Cadbury Creme Murder (7 page)

She
paused a moment, considering this.  “
Would
you have called me, if your
chief hadn’t told you not to?”

“Heather,
I would have been out there on the scene so I could talk to you in person.  So
I could make sure for myself that you were okay.”

“I
thought you weren’t ready for a relationship with me,” she said.

“I
wasn’t,” he said.  “There were some things I needed to figure out first.  I
needed to be okay with the idea of loving another woman.”

Love? 
Did he say ‘love’?

“In
the few days between the time I left your house the last time and the time of
the incident at Verna’s house, I did a lot of thinking,” he continued.  “I
realized that loving another woman doesn’t take anything away from the love Liz
and I shared, or from her memory.  I realized I can still remember her and miss
her, and that loving another woman doesn’t take anything away from that.”

“So…what
are you saying?” she asked, as the butterflies in her chest did hopeful
flutters.

Ryan
held her gaze.  “I’m saying that I hope you’ll forgive me for hurting you.  I’m
asking if you would be willing to give me another chance.  To give
us
another chance.  I don’t know where things will go from here, but I’d like to
find out.  I’d like to spend more time with you and get to know you even
better.”

He
slid closer to her on the bench, and when she didn’t protest, he offered her a
tentative smile.  “What do you think?” he asked simply.

“I
think,” she said, smiling, “that I’d like the same thing.”

A letter from the Author

To each and every one of my Amazing readers:
I hope you
enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Let me know what you
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Stay Curious,

Susan Gillard