Monday, May 16, 2011

ExcerpTuesday: Roseanne Dowell


The bell rang, and Kate half expected to see Mark Westfield again, but instead a man stood with his back to her, in front of the glass case looking at the arrangements.

“Can I help you?”

He turned toward Kate.

Her knees weakened, and her mouth went dry. Just the sight of him, and her heart pounded.

“Hi, Kate, I heard you were back in town. Thought I’d stop by and see how you’re doing.”

Kate grabbed on to her desk and lowered herself into the chair. Her stomach turned summersaults, and suddenly all the anger of the past five years boiled up inside her. In a matter of seconds, Kate experienced every emotion known to man. Love, anger, hate, even fear. It took every ounce of self control not to lash out at him.

Someone once said there was a thin line between love and hate. They weren’t far off. Finally, she settled on indifference. Did she really care what Adam wanted? But how dare he walk in here and act as if nothing happened?

And the way he looked at her, as if they were going to take up where they left off. That cocky grin that used to melt her anger so long ago wasn’t going to work this time. She took a breath and held it for what seemed like forever. Should she play this game, or let him have it with both barrels?

“Hello, Adam.” She knew her voice sounded cold but couldn’t care less.

She held back, to see what he had to say, although he wasn’t acting the least bit self-conscious or guilty. But then, he wouldn’t. Adam always blamed everyone else. More than likely in his mind, it was her fault he jilted her.

She picked up a notepad and jotted down notes for Peg, to avoid looking at him.

“What? No…how are you Adam? Nice to see you? Don’t tell me you’re still mad because we canceled the wedding?”

We canceled! Mad! Like she didn’t have a right to be mad? Writing a note and leaving town was called ‘we’ canceling a wedding.

Kate sucked in her breath and stared at him. His cocky grin irritated her. Figures he’d try to justify what he did. He never took the blame for anything, never had. Too bad she hadn’t seen that before she agreed to marry him. Could have saved a lot of grief.

“I heard you got married.”

“Married and divorced.” He cocked his head at her in a way she used to love.










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