Shades Of Chocolate (The Bakery Romance Series Book 2) by Dowdy Cecelia

Author:Dowdy, Cecelia [Dowdy, Cecelia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2016-02-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

The following Sunday, Toni sighed as she scanned the small church. Kind of hard to believe she was actually sitting here, in this pew. Closing her eyes, memories of her last church visit consumed her. She’d been twelve years old and had gone to church with her mother. That night, her dad had beaten her mom so bad that Toni had to call the ambulance, escort her mom to the hospital. She’d also called the police. Her dad had passed out by the time the police had arrived.

She finally opened her eyes, and salty tears stained her cheeks. She sniffed, fished in her purse for a tissue. Karis, one of her customers, pressed a box of Kleenex into her hand. Toni barely recognized Karis wearing her white uniform, with her hair slicked back into a bun. “You okay, Toni?”

She barely managed to nod. “Thank you.” She pulled several tissues out of the box. The sun poured through the stained-glass windows, spilling a rainbow of colors on the dark cranberry carpeting. The pews basked in the sunlight. A huge wooden cross dominated the pulpit. Someone mentioned the pastor had recently preached that all the important questions in life ultimately found their answers at the foot of the cross. Was that really true? If that were true, then the Lord needed to give her some answers. When would her life be truly happy? When would they find the person who kept harassing her?

She closed her eyes again, recalling the past week. Her routine had been in a major upset since she’d started staying at Mrs. Dukes. Sheila and Jason had attended a mid-week Bible study together, returning very late. She could only assume that they’d gone out for coffee after Bible study.

Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. She just needed to be brave and ask them what was going on. When she’d arrived this morning, she’d overheard two women gossiping about Jason and Sheila. This didn’t make any sense. Whenever Sheila liked a guy, she never kept it a secret.

Perhaps all of that had changed? Maybe Sheila was still a little bit upset about Toni confiding to Sterling and Rhea about Brian’s infidelity.

Sheila came into the sanctuary. She waved to Toni and joined her near the back of the church, giving her a hug. “It’s so good to see you here.” The organist played a vaguely familiar tune.

The side doors near the pulpit opened, and a long line of men streamed in. They were dressed in black and white suits, and they hummed. Toni spotted Jason in the choir line. His dark suit hugged his muscular body, bringing attention to his beautiful brown skin. His clean-shaven head shone under the church lights. “He’s so handsome.”

Sheila leaned toward her. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” She bit her bottom lip. Jason had again asked her out to Pedro’s, and she had again declined. Her feelings for him were growing, and now she knew she needed to do something about it. After service, she needed to get her doubts cleared up before she let her feelings for Jason to grow any stronger.

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