“Daddy,” Angelle said warningly, without turning around to look at him.
“I didn’t really leave, exactly. I just had to go home for a little while, but with every intention of coming right back.”
“She thought you just left,” Avaleigh said.
Daniel’s head snapped Avaleigh’s way. “Oh, but I have to be quiet.”
“You both do,” Angelle said.
“Wait, you thought I actually just went home for good — without a word?” Boon asked.
Angelle looked him in the eye as she nodded.
“Why would you think that?” Boon asked.
“I’m not exactly what you’d expect from a woman. It’s fine, it didn’t surprise me that you’d left. But it is what I thought.”
“It’s not fine. And you are the only woman I’ll ever want. I don’t want you to ever speak about yourself like that again.”
Avaleigh and Daniel shared a look, then turned their attention back to the interaction between Boon and Angelle.
“I don’t like that you put yourself down. The fact that you are so unlike everyone else is what I love most about you. You're exactly who you’re supposed to be. Exactly who I need, and exactly like me. There is nothing negative about you at all and I don’t want to hear anything that sounds like you deserve less than everything there is to be had.”
Angelle stood quietly for a few minutes or so, her mind digesting everything that Boon had just said.
Boon took it as her still being unsure and started talking again. “I’m sorry I missed breakfast. I know it would have been an opportunity for your parents to know me better, and I would have really appreciated that opportunity. I would have told Maverik where I was going and why, but it was the middle of the night and I didn’t want to wake him. He’s made it clear to me that communication is necessary — especially when you are leaving unexpectedly. But last night, it couldn’t be helped. There was something I had to see to at home that couldn’t be put off, and it didn’t occur to me until I was lying in the bed, unable to sleep. And once I realized it, I had to tend to it immediately.”
“What was so important that it couldn’t wait until morning? Is your family well?” Avaleigh asked.
“Oh, yes, ma’am. They’re very well. I just, it was something I couldn’t ignore any longer.”
“And that would be?” Daniel demanded.
“It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t owe me an explanation,” Angelle said. She offered Boon a strained smile. “Thank you for coming to explain. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Boon said.
“I feel like I do. I appreciate you coming by to explain. I’m glad that I was wrong about you leaving for good. I know that Tempest loves having you visiting her as often as you do, and I’d hate to be the reason you’re not comfortable doing so anymore.”
Boon’s eyes narrowed as he thought about Angelle’s comment.
“I’ve got a lot to get done inside, so I’ll see you later. Thanks for coming by,” Angelle said, moving to close the door.
“Hold on! I’m not sure what’s happened, or why you think that I’m just going to calmly turn tail and run because you’ve decided I’m not the right person, but I think you’re wrong. I’m the right person.”
Daniel took a step forward, but Avaleigh grabbed his arm and kept him beside her.
Angelle stood her ground, her hand on the edge of the door, staring at a spot on his shirt rather than at his face. There was no way to tell him other than to just say it, and she really didn’t want to just say it. “Can’t you just realize that what we thought we might have had yesterday, isn’t what we thought it was?”
“No. No, I cannot. You kissed me. A lot. And you spent the day laughing and telling me all about your life, and I told you about mine. It’s the best day I’ve ever had in my whole life. And I’m sorry, but those kisses, they weren’t just kisses. I don’t know what’s changed, but whatever it is, it has to be addressed because I’m still the same male I was yesterday. And you’re still the same female you were yesterday. And yesterday you believed we were mates and wanted to come to Whispers to see what life was like there. You wanted to make this work. And today you’re acting like I’m a stranger. What did I do so wrong?”
“Nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong. But you inadvertently let me see what it would be like to have to live through losing you if you should change your mind. And that was only after one day. Well, several days if you consider theother times we’ve spent a few hours talking here and there. I just don’t want to feel that way ever. Can you imagine how much pain would be involved if I let myself go and put everything I had into you, into us, and you decided, ‘nope, she’s weird. This isn’t for me’?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“How can you know that?” Angelle asked.
“There’s never a guarantee, Angelle,” Avaleigh said quietly. “Never.”
