AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Stuart loved her. She loved him. She’d probably loved him from the moment he walked through the emergency room doors. Could she trust their love would last?
Then again, two months ago, she hadn’t thought love was possible. Not for her, at any rate. She’d started the relationship with Stuart adamant she wouldn’t risk her heart and look what happened: she’d fallen in love, anyway. Being with him had made her feel special. And if she could feel that good while believing their relationship to be a fantasy, how good might she feel if she opened her heart to it completely?
“Well, will you look who’s come back.” Like a miniskirt-wearing gift that kept on giving, Chablis ambled around the corner. She had a cigarette in her hand. Smoke break. Patience always did find it laughable that taking their clothes off was okay but smoking inside was against the law.
The dancer tapped ash onto the sidewalk. “What’s the matter? Boyfriend dump your stuck-up behind?” she asked, before taking a long drag. Smoke filtered through her magenta-lined lips. Guess you ain’t better than us, after all?”
“You know what, Chablis...?” Patience paused. A week ago—even a day ago—Patience might have thrown Chablis’s smack talk back in her face. She no longer felt the need. Chablis was stuck in a world Patience no longer belonged in.
“You’re right. I’m not better than you. I’m not better than anybody.” She smiled. “But I’m no worse, either.”
Since Patience didn’t expect the dancer to understand what she was saying, it wasn’t a surprise when Chablis’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Whatever.” She reached for the door handle.
Through the gap, Patience saw the dimly lit scenery from a lifetime ago. Once again, it was like looking at someone else’s photograph. Stuart was right—Feathers was in her past. The future was what she dared to make of it. That was something else she used to tell Piper. Don’t be afraid to go for your dreams. High time she took her own advice.
And this time, she was going to do without lying or hiding from who she was. Stuart said he loved the real her? Well, the real her was who he was going to get.
“Excuse me, miss?”
The male voice startled her. Stiffening, she turned, expecting to find a customer. Instead, she came face-to-face with a young police officer.
He gave her an apologetic smile. “Is everything all right? You look lost.”
If he only knew. “I was,” she told him, “but I think I know where I’m going now.”
“Do you need directions? Trust me, you don’t want to go in there. It’s no place for a lady.”
Patience looked at the closed door of her past. “You’re right,” she agreed. “I think I’d much rather go home.”
* * *
“You can’t manage without a housekeeper,” Stuart told Ana. They were having a lousy excuse for breakfast—his version of scrambled eggs and coffee—in the kitchen. Or rather he was. Pieces of Ana’s eggs somehow kept landing on the floor for Nigel to eat. She’d been protesting his cooking the past three days. “What will you do when I move out?”
“You could stay.”
“Sure.” They’d had this argument before, too. “How about I adopt a cat and name her Patience, too. People won’t talk.”
He knew why his aunt was dragging her feet. She was hoping Patience would change her mind and come back. Stuart hoped she’d come home, too, but he was a realist. It’d been three days since he poured his heart out in Patience’s motel room. Three days since he said he loved her. And they hadn’t heard a word. Whether he wanted it to or not, life had to go on.
The doorbell rang. “That’s the candidate from the employment agency. I’ll go get her. Try to keep an open mind,” he said.
“If an open mind means telling her no, then fine, I’ll keep an open mind.”
Rolling his eyes, Stuart left the kitchen, Nigel chasing after him. “I hope you’re planning on being cooperative,” he told the cat. Otherwise, this was going to be a long morning. He opened the front door...
And froze in place.
On the threshold stood Patience, dressed for work in her blue work shirt and capris. In her hands, she held a feather duster. “Rumor has it you need a housekeeper.”
She was back. The hopefulness behind her smile made him want to pull her into his arms then and there, but he resisted. This was her decision; he needed to let her play it out her way.
He settled then for smiling. “Did the employment agency send you over.”
“No. I’m just a woman who’s made a lot of mistakes looking to start over. I don’t suppose there’s a place for someone like me here?”
