Married for Christmas (Willow Park) by Adams Noelle

Author:Adams, Noelle [Adams, Noelle]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Published: 2013-11-29T18:30:00+00:00

Seven

The following evening, after dinner, Daniel went into his study to work.

After straightening up the kitchen, Jessica walked down the hall and stared at his closed door.

There wasn’t anything wrong with his getting some work done in the evening. He didn’t owe her anything except respect and faithfulness. She shouldn’t expect for their practical marriage to turn into something romantic—just because she was wanting it more and more.

It felt wrong, though. Like he was hiding from her. Like he was hiding from life. Like this was his way of clinging to certain things he couldn’t yet let go of.

Glancing down at Bear, who was wagging her tail eagerly with her nose to the crack of the door, wanting to get at the person inside the room, Jessica felt a sudden swell of frustrated impatience.

She wanted to shake Daniel. To tell him to just get over it, to get it together. Life went on, and nothing worthwhile could be gained by wallowing in grief or wishing for something that could never happen—like his dead wife coming back to him.

She wasn’t a fool, though. That simply wasn’t how people worked. It wasn’t how grief worked.

No one could just shake themselves out of it.

“No, I think it’s a good idea,” Daniel said from inside the study. His voice was muffled but audible. He must be on the phone. “I think we can definitely plan something like that.”

There was a pause, during which the other person must have spoken. Then Daniel continued, “Good. Just make sure you include other women in the church in planning it. Actually, you might ask Jessica. She’d be great at it.”

Jessica was surprised, since she couldn’t think of any sort of church event that she would be great at planning. Maybe he was just continuing his mission to get her more involved and to act more like a typical pastor’s wife.

“No,” Daniel said. “You can’t assume things like that. She could really help. She’s brilliant. Seriously—she’s one of the smartest people I know, and I’m not just saying that because I’m married to her. She’s quiet, and she never puts herself out there, but that doesn’t mean she can’t contribute. Not everyone is comfortable jumping into new situations, so you need to make an extra effort to include them. Ask her. I guarantee she’ll really be able help.”

Jessica realized she was standing the hallway, shamelessly eavesdropping on a conversation that wasn’t intended for her. She quickly walked back to the kitchen, feeling strange and confused.

She wasn’t sure if she was touched that Daniel was making such a point of her being smart and capable, or if she was uncomfortable that he was throwing her into the game when she much preferred watching from the sidelines.

“Looks like it’s just us this evening,” Jessica said to Bear, trying to distract herself from the strange feeling. “What should we do?” She felt kind of lonely and heavy, like she wanted to mope.

It was stupid, but she’d never imagined she would be lonely after she got married.

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.