Butterfly Summer by Arlene James

Author:Arlene James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2006-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

The remainder of the day passed at the same furious pace with which it had begun, but Heather couldn’t seem to concentrate, making everything a struggle.

When she finally got home, she practically fell into a tub of hot water and bubbles in an effort to soak away the day’s tensions. Afterward, she threw on a pair of sweats and went downstairs, somewhat surprised to find herself at loose ends. With her mother practically camping at the hospital, Melissa gone, Jeremy holed up in his apartment and Chris, Tim and Amy off doing their own things, she considered calling a friend.

Just the day before one of her girlfriends at church had remarked that they hadn’t spent any time together in weeks. Yet Heather was reluctant to go out in her comfy sweats or take the effort to trade them for presentable clothing. So after an early dinner with only Vera Mae for company, Heather carried a favorite book of poetry up to her room, switched on some classical music and held her disquiet at bay by actively contemplating the future.

For the first time in a very long while, she wondered if she might not find someone with whom to share her life, after all. Ethan had shown her that she was not as resigned to a single life as she’d once believed. She thought about that kiss and finally admitted to herself that she truly did want to marry and have children. Not with Ethan, of course. What she’d said to Brenda was all true, every word, and after their discussion in the stairwell she was more painfully aware of that fact than ever.

No matter how special it had felt to her, that little kiss had obviously meant nothing to Ethan; his easy acceptance of her suggestion that they not be seen together or talk about the awards banquet anymore had reinforced that quite firmly. The kiss may have been just one more friendly gesture on his part, but it had shown her as nothing else could have that she deeply yearned for a real love, a life mate and a family of her own.

She thanked God that He hadn’t let her drift along in that state until it was too late. Even if the discovery felt a bit like a hand or a foot coming back to tingling life after having had the circulation cut off for too long, it was better to know herself and face her own needs and desires prayerfully than to live in denial of them. She could only wonder what else she had been in denial about.

If Ethan had been the tool whom God had used to wake her up to her own feelings, she was grateful. She would not be so selfish as to expect more from the relationship or so foolish as to spin fairy tales in her mind about a possible future for them when they were so clearly mismatched. He was the office hunk, smart and brave and adventurous enough to move in and out of jobs, cities and lives as impulse dictated.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.