Love Unfeigned by Nadine Keels

Author:Nadine Keels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: friendship, novella, jazz, contemporary romance, inspirational romance, trauma, new adult romance
Publisher: Indie Author Project

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Chapter Eight

She

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As soon as they’d broken away from most of the crowd spilling out of Larkspur Hall, Isaiah asked Lorraine, “What’d you think?”

Lorraine waved her concert program in front of her with exhilaration. “It all gave me a rush. Hearing Handel on television or over the radio is one thing, but to be there in person, to have the music shooting or soaring directly at your face, is a different story.” She tightly rolled her program up to serve as a baton, closing her eyes to commence conducting an invisible orchestra, its imaginary presence made known by her faint humming. She interrupted her humming just long enough to declare, “I can still hardly breathe.”

Isaiah grinned, the cold air requiring him to reach past the collar of his coat to pull his scarf up higher around his throat. He was next obliged to take a hold of Lorraine’s elbow, so that she wouldn’t trip or run into anything as she conducted. “I take it you enjoyed it as much as I did, then,” he said.

“Oh, yes,” Lorraine agreed between hums. “Maybe more.”

“Perfect.” Isaiah’s steps slowed as he tipped his head to survey the night sky. He asked Lorraine, “How do your shoes feel?”

She went on with her music for a second, closing out with a rushed finale, and then she opened her eyes, peeking down at the patent leather toes of her heels, poking into view from under the wide legs of her slacks. “This is a relatively comfy pair. Why?”

“We can take a walk before we go back to the car. It’s a gorgeous night, out here. Are you warm enough?”

Lorraine turned her cheeks upward, moving her hair away from her face with her gloved free hand. “It feels like snow. But yes.”

They left the grounds surrounding Larkspur Hall and began on a stroll through the festively-lit downtown streets, joining the light bustle of others who were also taking advantage of the clear nighttime weather. Lorraine pulled Isaiah aside with her to look at holiday displays in shop windows as they continued to discuss the concert, and they happened down a street with a horse and carriage parked beside the curb, the driver sitting up in his seat, awaiting a final customer for the night.

When Isaiah suggested that they go for a carriage ride and started in that direction, Lorraine grabbed his arm to stop him. “Probably not a good idea,” she told him.

“Why not? It’s the closest thing we could get to a sleigh ride, out here. Ultra Christmassy.”

“But, uh, I have a phobia.”

“Of horses?”

“Not exactly. It’s more a phobia of what horses do.” Because Isaiah gave her a puzzled shrug, Lorraine went on to tell him about another time she’d been downtown and had seen a carriage horse relieving himself in the gutter. Isaiah was soon laughing as Lorraine lamented, “It seemed to go on and on forever, and I wondered if it’s always like that with horses or if that one just had spare time to kill at a trough or something beforehand.

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