The Root of All Evil by Shannon VanBergen

Author:Shannon VanBergen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing

* * *

My Gem

Your beauty is like a solar eclipse,

I want to stare at you until your image is burned into my soul.

Your hair is so wild, falling around your face.

Like autumn leaves twirling in the breeze.

Looking into your eyes is like looking into a telescope.

At millions of twinkling stars in the galaxy.

You are a precious gem that I’ve spent my whole life mining for.

I want to keep you safe in a treasure box, known only as my heart.

* * *

“Wow,” I said slowly, not sure how to react.

“You don’t like it.” He took the notebook from me and folded the front cover back in place.

“No, I love it! It’s just that…” How could I say this without hurting his feelings? “I really like you, as a friend.” Wow, those were words I had never spoken before. I sat there, a little proud of myself for not jumping into the arms of any man who showed an interest. But then it hit me—why didn’t I have feelings for him?

I looked over at Les, sitting across the table, his head down and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He was very nice to me and he was so easy to talk to. I’d married guys for less than that. In just the few times we had gotten together, I had shared more things with him than I had with anyone else. When I was around him, I felt like I was truly myself. So why wouldn’t I even consider dating him? Suddenly, I felt confused and guilty.

Before I had a chance to say anything else, the door to the coffee shop opened and Joe walked in, followed by several of his hunky firemen friends. They were all dressed the same, dark blue pants with a tight dark blue t-shirt with the Peace Pointe fire department logo over their chest. As soon as he saw me, he came over to say hi.

“Hey!” he said as he approached our table. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, which I thought was strange—almost like he was marking his territory. “What are you up to?” He looked over at Les and nodded a hello. “Who’s your friend?” he asked when he turned back to me.

“This is Les,” I said, suddenly nervous. “We’re just sitting here, chatting.”

Joe acted a little strange, then he pointed to his friends. “I better get back over there. Just wanted to say hi.” He looked at Les and nodded again. “Nice to meet ya, Les.”

“You too,” Les said quietly.

“Oh hey,” Joe said before he walked away. “Are you busy tonight? I thought we could go out for dinner.”

I stammered for a minute before I finally said yes.

“Great,” he said, all smiles. “I’ll text you later then and we can work out the details.”

He walked away and Les and I sat there for a minute in awkward silence.

“So,” I finally said, trying to move on from the uncomfortable moment. “Do you know what you’re going to read at your poetry reading?

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