My Dearest Cal by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods [Woods, Sherryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460374719
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 1991-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Cal didn’t go near the house the rest of the afternoon. He didn’t think he could stand to see that awful, defeated look in Marilou’s eyes again. He’d seen her bitter disappointment, but he’d been unable to say the words that would make it go away. Every time he’d tried, they’d stuck in his throat. A simple yes would have done it, but even that was beyond him.

Besides, nothing about this was simple. Feelings buried for so long weren’t easy to put into words. Maybe he was a fool or a coward or both, but he wouldn’t be a hypocrite to boot. He couldn’t feign enthusiasm just to please Marilou. Though he credited her with being intuitive about most things, she didn’t understand this. She couldn’t possibly realize what she was asking of him. He didn’t want to go back, didn’t want to dredge up all of the old hurts. What possible difference could it make at this late date for him to go barging into the life of a woman he’d never met?

It was past supper time when he finally got up the courage to walk into the house. With a sense of resignation, he saw that Marilou wasn’t in the kitchen where he’d grown used to finding her. There were no dishes on the table, no pots simmering on the stove, no wonderful aromas coming from the oven.

Not that he was hungry. He doubted if he could get food past the lump that was lodged in his throat. He just wanted her to be there, waiting for him with that gentle, trusting, caring smile. Instead the room felt cold and empty without her. He was getting a taste of what his life would be like without her.

Logic told him he could make everything right in a heartbeat. All he had to do was admit he was wrong and say he’d make the stupid phone call. Maybe he wouldn’t even have to make it. Maybe the promise would be enough to buy a few more days.

A few more days to do what? Convince her that family wasn’t all that important? Not likely. To Marilou, who’d lost her only relatives so tragically, it was obviously the only thing that did matter. It was the one blind spot in her otherwise open-minded nature.

Still, even knowing this was something that would always put them at loggerheads, he couldn’t let her go. He knew that as surely as he’d always known when it was time to move on, time to hunt for a new challenge. Right now he felt settled, and he intended to keep it that way. Marilou, he’d come to realize, was a major part of that feeling of contentment that had swept over him so unexpectedly when he’d bought Silver River Stables. The feeling of finally finding his niche had grown stronger day by day ever since. One thing life had taught him was that when something was good, you reached for it and held on for as long as the ride lasted.

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