Spontaneous - Brenda Jackson [60]
Duan nodded as he sat on the edge of his desk. “What about Dad and Terrence?”
“Dad knows and of course he and Cathy are delighted to become grandparents. I haven’t told Terrence yet. I plan to call him and Sherri tonight.”
She glanced down at her watch. “I better go since I do have an appointment at three with an artist whose work we want to display.”
After his sister left, Duan wasn’t able to get back to work. He leaned back in his chair and stared out the window. It had rained earlier but now the sun was out. Everywhere flowers were blooming, typical for May.
It had been three weeks since he had left Shreveport, and although he had spoken to Kim twice since then, that hadn’t been enough. He knew her mother’s outlook on life was improving, and that Mr. Bennie had stated his intentions to Wynona. The two adults were taking things one day at a time as they moved from friends to a more serious relationship. Duan had sent a bouquet of flowers to Wynona last week for Mother’s Day, and she had called and left a message on his cell phone thanking him.
He knew Kim had told her mother and family the truth about their fake engagement. She had returned the ring to him a couple of weeks ago with a note thanking him for all he’d done. She’d also written that the family was so concerned about her mother’s well-being that they hadn’t dwelled on the fact that she’d lied to them.
The last time they talked he had told her that Villarosas had been charged in connection to his wives’ deaths and was waiting trial. Villarosas still wasn’t remorseful for what he’d done to his two wives and was trying to convince anyone who would listen that he had valid reasons for his actions.
When Duan had gotten the ring back he had stared at it remembering the exact moment he had placed it on Kim’s finger. He’d been tempted to send it back to her and tell her to keep it since it looked as if it belonged on her hand. He still might do so, but knowing Kim, she would only return it.
Thanks to information he pulled from Terrence, he knew Kim had returned to the Keys and was back at work. He also knew the main reason he wouldn’t be going to Sherri’s birthday party: he wasn’t ready to see her again. He wasn’t sure if he could look at her and pretend not to want her and love her. So he had made the decision not to make the trip to Key West next weekend, and as he had told Libby, he would call Terrence and explain things.
Deciding that now was as good a time as any, he reached over and picked up the phone.
KIM GLANCED AROUND when she walked into Club Hurricane. Terrence was expecting her. Sherri’s birthday party was coming up and he’d enlisted her help to make it special. The huge celebration would be held here at the club and Terrence had put her in charge of decorations.
“Hello, Ms. Cannon.” Debbie, one of the club’s hostesses, greeted her with a friendly smile on her face.
“Hi, Debbie. Is Terrence in? I believe he’s expecting me, although I never told him what time I could make it. Working E.R. makes that impossible.”
“Yes, I understand, and he said to send you right on up to his office whenever you arrived.”
“Thanks.” Kim headed into an elevator and leaned against the back panel. She checked her watch and saw it was a little past three in the afternoon. Since she had come straight from work she still wearing her nurse’s scrubs.
She allowed her thoughts to drift to a subject she’d been trying to avoid thinking about and failing miserably. Duan. It had been three weeks since she’d seen him, three weeks since he had held her in his arms and kissed her with a passion that only he could deliver. And there was not a single day that went by that she didn’t think of him and remember the time they’d spent together.
She had talked to him a few times when he’d called to see how she was