Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) by Hallee Bridgeman

and grabbed his napkin wrapped silverware as the waitress approached with a platter mounded with meat, squash, and carrots. “Sure. When?”
    Maxine eyed the wilted iceberg lettuce and dried out carrots on her plate and resignedly reached for the oil and vinegar containers that the waitress set next to her plate. “Monday morning at six sound good?”
    A look of surprise crossed Barry’s face about two seconds after he agreed to meet her. Maxine was curious about the little flutter of excitement that began in the pit of her stomach at the confirmation of the – her mind purposefully skipped over the word date and replaced it with appointment.
     

CHAPTER 5

    BARRY found himself sitting in his Jeep at five-fifteen on Newbury Street outside a designer gym four buildings down from Maxine’s apartment Monday morning. Part of him wondered why. Another part knew exactly why.
    He got out of his Jeep and snugged his ski cap down over his ears. The December air took his breath away. He reached into the back seat and grabbed a pair of wool gloves. Checking his watch to confirm his starting time, he set out in a slow jog. He would run four or five miles and arrive back in time to meet Maxine at six.
    He kept his pace careful, not wanting to slip on any unseen ice. Another couple of weeks and he would be stuck running on a treadmill for the rest of the winter. He didn’t enjoy that as much. It just didn’t feel like a good run under the bright fluorescent lights while watching the morning news.
    As he passed a restaurant, he saw the lights flicker on, flooding the sidewalk with their glow. The day was starting. He sighed inwardly. Today would prove to be a very tiresome day. After Maxine dropped him at a car rental place on Thursday, he rented a car and drove to the Cape, where he had hidden out in a no-tell-motel for three days. He’d left his cell and laptop in his Jeep at the church. No one could reach him and he didn’t feel obligated to contact anyone. He wondered, briefly, how Maxine handled the family after acting as his accomplice in the getaway.
    What he hoped would happen likely would not. It seemed hugely unlikely that everyone would ignore the whole thing and get on with their lives. He knew Tony too well. He knew his mother, too. And his sisters. No. No one would ignore anything.
    After three days of solitude, Barry still didn’t understand his motivations on Thursday. Why in the world had he done that? Maybe he couldn’t bear the thought of one more pretense, one more lie, in a marriage that had been built on nothing but pretenses and lies.
    It felt good, whatever the reason. Internally, the part of him that knew the sinfulness of his emotions recoiled from this newer, more dominant part of himself. His dark persona had put his wife away as soon as he realized that their marriage could never be saved. This alter ego had discovered that Jacqueline’s lover had spent the past few months destroying his own wife with a divorce while wooing back the pregnant Mrs. Anderson.
    Barry had changed so radically that just five short days after his wife broke her neck and died while skiing next to the father of her unborn child, he couldn’t wait to see what kind of outfit Maxine wore to workout with him this morning. She always dressed perfectly to the nine’s for any occasion, which told him he was in for a treat.
    He knew that most people would think his thoughts weren’t appropriate. As a rule, Barry had never cared overly much what most people thought, and this stood as no exception to the rule. He wondered, though, if Maxine would find his attraction improper. That thought gave him pause. He almost didn’t recognize himself lately. Angry dark thoughts occupied his mind, and he found himself occasionally fighting feelings of despair. He was learning how to shut it out, to feel nothing, to function with total apathy.
    Barry worked his way through the beautiful downtown area as the restaurants and flower shops turned