Country Brides - Debbie Macomber [47]
She laughed at his description of Nightingale as the outback.
“You completely missed the writers’ conference, didn’t you?”
“That couldn’t be helped, but I enjoyed the rest of my vacation. Victoria was like stepping into a small piece of England,” she said, in an effort to divert his attention from the time she’d spent on the Franklin farm. Victoria had been lovely, but unfortunately she hadn’t been in the proper mood to appreciate its special beauty.
“You didn’t so much as mail me a postcard.”
“I know,” she said with a twinge of guilt.
“I was lonesome without you,” Dan said slowly, running his hand over her hair. “Nothing felt right with you gone.”
Rorie knew it had taken a lot for him to admit that, and it made what she had to tell him all the more difficult.
“Dan, please,” she said, breaking away from him and standing. “I…I don’t love you.”
“But we’re friends.”
“Of course.”
He seemed both pleased and relieved by that. “Good friends?” he coaxed.
Rorie nodded, wondering where this was leading.
“Then there’s really no problem, is there?” he asked, his voice gaining enthusiasm. “You went away, and I realized how much I love you, and you came back deciding you value my friendship. That, at least, is a beginning.”
“Dan, honestly!”
“Well, isn’t it?”
“Our relationship isn’t going anywhere,” she told him, desperate to clarify the issue. Dan was a good person and he deserved someone who was crazy in love with him. The way she was with Clay.
To Rorie’s surprise, Dan drew her forward and kissed her. Startled, she stood placidly in his arms, feeling his warm mouth move over hers. She experienced no feeling, no excitement, nothing. Kissing Dan held all the appeal of drinking flat soda.
Frustrated, he tried to deepen the kiss.
Rorie braced her hands against his chest and tried to pull herself free. He released her immediately, then stepped back, frowning. “Okay, okay, we’ve got our work cut out for us. But the electricity will come, in time.”
Somehow Rorie doubted that.
Dan dropped her off in front of her apartment. “Can I see you soon?” he asked, his hands clenching the steering wheel. He didn’t look at her but stared straight ahead as though he feared her answer.
Rorie hesitated. “I ’m not going to fall in love with you, Dan, and I don’t want to take advantage of your feelings. I think it’d be best if you started seeing someone else.”
He appeared to consider that for an awkward moment. “But the decision should be mine, shouldn’t it?”
“Yes, but—”
“Then leave everything to me, and stop worrying. If I choose to waste my time on you, that’s my problem, not yours. I think you’re going to change your mind, Rorie. Because I love you enough for both of us.”
“Oh, Dan.” Her shoulders sagged with defeat. He hadn’t believed a single word she’d said.
“Now don’t look so depressed. How about a movie on Sunday? It’s been a while since we’ve done that.”
Exhausted, she shook her head. “Dan, no.”
“I insist, so stop arguing.”
She didn’t have the energy to argue. “All right,” she murmured. He’d soon learn she meant what she’d said. “All right.”
“Good. I’ll pick you up at six.”
Rorie climbed out of the MG and closed the door, turning to give Dan a limp wave. She paused in the foyer of her apartment building to unlock her mailbox.
There was a handful of envelopes. Absently, she shuffled through a leaflet from a prominent department store, an envelope with a Kentucky postmark and an electric bill. It wasn’t until she was inside her apartment that Rorie noticed the letter postmarked Nightingale, Oregon.
Thirteen
Rorie set the letter on her kitchen counter and stared at it for a moment. Her chest felt as if a dead weight were pressing against it. Her heart was pounding and her stomach churned. The post-office box number for the return address didn’t tell her much. The letter could as easily be from Kate as Clay.