Divine by Cait Jarrod Page B

she paused to
gather her thoughts. “What if all I’m supposed to have is nice? Cal
is a good guy, a nice person. I have to wonder if I’m blowing my
chance for a complacent life for something which may never happen.”
Even as the words came out, a feeling crept over her telling her
she was wrong.
    “Let me ask you something. Will the woman who
had to be at the top of her class, the woman who chose one of the
hardest professions in medicine, be okay with complacent? Will you
be content with okay sex and never feel the big bang of love?”
Cadence released her shoulders, dropped to the couch, and grabbed
her coffee. “I sure as hell wouldn’t be.”
    No, but Cadence didn’t rely on facts, and the
facts were she hadn’t heard from Matt. “Which is your decision.
Matt and I haven’t agreed to wait for one another. We never said
we’d be together. We made no promises.”
    “Didn’t you, though? Didn’t he say next time,
there would be no stopping?”
    “Meaningless words from a man going into the
military,” she said offhandedly.
    “Was it?” Cadence, the voice of honesty,
plucked the last bit of her doubt.
    Nearly choking on the emotion clogging her
throat, she rubbed a hand against the ache. “Cadence, he hasn’t
contacted me in a year! If he was interested, he would have
called.”
    “Not necessarily. You’re giving up too quick.
Losing faith, hope. This is not the person I know.”
    Oh, God, did she give up too soon? Matt’s
words had been so earnest. Was the distance over the ocean to blame
for them not talking to one another? Still, it didn’t make sense.
For the first three years, they communicated every week, then poof,
he stopped. She’d checked the website every day for fallen men. His
name wasn’t there, so why hadn’t she heard from him? Still, she
shouldn’t settle. Shouldn’t allow her parents to push her into
something she didn’t want. She managed to get out from under their
grasp some, but she had a ways to go. “You’re right.”
    “And the ‘aha moment’ arrived!” Cadence
stood. “Finally! I worked up a sweat. I need a shower.”

    Trina sat at a table on the outdoor patio of
Molly’s café, tapping her foot against the brick floor and
breathing in the aroma of hamburgers. She ran her hands over her
lap, smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress for the fifth
time.
    Right thing or not, ending a relationship was
nerve-wracking.
    The bright January day, mixed with her
disobedient thoughts, landed her with a headache.
    A few tables filled a quarter of the patio
with parties of two. She’d chosen the most isolated table in the
corner, the least conspicuous.
    “Hi!” said Tiffany, a twenty-something
server. Her white button-down shirt with brown spots and the faded
black pants had seen better days.
    The last time she and Cal visited the café,
Tiffany had flirted with him.
    The server glimpsed the empty chair in front
of the other place setting. “May I get you something while you—”
she stumbled as her attention landed on Trina’s hand, “wait for
your guest?”
    Hell! The ring did a walk-about on her
finger and now instead of the diamond facing her palm, hiding, it
flashed everyone. If she only had the damn box, she wouldn’t have
put it on so not to worry about losing it. She slid her thumb over
the stone and swung it back toward her palm. “Yes. A Cosmo,
please.”
    “Sure thing.” The server left as Trina’s cell
rang.
    On more than one occasion when she arranged
to meet Cal, he canceled because of an emergency at the hospital.
Hopefully, he wasn’t calling to postpone. Getting the courage to
return his ring tried her resolve. It wasn’t that she couldn’t. She
didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
    Relieve her brother’s picture flashed on the
screen, she pushed the talk button. “Hi, Bradley!”
    “H-e-ey,” he drew out the word low and rough,
the timbre he used when saying something she wouldn’t want to
hear.
    She clasped her elbow to the