Darlene Gardner - A Time To Forgive

Abby’s heartbeat returned to normal at the sound of her friend’s voice. Some years ago she’d met Rae Ann at a pottery-making class. In spite of the fun they’d had, making pottery hadn’t caught on with either of them, but their friendship had blossomed. “I’m baking brownies.”

“For a man?” Rae Ann asked.

Abby laughed. Rae Ann had a one-track mind. “For one of my students. What’s up?”

Abby cradled the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she cut the brownies.

“I called about tomorrow night. Did you line up a date yet?”

“I already told you, Rae Ann, I’ll come but I’m not bringing a man with me.”

“Oh, come on, Abby. We’re all bringing dates. That’s the entire point of getting together on a night we don’t usually meet. It’s supposed to be something different, something fun.”

Abby used a spatula to start transferring the brownies from the baking pan to a Tupperware container. “I can have plenty of fun without a man.”

Rae Ann sighed dramatically, and Abby imagined her rolling her eyes. “Listen to yourself, Abs. You might as well become a nun with an attitude like that.”

“You know I like men as much as any of you.”

“Then what’s your problem?”

Abby paused. “I don’t have anybody to ask.”

“Nonsense. Open your eyes and smell the testosterone. There are men everywhere. You can’t tell me that one of them doesn’t ring your bell.”

“Well,” Abby said slowly and licked her lips. She could hardly believe she was going to bare her soul to Rae Ann, not when she’d hardly admitted as much to herself. She could hear the television playing in the next room and figured it was safe to talk. “There is somebody.”

“Who?” Rae Ann demanded. “And when can I meet him?”

Abby smiled. “I didn’t say we were going out, Rae. I said I’m attracted to him.”

“You mean he gets you hot?”

“Okay. Yes. He gets me hot.”

“What does he look like?”

“Tall, dark and luscious. He has the most beautiful mouth God put on a man. I can’t look at it without fantasizing about kissing him.”

“How about his body?”

Abby put down the spatula, the brownies remaining in the pan forgotten. “I can’t say for sure because he’s always wearing too many damned clothes, but I’m betting there’s some prime beef under there.”

Rae erupted into laughter. “So who is this mystery man?”

“The uncle of one of my students. He’ll be by any minute to pick her up.” She lowered her voice. “I swear, Rae, lately when I see him, my heart races so fast my head can hardly keep up.”

“So why don’t you bring him?”

“Oh, I couldn’t. He’s the sophisticated type. He wouldn’t come with me to something like this.”

“Wanna bet?” asked a low-throated, masculine voice.

Abby’s eyes flew to the entrance of the kitchen, where Connor leaned negligently against the door frame.

She closed her eyes in mortification. What was he doing here on time? His usual modus operandi was to show up anywhere from ten to twenty minutes late, although he usually called to let her know when he wouldn’t be on time.

Something clanked, and it took her a moment to realize she’d dropped the phone. She heard Rae Ann’s panicked voice coming over the line. “Abs, what happened? Are you all right?”

Connor’s gorgeous mouth curved into a smile. Her heart raced, exactly the way she’d described to Rae Ann.

She bent to pick the phone off the floor. “Rae, I gotta go. I’ll call you back later.”

“But—”

Abby hung up, cutting off her friend. She wet her suddenly dry lips.

“Jaye let me in,” he explained.

“I figured that. Um, exactly how long ago was that? I mean, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to hear that you want to see what’s under my clothes.”

She felt her face flame. “I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about the uncle of one of my other students,” she said with as much haughtiness as she could muster.

“Okay. But in case you were talking about me, in the spirit of fairness, I’m going on record as saying I’d like to see what’s under your clothes, too.”

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