Jordan was silent for so long, Skye wondered if he was still on the line.“Jordan?”Her voice wobbled.
“Break it,” he demanded.
“I can’t.I want to, but Sally has gone to a lot of trouble, and I did promise...“ she finished weakly.
Jordan’s voice was sharp with anger.“I’ve already made my flight reservations, and frankly I really don’t care about hurting your friend’s feelings.”
“It’s not like a real date.I haven’t even met this guy.Sally’s been trying to fix this up for weeks.I can’t let her down now.”
The silence that followed felt oppressive.
“Just what do you expect me to do?Jump for joy?”
“No.”The word came out squeaky and high-pitched.“I...I was hoping we could spend Saturday together, and as much of Sunday as your schedule will allow.”
“You can’t honestly expect me to come?”he asked forcefully.
“If you don’t, I think I’ll go crazy.”She hadn’t meant to reveal so much of her feelings, to admit quite that much.
He sighed heavily, and when he spoke, the irritation had left.“I think I would, too,” he admitted huskily.
The stiffness left her shoulders.“We’ll have a wonderful day,” she breathed softly.
“Unfortunately it was the night I was looking forward to.”
“Then I’ll have to thank my guardian angel for looking after me,” she said lightheartedly.
She could hear pages being flipped, as if he were consulting an appointment calendar.“What about Friday night?”
Skye had already made plans with the church youth group.“I...I kind of have something going that night,” she said, more than a little apprehensive.“What time could you be here?”
“Around seven.”
She sighed softly.“That’ll work great.Eat a light dinner, because we’re having hot fudge sundaes afterward.”
“After what?”
“You’ll see,” she said, laughing lightly.“It’ll be fun, I promise.”
A male voice interrupted from the background.It sounded vaguely like Bill Malloy, the man Skye had met the day her car broke down.
“I’ve got to go,” he groaned impatiently.
“Jordan, I have some wonderful news about Billy.I’ll tell you Friday.Good-bye.”
“Friday at seven,” he said in a husky voice that sounded very much like a promise.
Skye had no sooner hung up the phone when it rang again.It was Janey.“Auntie Skye,” she burst out excitedly.“Can you come over right away?I’ve got something to show you.”
Skye glanced quickly at her watch; there was plenty of time before church.“All right, cupcake.”
Brad and Peggy were doing yard work when she drove up.Janey saw her from down the street and came racing up the sidewalk.
“Come see,” she yelled, running with all her strength.
Brad rose from the flower bed he was weeding to meet her.“Yes, come see,” he encouraged with sparkling eyes.
Janey grabbed her hand, breathless from the run.“It arrived this morning.I was so surprised.”
