Twice in a Lifetime by Dorothy Garlock

Author:Dorothy Garlock
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2015-07-07T04:00:00+00:00

“What’s bothering you?”

Clara had been waiting for Drake to ask that very question ever since she had knocked on his door. When he’d opened it, a smile had lit up his face; she’d tried to match it, but hers had quickly faltered. He had invited her in, but she had shaken her head and asked if they might take a walk instead. Drake had readily agreed. Taking the stairs, he’d made small talk, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer. When they passed the front desk, Edna had wished them a good night, giving Clara a wink when Drake wasn’t looking. Outside on the sidewalk, when she was still quiet, he’d asked his question.

“Nothing,” she lied, thinking herself a coward. “I’m fine.”

“You could’ve fooled me,” he said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with that fella at the bank, does it?”

“Eddie never showed up. I actually had a nice day.”

“So what changed? Why the long face?”

Your friend just told me that we’re having a fling, something that both of us will forget soon after you leave Sunset forever…

Clara knew she couldn’t say that, but she also couldn’t keep what Amos had said locked away. She had to say something. She needed answers.

“What…what do I mean to you?” she asked.

“You want to know what my intentions toward you are.”

She nodded.

Drake chuckled. “Your mother asked me the same thing this afternoon.”

Taken aback, Clara managed to say, “You’re kidding…”

“Cross my heart, it’s the truth.”

“I didn’t say a word to her about what happened between us,” she told him, her voice rising, her tone defensive.

“I wasn’t implying otherwise,” Drake said, “but when two people meet, when they start spending time together, doing all the things we have, it’s to be expected that the folks around them, family, friends, and the like, are going to wonder where it’s headed. They’re curious, that’s all.”

“What about you? Don’t you want to know?”

Drake stopped walking and turned to face her. “Of course I do. Neither one of us is a kid anymore. I don’t want to waste time playing games.”

Clara’s heart raced. “We’ve only known each other a couple of days…”

“That’s plenty long to believe that how I feel is real,” Drake said, his tone as strong as his words. “Don’t you agree?”

She nodded. “But you’re leaving soon…”

He held her eyes, his jaw tight, and then looked away. “Thing is, I’m not so sure about that anymore.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, reaching out to grab his forearm, imploring him to tell her the truth.

Drake took a deep breath. “Remember what I told you? That in all the years I’ve spent driving around, running races, I’ve never found someone who was willing to share that life with me?”

Clara nodded; she remembered every word.

“I’ve always expected the women I met to change their lives to match mine, for them to give up what they wanted to be with me out on the road,” Drake explained. “But over the last couple of days, I’ve started to wonder if I haven’t spent years looking at it the wrong way.

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