1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [71]
“What would you like me to tell you?” Corrie asked.
“I…I don’t know.”
Corrie reached across the counter and took one of Gloria’s hands in her own. “I think you owe it to this young man and to yourself to talk to him.”
“What should I say?”
“I can’t tell you that. But it seems to me that you’re running away from him and, more importantly, from yourself. You tried that once and it didn’t work, did it?”
“No,” she said miserably.
“When you thought you were about to lose him, you asked him to stay. That tells me you do have feelings for him.”
“He left ten messages for me. In the tenth message he said he was finished and that I wouldn’t hear from him again—and I haven’t.”
“You need to talk to him,” Corrie said a second time. “Even if you agree never to see each other again, you need some closure. Some way of acknowledging what happened so you can both move on.”
Gloria knew her birth mother was right. She’d recognized all along that this was what she needed to do, but she’d wanted confirmation from someone she trusted. Corrie wasn’t her real mother; Gloria’s mother had died in a plane crash. But she was certain the woman who’d nurtured and raised her would have said the same thing.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Corrie squeezed her hand. “Anytime. Will you let me know how it goes?”
Gloria promised she would and left soon after.
That afternoon, she waited outside the medical clinic for Chad. She wore her uniform, since she had to report for duty in thirty minutes. She was on swing shift and, through a quick phone call, had learned that he was on the early rotation. That gave them twenty minutes together at most. The time limitation suited her fine; she’d say what needed to be said, then leave with a clear conscience.
Chad saw her the moment he stepped out the clinic door. He hesitated briefly before heading in her direction.
Her own reaction to seeing him caught her by surprise. She hadn’t expected to feel anything. But she did. Her heart seemed to trip into double time and her throat closed. This wasn’t going to be easy and Chad would probably go out of his way to make it as awkward as possible.
“Took you long enough” was his only greeting.
“I thought we should…acknowledge what happened,” she said, consciously quoting Corrie. She kept her hands on her hips, feet spread, the stance she used when pulling over speeders.
“Yes, I suppose we should. Do you want to meet me somewhere so we can talk in private?”
Gloria shook her head. “Here is fine.”
“In the parking lot?”
“I have to be at work soon.”
“The parking lot?” he reiterated.
“Yes.”
“So this’ll be short and sweet.”
“Well, yes.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I guess that tells me everything I need to know.”
Rather than ask what he meant, she started in on her prepared speech. “Clearly there’s a strong physical attraction between us.”
“You think?”
She ignored his sarcasm, although it irritated her. “I can’t explain why you affect me the way you do.”
“But you don’t like it.”
“I don’t think we’re right for each other,” she finally told him.
“Yeah, sure.”
“There’s no need for sarcasm, Chad,” she returned pointedly. She’d been correct about one thing; he intended to punish her, make this as hard as he could.
“You might not think so, but it’s either that or…”
“Or what?”
He started to walk away from her. “You drive me crazy, Gloria. I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re hot one minute, and when I say hot, we both know what I mean. Then the next minute, you can’t get away from me fast enough.”
Gloria couldn’t very well deny his accusations.
“The night we had dinner, things got out of control. I hadn’t intended to bring you back to my apartment. I told you what would happen if we went inside and if I remember correctly you didn