The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee

Author:Ashton Lee
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Contemporary
ISBN: 9780758273413
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2013-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Whatever words she had expected to come out of Locke’s mouth, Miss Voncille considered these a universe away. She had to take a generous swig of her sherry to steady herself and give herself some time to think of what to say. But another quick glimpse of Pamela’s portrait gave her just the inspiration she needed.

“It’s almost like your wife was thinking of that letter when her portrait was painted so long ago,” she observed. “Otherwise, I can’t think of a thing to add to the sentiments she expressed.”

Locke looked consummately pleased with her and himself. “Pamela was like that. She was forward-thinking, even though she wanted to know everything about people here in Cherico. That was why we first started going to ‘Who’s Who?’ meetings. But it was the big picture that really interested her. Not just what came before, but what comes next? That’s why having breast cancer never really changed her. She always thought it was part of something that would eventually make sense to her, and when I read her letter the other day after two years had passed, I teared up and laughed at the same time. She really knew me, and I have no choice now but to keep following through on what she’s asked me to do.”

Miss Voncille exhaled, enjoying the slight buzz from the sherry. “I assume the single rose was your idea, though?”

“That it was. Give me credit for some originality.”

“Oh, I do,” she said, inching closer to him. “As I’ve said to you several times, you’re a surprising and original man.”

The kiss that followed was gentle and brief but held the promise of more to come.

“So, here’s a question for you—what’s your opinion of four-letter words?” he said, pulling away slightly.

Her expression was skeptical but amused. “I don’t use them. Well . . . not unless I hit my thumb with a hammer putting up a picture. You know how that goes.”

“No, I meant the four-letter words that Pamela used in her letter,” he explained with a mischievous grin. “She talked about risk and she mentioned love. Those four-letter words. Here we are getting ready to greet our seventies. Are we willing to take the risk of again losing someone that we love?”

For the first time all night, Frank flashed into Miss Voncille’s head. She had put his picture away in a brave attempt at moving forward. If she became further involved with Locke, it would be impossible to predict how many years they might have together.

“It’s been a while since I’ve risked anything in the love department,” she answered. “You pose a very pertinent question.”

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, sipping their sherry for courage.

“So, where do we go from here?” he said, finally.

She turned to him with a sweet, reassuring smile. “I’d like to stay here tonight. Is that enough of an answer?”

“More than enough,” he replied, matching her smile. And then they kissed again, this time lingering tenderly.

“Then by all means, show me the rest of the house,” she added, pulling away with an expectant sigh.

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.