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She ended the call and cursed. Cory didn’t deserve any of this. What could possibly possess Heather to forget about her child and stay in New York? Angela really hadn’t expected her to return before the start of school, but she had thought that before they really got into the year, Heather would return or at least send for Cory.
Cory’s door cracked open. His dark eyes looked out at her. “Mom’s not coming back?”
Angela really wished she could have five minutes alone in a room with Heather for the wounded look in Cory’s eyes. “I don’t know, Cory. I’m trying to reach her.”
“What happens if you don’t reach her?”
Angela took a deep breath. She didn’t know the answer. Heather disappearing didn’t automatically put Cory in her custody. They’d have to go through the system to provide Angela with any legal rights, but would Darryl or Heather really sign off on that? The entire situation was complicated.
Someone knocked on the door. Angela glanced from Cory to the front door. “I don’t know,” she said before going to answer it.
Isaiah stood on the other side. At once she was happy and angry. She wrestled with the urge to jump into his arms for comfort and slam the door in his hypocritical face.
His eyebrows drew together and he stepped closer to the entrance. “What happened? Are you okay?”
His concern pushed her closer to the jump-in-his-arms side of the debate. Before she could do anything she had to know why he’d come. “What are you doing here?”
“I won’t accept that we’re done before we even had the chance to get started,” he said. “I’m falling in love with you, Angela, and because of that, I won’t let one disagreement be the end of us. If you feel even a little bit of the same for me, then I know you don’t want this to end, either.” He put his palm against the door and pushed it farther open. He didn’t come in, just stood close enough for her to smell his cologne as he stared into her eyes. “Do you feel the same?”
She couldn’t say no. Not when her heart raced and tendrils of happiness as strong as steel wormed their way into her heart. He was falling in love with her. He hadn’t just been talking earlier. If he loved her, and he’d come here to apologize, maybe they could make this work.
“I feel the same,” she said softly.
A huge smile broke out on his face. He swept her into his arms and kissed her. She allowed herself the moment to be happy. To bask in the pleasure of knowing things with Isaiah would be okay.
He kicked her door closed and carried her into the apartment, his strong arms around her waist and hers around his shoulders.
“I’m glad someone’s happy.” Cory’s angry voice interrupted their moment.
Angela pushed on Isaiah’s chest and he let her go. Guilt for her moment of joy when Cory’s world had crumbled rose up. “Cory, being happy about one thing doesn’t mean I don’t care about your problem.”
Isaiah stood behind her with a hand on her shoulder. He pulled her back against his chest. “What problem?”
Cory crossed his arms. His lips pressed into a tight line and he looked away. Angela glanced back at Isaiah. “My brother called. Heather—Cory’s mother—told him she’s not coming back, and that she’s not sending for Cory. I tried to call her, but she didn’t answer.”
“What are you going to do?”
Angela shrugged. “I don’t know. There are a lot of things that’ll need to be worked out.”
“I’m not a problem to be solved,” Cory said angrily.
Angela went back to him and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m not saying you are.”
Cory jerked away. “I don’t need your pity.” He spun away and stomped back to his room.
Angela took a few steps after him, but Isaiah stopped her with a hand on her elbow. “Give him a few minutes to calm down. Tell me what else happened and then I can try to talk to him.”
She looked at Cory’s door, then nodded. “Nothing else to tell. On top of that my brother didn’t even want to talk to him on the phone.”
“What?” Anger flared in Isaiah’s eyes. He threw a look at Cory’s door. “I’ll stick around tonight and we’ll somehow convince him everything will be okay. We won’t leave him high and dry.”
