Annette must have seen her through the fanlight because she mouthed,Please let me in…
Riley couldn’t turn the dead bolt fast enough. “What’s happened? Are you hurt?”
“Oh, sweetie,” Annette cried. “Come here. Come here right now…” She grabbed Riley by the shoulders and wrapped her up in a hug.
“Annette, what—?”
“I’m so, so sorry, that’s what.” Annette talked right over her and continued to hold her tight. “I don’t know what got into me,” she whispered into Riley’s ear. “I had no right speak to you in such a cruel and disrespectful way, and I only hope that someday you’ll see your way clear to forgive me…”
Now Riley was rubbing Annette’s back. “Of course I forgive you.”
Annette sniffed. “Well, you shouldn’t.”
“But I do.” Across the street, the curtains twitched again. Riley eased free of Annette’s grip and caught her hand. “Come inside. Take off your coat…” She pulled the other woman over the threshold, shut the door and slid the coatoff her slumped shoulders. As she hung it up, she said, “You got here just in time. I was about to pour out your wine.”
“Heaven forbid!” Annette sniffled again and carefully rubbed at the smudges under her eyes.
“I know, right?” Riley grabbed Annette’s hand. “This way…” She led Annette to the sofa. “Sit. I’ll be back with the tissues and your wine.”
Two minutes later, Riley handed Annette her glass and set a box of tissues in front of her.
After a large sip of wine, Annette took a tissue and cleaned up the worst of the mascara smudges. “Any better?” she asked with another sad little sniff.
“You look fine.” Riley sat down beside her.
Annette gave a wry chuckle. “So then, not so great. But at the moment, who cares?”
“You’re always beautiful, Annette. And I mean that sincerely.”
Annette took a fresh tissue and dabbed under her eyes some more. “I… Well, there is no defense for what I said earlier. But by way of an explanation, I grew up in a smaller town than this one. My dad was the only doctor in our little town, and both of my parents were pillars of the community. Doing right and always being above reproach were everything in my family.
“I went away to business school against my parents’ wishes and when I brought Trevor Senior back home to meet them, they did not approve. They said he was slick and untrustworthy, that I would come to no good if I stuck by him. But I married him anyway, and we were happy, and I was…righteous about my own goodness, the goodness that I just knew proved my parents were wrong.
“And later, when I lost Trevor, I knew I would never marry again, never be with another man. I felt noble aboutthat. I felt that I was somehow proving my own goodness by vowing to be a widow for the rest of my life.”
Riley wasn’t sure what to say. “Youaregood, Annette. You’re the best.”
“I’m human, that’s what I am. And I’ve behaved very badly tonight, and I am so sorry for that. Thank you, Riley. For forgiving me.”
“Always,” Riley whispered through her suddenly tight throat.
Annette sipped her wine and carefully set the glass down. “I have something to confess.”
“What? Tell me? Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”
“Perhaps not to you, but to me it’s… Well, as you know I have my rules—about life and how one ought to live it.”
“So…you’re breaking one of your own rules? Is that it?”
“Yes. Exactly. Because I am very much attracted to Miles Crowne.”
Riley barely suppressed a giant, gleeful smile. Instead, she said gently, “Oh, honey. Miles is a great guy. There is nothing at all wrong with you finding him attractive.”
“Except that I don’t think I should.”
“…find him attractive, you mean?”
“Yes. The ugly truth is, I jumped all over you because you did what I’ve only fantasized about doing. You dared to get out there and look for love again.”
