Adelaide Reid must choose between living in the past and moving on when she returns to her hometown and meets a charming restaurateur.
It's been seven months since Adelaide Reid's husband of five years, Alex Orwell, walked out and left her. She retu...
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The first thing I did after hearing the officer's words, was to get on my phone—which by the way was only five percent charged—and called Ma to inform her of the situation, while Blaze got on his phone and called his father, informing him too. Ma and Pa were worried about us. They spoke to Blaze who mentioned he'd drive up to an aunt of his who lived close by. We could stay there tonight, and were going to be okay, he assured them. For now, all we could do was wait it out at his aunt's place.
He phoned his aunt soon afterward, but couldn't reach her, so he drove there. We were mostly quiet along the way, except for one of us to comment about the bad weather and the unfortunate landslide. Almost fifteen minutes later he arrived at his aunt's place. He phoned her again but she was still unreachable. He waited till the rain thinned to a light drizzle, before stepping out to survey the place. I peered through the glass and saw him slide the front gate open, before going to the front door and looking around. Standing beneath the front eaves, he punched a number into his phone and held it to his ear, and not long afterward he seemed to be speaking to someone. Moments later, he clicked the phone off and returned to the van.
He opened the door and got in. "I'm sorry. My aunt is away. She normally leaves a key beneath the front doormat, but she forgot. We could stay here, only we won't be able to enter the house."
A bit taken aback by his statement, I surveyed the small house, noticing that there was no porch, neither was there a garage or a side shed. There was no place to shelter, except for the small eaves in front of the door, and I was sure the rain would get us there. Maybe we could remain in the van, I thought.
He continued as if reading my mind. "It's okay. We can stay inside the van. It should be fine."
"Yes." I agreed.
He open the front gate and drove the vehicle inside, parked, and switched off the ignition. We made ourselves comfortable as much as possible.
He turned to me and shook his head. "It's probably my fault. I shouldn't have asked you out tonight, with this weather and all." He ran his fingers through his hair before leaning back to gaze at me.
"It's not your fault. I could have said no if I wanted to." It was the truth, and now that I was here with him, and even with the rain, I was glad I hadn't said no. It was so easy to be around him, and I was instantly reminded of the many times gone by whenever I'd meet him and we exchanged simple pleasantries.
He smiled suddenly. "And why didn't you?" he asked.
"I don't know. Perhaps it's your gentle eyes or optimistic spirit. Or perhaps it is because I was once infatuated with you." I instantly regretted that part, thankful that it was all in the past, or I never would have admitted it. If I thought my words were shocking, what he said next took the prize.
He seemed to study me before he finally spoke. "I once came close to asking you out a long time ago, because I too was seriously crushing on you."
My eyes opened wide as I looked at him, and then he shocked me further.
"In fact, I'm still crazy about you, Adelaide. Very much so!"
I grew speechless.
He continued as if my silence spurred him on. "You're a very likable person Adelaide, and I got a feeling it wouldn't be very hard to love you," he confessed, his eyes locked gently to mine.
His candid confession left me without words. I wasn't sure I could reciprocate his feelings, since I was still going through a divorce, though I was sure it was just a matter of time until I got the final document in the mail, as I'd been told. Still, I appreciated his honesty. There was something about him that drew me to him, and strangely a part of me loved hearing his words, which I found quite comforting. As I looked at him, in the van's darkness as the rain poured outside, a part of me wished to get lost in his words. He felt it wasn't hard to love me. He seemed about to say something, and before I knew what I was doing, I leaned closer to him and put my finger on his lips. "Shh!!" I shushed him. I was scared to lose myself in his words.
He stared bewilderedly at me.
I moved my fingers from his lips. "You shouldn't be too forthright about what you're saying, Blaze," I whispered.
"Why shouldn't I?" he replied.
"Because you might be wrong about me. I might not be as likable as you might think."
"Why is that?"
Silence.
When I gave no answer he continued, speaking gently and genuinely. "Because your husband was too much of a fool to let you go?" he asked. "You are a very likable person to me, Adelaide, and in fact, to a lot of people, such as Mrs. Jeffrey. You are because you're a good person, Adelaide. I know you are good!"
I was amazed how a man could speak his mind and still not raise his voice like some ignorant person would. Blaze Patterson was turning out to be a fine man indeed, every moment I spent with him. Or was he perhaps, too good to be true? I offered no objection to him, as I listened to him and answered his questions and he did likewise when I questioned him about anything.
At one time, he noticed I was cold. "You're shivering," he remarked. "Here, come closer to me. You can lean on me if you like."
I hesitated, though there were goosebumps on my arms.
"Okay, let's change seats," he suggested. "The back seat might be warmer." In no time, he'd crossed over and was sitting in the back seat. "Join me," he said, holding out his hand toward me.
I followed and soon sat next to him.
The rain never ceased, as we continued conversing into the night, and it made me forget that it was getting colder. In fact, I only felt colder hours later when we thought of getting some sleep. We lay back and tried to sleep, but sleep was hard to come, so we chatted some more.
At one time I felt myself nodding away and woke to see that I'd been leaning into him as I slept with one of his hands gently wrapped around me. I looked up at him to see that he was still awake, and was looking at me watchfully, as if he could see right through me, to my very soul. Even my husband never looked at me quite like that, and it evoked a fluttering deep within me, a nervous unease. I couldn't tear my eyes away from his.
"Go back to sleep," he whispered.
I tried to settle back, closing my eyes, and pictured myself lying in Blaze Patterson's arms, the look we'd just exchanged, and the feeling growing deep inside me. Memories flashed before me, and I remembered. It was perhaps close to what I used to feel for him before I met my husband. But maybe I was feeling this way because it was the first time a man had held me after my husband walked out. Maybe, in the morning, everything would be different. I had no right to lead him on, and myself, too.
I tried to settle back to sleep, but it was too hard, so I closed my eyes and waited till my body and brain would let me sleep. A little over ten minutes later, with my eyes still closed, I felt Blaze lean down and plant a gentle kiss on my forehead before whispering. "Goodnight, my Adelaide. It is so easy to love you."
