“Now, I think it’s past time I leave.” He headed toward the front door and she walked just behind him. When he reached the door, he pulled it open and then turned back to her.
“I’ll be here next Saturday night if you still want me to make the check-ins,” he said.
“Next Saturday will be fine,” she replied stiffly.
“Then I’ll just say good night.”
“Good night, Daniel.”
With that, he walked out the door and into the darkness of the night. He’d really believed she was in love with him. He still believed she was in love with him. But he couldn’t break through her strong defenses. Or was it really possible that she didn’t love him?
It didn’t matter now. None of it mattered. All he knew for sure was that his heart ached with a deep pain he’d never felt before.He had a feeling it was going to take a very long time for him to get over loving Angelique.
ONCEDANIEL WAS GONE, Angelique sank down on her sofa and began to cry. His words of love had been such a shock. Oh, she’d known that he cared about her, just like she cared for him. But she hadn’t realized the depths of his feelings for her.
And she was in love with him. Although she had insisted to him that she wasn’t, that had been a lie. She loved him like she’d never loved a man before, but it scared her. She was so afraid of getting hurt again.
It was better to keep herself safe by not reaching out to embrace his love rather than to grasp hold of it and then be hurt. She cried for several long minutes and then got up from the sofa and got ready for bed.
She wanted to escape the emotions that filled her head and heart. She wanted to escape into the sweet oblivion of sleep and hopefully she would sleep without dreams.
THE NEXT MORNING, she was meeting her sisters for breakfast at the café. The heartache she felt still resonated through her as she dressed for the day in a pair of jeans and a hot pink T-shirt.
Once it was time, she left her shanty and headed toward the swamp entrance. Dominique and Monique were already at her car, waiting for her.
They greeted her brightly, and then they all got in the car and Angelique drove toward town. The topic of conversation was Angelique’s store.
“You do realize you’re going to have to hire a couple of people to work for you,” Monique said from the back seat. “There’sno way you can work all the hours you’ll want to be open by yourself.”
“Yeah, I figure I’ll need at least two, maybe three, other people to work for me. I’m going to post on social media and put an ad in the paper. Then hopefully in the next week or so I’ll have some people to interview,” Angelique replied.
It was a relief to talk about the store and nothing more. The last thing she wanted to talk about was anything that had to do with Daniel or love.
“You should order some cute T-shirts with a logo on the front for your employees to wear,” Dominique said. “Purple shirts would be nice.”
“That’s a great idea,” Angelique replied. “I’ll definitely check into that.”
They continued to talk about the store until they arrived at the café. Once they were seated in a booth and as they waited for their orders to arrive, Monique filled them in on who had been in the dress shop and who had bought what. “Laura Sanders came in and bought the cutest hot pink pants and a blouse that was hot pink and red. She’s going to look great in it.”
“You always know exactly what to show the customers to make a sale,” Angelique said. “Maybe I should hire you to work in my store.”
“Ha, sorry, sis, but you couldn’t afford me,” Monique retorted with a giggle.
The conversation remained light and easy as they ate. Still, Angelique couldn’t help but think about Daniel and what had happened between the two of them the night before.
There was a deep sadness inside her and she didn’t quite understand it. She’d made the choice to step away from Daniel. It wasn’t like she wanted the love that he’d offered her…did she?
“Angelique!”
She suddenly became aware that Dominique was talking to her. “Yeah?”
“Where did you just go? I’ve called your name three times,” Dominique said.
“Sorry, I just zoned out for a minute,” Angelique replied.
“I was asking what Daniel had to say about the investigations,” Dominique said. “Anything new?”
“No. Things have pretty much stalled out, but I know he’s working hard to get a solve,” Angelique replied. “I just saw him last night. He stopped in to give me an update.” A wealth of emotion suddenly rose inside her and she quickly looked down at her plate as tears misted her vision.
