Scraps of Love by Rhonda Gibson Page B

would
even ask.” She marched back into the bakery kitchen.
         He followed. The smell of warm
cinnamon rolls welcomed him. “Why wouldn’t I ask you out?” Adam watched her
grab an apron and tie it around her slender waist.
         Colleen pulled the buns from
the oven and slammed the pan on top of the stove. She turned and glared at him.
“For starters, there’s Cassie Masters.”
         She was jealous! So Colleen
did have feelings for him.
         He smiled. Now that Richard
was coming home to collect his wife, Adam could tell Colleen the truth about
his and Cassie’s relationship.
         But first he’d tease her a
little. “What does she have to do with me taking you out>: He wiggled his
eyebrows and leaned over the bar that separated them.
         She met him at the counter.
Her words came out slow and chopped. “Let’s see…” She drummed her fingernails,
then continued. “She might not want the father of her baby out dating other
women.” Colleen pushed herself away from him.
         Adam tried to absorb her
words. They echoed in his ears. Why would Colleen think such a think? He and
Cassie had never even held hands.
         Colleen continued. “How could
you do such a think? I thought you were a man of God. I thought you were better
than everyone else. I thought…” The rest of her sentence hung in the air.
         Adam watched the anger seep
from her eyes. Tears filled them-and loathing. He had questions of his own. How
could she think such a thing of him? Why hadn’t she asked him about it instead
of questioning him like a common criminal?
         “I know what you thought and
what you’re thinking now.” He swallowed as sorrow threatened to choke him.
         The phone rang. He watched as
Colleen turned to answer it. He thought he was in love with her before, but now
he knew it. This kind of pain could only be inflicted by those you love.   
         But how could he love a woman
who didn’t believe in him? A woman who would judge him before hearing all the
details?
         He couldn’t.
         His gaze moved to the table
where he’d spent many evenings falling in love. The scrapbook projects were
almost complete.  After tonight, he wouldn’t be coming back to the warmth of
Colleen’s home. He had to put some distance between them. She’s not the
woman I thought she was, he decided.
         Colleen covered the mouthpiece
to the phone and whispered, “Adam, this call is going to take awhile. It’s my
dad from Africa. Can we talk about this some other time?”
         He studied her face. She was
serious. “Sure, but I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything to Jenny
about this.”
         “I won’t,” She mouthed, then
returned to her phone call.
         “I’m sorry…”
         Just like that, Colleen
dismissed me , Adam thought bitterly as he let himself out. His feet carried
him to the little cemetery on the hill. It was the only place in town where he
felt it would be safe for him to voice his hurts. He stopped beside the graves
of his parents, Mary and Robert Walker.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 10
     
         Fluffy white snowflakes
drifted to the cold ground. How fitting that the first snow came on such a sad
day in her life, Colleen observed. All her dreams and hopes of finding love lay
buried like the ground beneath the glistening white covering. She shivered.
Adam hadn’t even bothered to deny his actions.
         “Colleen, what do you think of
this?” Jenny asked.
         She turned back to the teenager
and looked at the page Jenny had been working on for the past hour. Adam’s
smiling face stared up at them from the page. It was his senior picture with
both his parents. “It looks good.”
         “I’m going to put the words,
‘We’re very proud of you’ at the top. Do you think he’ll like that?” Jenny
didn’t look up as she wrote the date