They slipped into the pew and waited for the morning worship service to begin.Robert joined them a minute later.Lesley bowed her head, seeking to clear her thoughts and prepare her heart for the pastor’s message.As she raised her head, her gaze fell on her ringless left hand.Inadvertently she touched her bare finger.She felt naked without the engagement ring.
Terry’s hand reached over and squeezed hers.“You’re going to make it.”
Lesley nodded.Yes, she would.She’d never stop loving Cole, her heart had decreed as much.But she would be stronger, better, because of that love.
The bright spring sunshine greeted Lesley as she drove home from work Monday afternoon.The time had come to get busy in the garden.She hadn’t felt like working outside.The energy spent smiling and putting on a friendly façade drained her by the end of the long workday.She usually ate a light meal, read and went to bed early.Not that she could fall asleep so quickly.
The first thing Lesley noted when she pulled into the driveway was that thefor rentsign had been removed from the lawn.Apparently she was going to have a new neighbor.The place had been vacant for months with Cole gone so much of the time.It would be good to have someone close again.
Pouring herself a glass of iced tea, Lesley took a long swallow and set the tall glass on the kitchen table.The jeans she wore to work in the yard were a little large in the waist, prompting her to grab a couple of cookies from the cookie jar.They tasted stale, and after one bite she tossed them both in the garbage.Saturday she’d remember to pick up a fresh supply.
The sweatshirt was a faded red one she’d had since her college days.Lesley pushed the long sleeves up past her elbows as she walked out the sliding glass door into the backyard.The garden fork was resting against the back wall of the work shed.She successfully stifled a wince when she reached for it, refusing to look at the snow shovel, which forcefully reminded her of Cole and the fun they’d had in the first snowstorm of the season.
The earth was damp, which made the tilling easier.Lesley had finished the first long row of the garden when she paused to wipe the perspiration from her brow with the back of her hand.
She stopped in mid-action as she caught a glimpse of her new neighbor.It felt as if her heart had stopped beating, and all the color drained from her face.Cole.What was hedoing back?Had he forgotten something?Had he come to torment her?
He stood framed in the doorway, watching her.Their eyes clashed, shocked sparkling blue against warm velvet brown.Mesmerized, Lesley watched as he pulled open the sliding door and stepped outside.
“Hello, Lesley.”He was dressed in brown slacks and a tan sweater, looking so handsome it was almost impossible for her to breath evenly.
“Hello,” she managed at last.
“I take it you’re surprised to see me?”
Her hand curled around the rough wood handle of the garden fork.“Yes,” she whispered.She wasn’t ready for a confrontation with Cole.She needed more time to prepare, to school her reactions.
“You look well.”
“I’m fine.”How could they exchange pleasantries like polite strangers?This was the man she loved, and all that emotion had to be shining from her eyes for him to see.Why was he standing there?“How have you been?”she asked, her voice husky.
He shrugged one muscular shoulder.“Much better, actually.”
“Good.”She cast her eyes down at the partially tilled garden.“As you can see, I’m at it again.”The toe of her tennis shoe parted the rich soil.
“Yes, I can.”His smile was strangely enigmatic.
Lesley’s nerves were pulled taut until they grated against one another.“What are you doing here?”she demanded, her voice quivering violently.
“You put the Bible in the back of my car, didn’t you?”He answered her question with one of his own.
“Yes.”She wouldn’t lie.“I knew that I couldn’t help you, but I thought my Bible might.”
“You’re wrong, I didn’t appreciate it when I found it.The fact is, I went to throw it away.Purging my life of anything that had to do with you made sense at the time.”
Lesley blanched.Tossing her Bible in the garbage would be like throwing away part of herself.But apparently that had been Cole’s intention.
“This fell out of it.”He handed Lesley a paper she’d used to mark her place.
Lovingly she fingered the long marker and nodded.“Thank you for returning it.”
“There were other things inside the cover, too.”His look was unreadable.
Briefly she nodded, unable to look at him.
“The card I sent with the Valentine roses, a death announcement.Some relative?”
Again she acknowledged him with a nod of her head.
