It was such a perfect time. The two of them in the warmth of the truck, with no one else to interrupt or distract them.
But all too soon, they reached the estate. Jude pulled his truck up to the back door of the house. He got out and helped her carry her bags up to her room.
Angela found the chocolate bars she’d bought him, then went back down to the mudroom with him.
“Thank you for such a wonderful day,” she said. “Church. Friends. Shopping. It was all just what I needed.”
“I’m glad. I really enjoyed it too.”
“Here.” She held out the chocolate bars. “Your chocolate.”
There was a smile on Jude’s face when he took them from her. “Thank you.”
“Will you think of me when you eat them?”
“Oh, that’s a guarantee.”
“Really?”
Jude chuckled. “To be honest, you’re always in my thoughts, so I think it’s a given I’ll be thinking of you when I eat these.”
His words filled Angela with so much emotion that she had to swallow before she could respond. “I think of you lots too.”
An alert sounded on Jude’s phone, and he frowned as he read it. He glanced back into the house.
“I need to go see Duncan.” Jude turned his attention back to her. “Sorry to cut things short.”
“It’s fine,” she assured him. She really couldn’t complain because she’d had a lot of time with him that day.
Together, they walked out of the mudroom and toward the stairs.
At the base of the stairs, she said, “Will I talk to you later?”
Jude nodded. “I’ll definitely call you.”
“Coming to talk to Dad, Jude?” Julian asked as he appeared at the top of the stairs.
“I am.”
“Talk to you later,” Angela said, then headed up the stairs, passing Julian on the way. He gave her a curious look but didn’t say anything.
At the top, she glanced back to see Jude watching her. He gave her a smile, then turned to walk with Julian in the direction of Duncan’s office.
It wasn’t quite how she’d wanted their time together to end, but she couldn’t really complain. Their time together that day had been perfect.
She went to her bedroom and transferred all the bags onto her bed to sort through. As she picked up the last two bags, Kiara appeared in the doorway.
“You’re home,” she said. “How was your day?”
“It was good,” Angela said, tipping her head for Kiara to come into the room. “I got stuff for you.”
Kiara flopped onto the bed beside the bags Angela had placed there. She pulled one onto her lap and started to go through it.
“So what all did you do today?” Kiara asked as she sorted the stuff in the bags.
“We went to Jude’s church,” Angela said, settling on the bed and crossing her legs. “Then we went to the house of a couple of Jude’s friends for lunch after the service. When we were done there, we went shopping.”
“And you enjoyed all of it?” Kiara asked.
