Page 13 of Starting Our Chance

Can working with her be more than getting back on my feet?

Flicking my eyes to the table behind me, I saw that she had sat down next to Duke. He must have felt my gaze, because he turned that perpetual scowl to me. Dropping my eyes back to my coffee, I chewed on my lip. His face really was a mess.

Yeah, if he of all people could rise from the ashes and pull his life together, I too could thrive here. The others had come from wealthy families. They had already fertilized the soil to grow things in. But Duke and I, we had had to literally carve ourselves out a field from the forests just like our ancestors had when they first came to farm these lands.

The trouble up north wouldn’t follow me here. Not if I kept my nose to the ground and kept it clean. Because I admitted to myself that I wanted to stay. Permanently. A shudder rippled through my body as I admitted my heart’s desire. Yet, I felt a shit-eating grin plastered on my face at the fact that this could be more than a six month temporary situation. I just have to make it stick.

But what does this mean for my personal life?Well, first I needed to talk to Duke, because I was sick of him ignoring me. He could scowl at everyone else and stay broody in the shadows, but not at me. I needed to penetrate the darkness and get at the man who I knew was hiding there.

I reaffirmed the decision that these people needed to see I had changed. Because if I could do that, what else couldn’t I do? And if I can prove it to these locals, I can finally convince my old boss that I hadn’t been involved in the theft, either!

Taking a sip of the fast cooling coffee, I snorted in derision. If the police reports and alibies couldn’t convince the hardened CEO of my previous employ that I wasn’t in on the theft, then I didn’t see how I was supposed to change his mind. The determination to try, however, nestled in my mind for future plan making.

Lifting my eyes to the old rugged cross, I breathed a sigh of relief. I could do this—I would stay.

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