Page 66 of Intimately Faithful

At least someone loved her.

FIFTEEN

“They’re called bad ideas for a reason.” – Aoife

“We should spend all his money is what we should do,A stóirín.Isn’t that right?”

Aoife murmured to the baby strapped to her chest as she idled around the grocery store tossing another tube of Pringles into the cart. “We’ll bankrupt him with these delicious Reese’s thingies that I don’t even like but we’re buying just because. So take that high and mighty pastor.” She went on muttering to herself as more junk food piled into the cart she was pushing around the store just down the street from Danny’s house.

She’d gone against everything he’d said and left the house an hour ago.

So what, she huffed with her spine straight and her temper still as flame hot as her hair. Ever since she heard him leave while she hid upstairs. The cloth-headed man didn’t even have the decency to come up and beg on his hands and knees for forgiveness for the unthinkable things. So as the minutes went by, Aoife’s notorious temper flared, so it did.

She riled herself into a giant head of steam.

There was nothing like a good Irish temper.

Some would say she was just like her mother in that respect and that only worsened Aoife’s mood.

“I bet you’d want all the chocolate, wouldn’t you?” The baby was sleeping so she didn’t answer. And she couldn’t talk…so. Aoife chose a big bar of almond chocolate and then decided to look in the clothes section. He’d given her the card to pay for takeout delivers and she was sure he didn’t intend for her to take a trip to the grocery store in full view of everyone.

No one took any notice of Aoife.

As it went, no one cared about the red-haired woman with a baby in tow shopping for junk food and though she was still spitting mad at Danny, it was great to be outside again.

She needed her sensibilities back and chocolate would help.

For days she’d been caught up in winning Danny back.

Falling in love with him all over again.

Getting to know the man he was now, and all that time she’d left herself wide open to being hurt by careless words.

You haven’t told him the whole truth.

Nothing hurt worse than Danny’s lack of trust.

She had no reason to be hurt other thanshe was.

Time and trust and yadda, yadda, yadda, she was a terribly impatient woman, ask anyone.

Sex was sex, she supposed.

It didn’t come with a side plate of overflowing confidence and possibly the only decent advice she was given from her father, was that nothing worth it came easy.

He was talking about crime, but it could apply to love too.

She needed diligence and to give him time.

And to tell him the full truth.

But first; chocolate. A lot of chocolate.

“Let’s go home,A stóirín.” She said to the still sleeping baby with one bag of goodies in one hand as she held her coat together with the other. It was new and oversized and just right to shield Misha from the blowing breeze outside the shop. “Home. That sounds nice,” she smiled to herself and because she was in her head thinking of how it would feel to go home to Danny every day, she nearly collided with a block of steel. “My apologies,” she said to the huge man, holding the door open for him as part of her apology.

Only the steel bolder didn’t move.

In fact he crowded closer and the fine hairs on the back of Aoife’s neck rose just as her eyes did, to see a menacing face staring down at her with neither a smile nor a welcome on those Russian features.

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