Open Your Heart by Cheris Hodges

Author:Cheris Hodges [Hodges, Cheris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2021-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Yolanda woke up in an empty bed and was convinced that the morning and early afternoon had been a dream. But the soreness in her thighs told her that she hadn’t been dreaming at all. But where was Chuck and what time was it? She looked at her alarm clock and saw it was five after two. Had they been in bed that long?

She sat up at the moment that Chuck walked in the room with a tray of food. “I see that only the smell of sausage and coffee wakes you up,” he said with a smile.

Dimples.

“You know my weaknesses. What’s this?”

“Lunch. Chicken, rice, and broccoli.”

“So, you like cooking?” she asked as he set the tray on the nightstand.

He shrugged. “I have to eat and it gives me time to think.”

“And what do you think about when you’re cooking other than not scorching the rice?”

Chuck smiled. “I’m from Charleston, I never scorch the rice.”

“You’re from Charleston, yet we never met before. That’s just sad,” she said as she picked up her bowl of food.

“Guess we ran in different circles. Where did you go to high school?”

Yolanda smiled. “I went to a private high school. And hated every minute of it. There was no football team, I couldn’t be a cheerleader, and everybody was scared of my father.”

“Shaped your whole life, huh?” Chuck laughed.

“Is that judgment?”

He shook his head and grinned. “But I know some private school women. They’re the most creative and passionate.”

She rested her chin on her fist. “Do I want to know where I rank?”

“Top three.”

Yolanda scoffed. “It only means something if I’m number one.”

“You are at the top of the list, trust and believe,” he said with a smile. “How’s the food?”

She took another bite and smiled. “Great. You know, if you need a second career, a chef might work for you.”

“I’m good with that. I told you, I grew up in a house of women who cut me no slack. I would never open myself to that kind of criticism again.”

“Is your family still in Charleston?”

Chuck shook his head no as he took a bite of his food. “My sisters moved out west after my mom passed.”

“Oh,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Mom lived a great life and we had a good time with her,” he said.

Yolanda tried not to cry, but anytime she thought about how she never got to have that time with her mother that other people had it made her sad. While she shouldn’t begrudge people who got to know their mothers as adults, she did.

Chuck seemed to notice her emotion and set his bowl to the side. “What’s wrong?” he asked. His eyes were filled with concern. She shook her head and wiped the moisture from her eyes.

“I lost my mother when I was young and . . . I hate to say it but sometimes I get . . .”

He pulled her into his arms. “It’s all right,” Chuck cooed as he hugged her. “You’ve been through a lot, huh?”

“That’s why all of this is so scary to me.

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