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“I’m glad to hear it,” he murmured. Steffie could picture him sprawled comfortably on his sofa, talking to her, a glass of wine in his hand.
“Be warned, you have only one wish left.”
“Give me a moment—I want to make this good. I’ve had two glasses of wine and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m feeling kind of mellow.”
“I noticed.” She smiled to herself.
“Know what I’d like?”
“You tell me,” she teased.
“With my last wish, I’d like to wipe out the past.”
“That one’s easy,” she said, and even though he couldn’t see her, she made a sweeping motion with her hand. “There. It’s gone, forgotten, never to be discussed again.”
“Uh-oh. I think I made a mistake.”
“Why’s that?”
“We can’t sweep it away.”
“Why not?” she asked, striving for a flippant air. “It was one of your wishes, and it’s in my power to grant it, so I have.”
“But I don’t want it wiped out completely. Let’s talk about it now, Stephanie, get this over with once and for all.”
Steffie’s heart jolted. “Sorry, it’s gone, vanished. I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.” Willfully she lowered her voice, half pleading with him, not wanting anything to ruin these moments.
The silence stretched between them. “You’re right, this isn’t something we can discuss over the phone. Certainly not when I’m half drunk and you’re so far away.”
“You’re tired.”
“It’s funny,” Charles told her, and she could hear the satisfaction in his voice. “I’m so exhausted I’m dead on my feet, and at the same time I feel so elated I want to take you in my arms and whirl you around the room.”
“You never once mentioned buying the paper.” She didn’t mean it as a criticism. But he’d managed to keep it a secret not only from her, but from just about everyone in town. When Steffie had mentioned Charles’s news to her father, he’d been as pleasantly surprised as she.
“I couldn’t, but believe me, I was dying to tell you. Negotiations can be tricky. I was prohibited from saying anything until I’d reached an agreement with Dalton Publishing and the financing had been arranged.”
Steffie snuggled down against her pillows. “So much is happening in our lives. First there was Dad’s heart attack, and now Valerie’s wedding. Oh, Charles, I wish you were here to see Valerie. I didn’t know anything in the world could fluster my sister, but I was wrong. Being in love flusters her.
“I was with her Monday when she tried on wedding dresses. My practical, levelheaded older sister would stand in front of a mirror with huge tears running down her cheeks.”
“She was crying?”
Steffie smiled at the memory. “Yes, but these were tears of joy. She never allowed herself to believe that Colby loved her enough to work through the things that stood between them. The two of them are so different, and that’s been the problem all along. But neither of them seems to understand, even now, that it was those very differences that attracted them to each other.”
“We’re different.”
His words gave Steffie pause. “I know but—”
“And I’m attracted to you, Stephanie. Very attracted.”
It was ironic that she’d told him how love had completely unsettled her sister, only to be sitting on her own bed a few minutes later with the phone pressed against her ear and the tears sliding down her cheeks.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?”
“Yes,” she whispered in a trembling voice.
“Stephanie? What’s wrong? You sound like you’re crying.”
