Oh Baubles by Harmony Kent

Author:Harmony Kent [Kent, Harmony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781704479279
Publisher: Harmony Kent Author Services
Published: 2019-12-05T18:30:00+00:00

6

Date and Dance

IF Charlene had thought she could get through the evening unseen and unscathed, she couldn’t have gotten it more wrong. Lady Luck was not on her side tonight—hadn’t been for a long time, it seemed. Briefly, Charlene wondered what she’d ever done that was so wrong? Why did the universe hate her so much? Was it such a crime to dare to find happiness?

It happened about halfway through the meal. The glance. John stopped with his forkful of creamy pasta halfway to his mouth. Then he did a double-take. Immediately, Charlene’s fingers rose to the scar running down her left cheek, and she felt overcome by self-consciousness. She knew that she should never have trusted her sister or worn the damned scrunchie. Her bared face must look hideous, and that’s why John now sat staring at her with an expression of shocked surprise on his face.

After an eternity, he recovered his composure and settled his fork on his plate, the food seemingly forgotten. Emily had followed Charlene’s stare, and now the two sisters shared a glance. Across the room, John rose from his chair and smoothed his hands down his shirt front. He said a couple of words to his companion and then wove his way between the tables and other diners and toward them. Charlene wanted the floor to swallow them up whole right then and there. Where the hell was an earthquake or a tsunami when a girl really needed one?

John stopped by the side of the table and clasped his hands behind his back, giving each woman a smile. The soft candlelight glinted in his dark brown eyes. His gaze fixed on Charlene. ‘You look lovely tonight.’

On automatic pilot, Charlene shook her head, ready to thank him for his kind words while not believing a single one of them. Emily replied for her, however. ‘Yes, she does.’ Then she eyed him up and down unashamedly. ‘You polish up quite well yourself.’

John beamed at Emily, and Charlene wilted. She just wasn’t up to turning on the charm anymore. Not like she used to do with ease. Life had beaten the fun out of her. And she still reckoned he’d only told her she looked lovely to be nice. The scar on her cheek felt as though it protruded at least ten inches just then, and she wished heartily that she’d done the usual and worn her hair down to conceal her ugliness.

Then her bloody sister dropped her right in harm’s way. She rose to her feet. ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and powder my nose.’ A pointed stare aimed at Charlene left her in no doubt as to her sibling’s intentions. John dropped easily into the vacated chair, opposite Charlene.

She fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. After a couple of seconds of uneasy silence, broken only by the soft, romantic background music, John opened the conversation, ‘It went okay at the prosthetic clinic, I take it?’

Charlene nodded.

John pointed at her shoes. ‘You’re in heels.

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