The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love - By Beth Pattillo Page 0,35
the café were pressing in on her. She reached for her water and took a sip. He’s just flirting, she admonished herself. Don’t blow it out of proportion.
But panic rose in her throat. Her body was sending her a message. Be wary. Be cautious. Don’t put yourself in a position to get hurt. She knew, in that moment, that Dante Brown still had the potential to destroy her if she let him get too close.
Somehow she got through the rest of the meal. She prayed he wouldn’t notice the change in her, and he didn’t seem to catch on. When they’d finished eating, he paid the check. So many people wanted to talk to him that it took them several minutes to make their way to the door of the café. Camille ignored the speculative glances. They were good-natured and inquisitive rather than judgmental.
Outside, he offered to drive her home, but Camille declined. She pretended not to see the disappointment in his eyes. “I’ll walk.”
He shook his head. “It’s too late for you to walk home alone. I’ll go with you.”
She looked at him, thought about his knee, and changed her mind. “On second thought, maybe you should just drop me off.”
He started to say something, and then he seemed to change his mind too. “Come on, Cinderella. I’m not getting any younger.”
She hadn’t given much thought to the end of the evening until now, but all of a sudden the image of Dante standing beside her on the front porch loomed in her imagination. What if he tried to kiss her? Or, worse, what if he didn’t?
They made the short trip in silence, Camille apprehensive and Dante apparently lost in thought. When he pulled into the driveway, she barely waited for him to stop the car before she opened the door and jumped out.
“You don’t have to get out,” she said, waving and backing away from the car. “Thanks again for dinner.”
She practically ran up the front steps and, spotting the book she’d left on the porch swing earlier, grabbed it before reaching in her purse for her keys. Thank heavens he hadn’t come up on the porch and seen her copy of Romeo and Juliet. He did sit in the driveway, though, until she’d unlocked the door and let herself safely inside. Only when she’d switched on the lamp by the door and turned off the porch light did she hear him drive away.
Camille looked down at the book in her hands. Shakespeare knew all about doomed lovers. Camille tucked the book under her arm as she turned and mounted the stairs. She’d finish reading the play tonight, to remind herself of what she already knew.
Her feelings for Dante Brown had to be squashed before they seduced her into doing something incredibly foolish.
Eugenie resisted the urge to wait up for Hannah in the parsonage living room. Instead, she sat at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of herbal tea and working on her project for the next meeting of the Knit Lit Society. Her fingers maneuvered the yarn and needles automatically her attention not really on her task. She was listening for the sound of footsteps on the porch, the slide of a key in the lock of the front door. She knew Hannah was safe enough with Josh Hargrove. Eugenie remembered him from when he was younger, before he had moved away. The boy had a good head on his shoulders, and she doubted that had changed.
“Still awake?” Paul’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see him standing in the kitchen doorway. He wore striped pajamas, and his hair was tousled from sleep.
“I want to make sure Hannah gets in okay.”
Paul smiled. “I remember how Martha and I used to wait up for the kids. I don’t know who has a tougher time during adolescence—parents or children.” Paul’s children with his late wife were now grown and had families of their own. “Want me to sit with you?”
Eugenie envied him his sangfroid. She knew she should probably go on to bed and quit worrying, but even though she was sixty-five years old, parenting was new to her, and she felt as green as a blade of spring grass.
“You go on back to bed.” She smiled at her new husband. “Hannah should be home any time now.”
He crossed the room and leaned over to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Wake me up if you need me.” He tapped the end of her nose. “And don’t