The Note II: Taking a Chance on Love by Angela Elwell Hunt

Author:Angela Elwell Hunt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / General, FICTION / Media Tie-In
ISBN: 9781496415486
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2016-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Ten

“HEY! WAIT UP!”

Billy’s cry echoed among the golden poplars and the pines. He and Richie were bringing up the rear, but Eve was determined to keep up with Ben, who had led the way into the glorious autumn woods. He left the trail and went zigzagging between the trees, loping over the carpet of fallen leaves as confidently as a deer.

“Ben Morrick!” she called, a note of exasperation in her voice. “Wait up!”

Billy’s and Richie’s cries grew fainter as she broke into a run. Her mother would have a fit if she knew her daughter was sprinting through the Virginia woods like some kind of rustic, but it felt good to stretch her legs and fly. To leave her classroom and the base behind, to outrun responsibility and obligation and the expectations that hovered over her like a thundercloud.

“Ben?” Eve rounded an overgrown evergreen and peered through the woods, but she could no longer see the khaki blur of his uniform. “If you’re planning to jump out and scare me, Ben, you can just forget that idea. You know I hate surprises. So come on out and let me see you.”

She stopped and listened intently but heard nothing except the whisper of the wind and the distant gurgle of running water. Maybe she’d fallen farther behind than she realized. If a stream lay ahead, Ben might already be there, waiting and wondering what had happened to her.

She ran again, not caring about the branches that whipped her skirt and snagged her sweater. Thank goodness the chilly weather had sent the bugs and spiders into hiding. The ground slanted ahead of her, a slope led away from the trail toward whatever lay at the bottom of this hill, but she ran on, her heart pounding with every step. Too late, she saw the fallen log; too abruptly she tried to leap over it. She might have made it unscathed, but the sole of her loafer slipped on the damp autumn leaves. Down she went, landing in an undignified heap at the base of a sycamore.

She had barely brushed the leaves from her hair before Ben arrived, breathless and agitated. He bent over her, his eyes dark with worry. “Eve? My goodness, are you all right? I shouldn’t have, I didn’t mean—”

“I’m fine.” Irritated and embarrassed, she spat the words at him. “Stop your mollycoddling and help me up.”

His hand clasped hers and pulled her to her feet. She relaxed her fingers, certain that he would release her as soon as she’d found her balance, but he kept his hand wrapped around hers as he led her up the sloping hill. “I’m a darned fool,” he muttered under his breath. “Shouldn’t have led you off the trail, but I never dreamed you’d follow. Billy’s going to kill me.”

She stopped, forcing him to look at her in the silent woods. “Don’t—” her eyes met his—“worry about Billy. I took off after you and it’s my fault I fell.”

“But I shouldn’t have—”

“I could keep up with you anywhere, Ben Morrick.

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