garden came into view, and he pulled into the driveway with a decided lack of enthusiasm. “I learned a long time ago that when it comes to Payton, none of the normal rules apply.”
    “I can’t wait to meet her,” came Leslie Ann’s response. “Anyone who can put you in a tailspin has got to be worth knowing.”
    “I’m not in a tailspin.” Wiley slammed the car door with more force than necessary, then rounded to the flagstone path leading to the front veranda steps. “I’ve just decided that reunions are the one final bad joke high school plays on—” His words cut off, as cleanly as if he’d been punched. And in a way, he had.
    “Wiley? You still there?”
    “Sorry, guys, but I have to call Sheriff Berry again.” His jaw clenched so tightly he could barely snarl the words out, and his hand bunched into a furious fist around his car keys. Never in his life had he wanted to beat the crap out of something—or someone —more. How the hell else was he supposed to react, when he was under attack?
    Donovan’s curse was immediate and fierce. “What’s happened now?”
    “Every window in my house has been busted out.”
    * * *
    “It’s a real scorcher today, with highs in the upper nineties. It’s a quarter to nine in the a.m. and already we’re at eighty-eight degrees—”
    Payton turned off the perky