and support from sistahs who’d had similar circumstances in their pasts. However, it hadn’t been until their dinner a few weeks ago that she had discovered what those circumstances had been and why her friends, like her, had been standoffish when it came to a brother. All three had had bad experiences with men, but instead of dwelling and wallowing in self-pity, they had found the inner strength and peace to put it behind them and move on. They enjoyed the growth of realizing that there was more to being a woman than getting wrapped up in a man.
She glanced over to where her staff members, Jennifer Claymore and Eileen Brogan, were standing, erecting a huge floor display of the latest romance novels that had arrived that week. She knew the two were die-hard romantics who usually tried to talk any customer who claimed not to read romance novels into trying one. They had even talked her into reading one, and she had to admit she’d rather enjoyed it, although while reading she kept thinking it was pure fantasy and that real life was totally different. But still, it had been a wonderful way to pass a few hours, to rest her mind and escape. She figured there was nothing wrong with wanting to believe that there was some handsome, drop-dead gorgeous man out there who could sweep a woman off her feet and who actually treated a woman like a queen.
“Don’t forget I’m leaving early tonight,” she called out to Jennifer and Eileen.
Eileen raised a brow. “Got a hot date?”
Amber smiled. At sixty-four the woman liked getting the scoop on Amber’s love life—or lack of it. At first it had irked her but now she simply ignored it. She knew Eileen meant well and managed to take both Eileen’s and Jennifer’s lectures to heart. They lived by the theory that when you were young you were supposed to enjoy life to the fullest, married or unmarried—but preferably married. It wasn’t until their age that you sat back and savored the memories or created some new ones.
Jennifer, at sixty, was a widow but had a constant companion by the name of Moses Lakestone and Eileen had been married for over forty years. Both women embraced life and looked upon Amber the same way they would their granddaughters.
But Amber felt that she knew more than anyone else what was best for her. Neither woman had been married to Gary Stuart, so they would never understand her reluctance to get involved with another man. Establishing a relationship took hard work and she didn’t have the time or the desire to do that.
“Sorry to disappoint you but there’s no date. My Savvy Sistahs meeting is tonight and later Carla, Brandy, and I are going to dinner and possibly take in a movie.”
“No men?”
Amber couldn’t stop the smile that began to play around her mouth. “No, there won’t be any men. The three of us have sworn off the opposite sex.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re all turning gay does it?” Eileen asked with concern etched on her face.
Amber couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, it means we’ve all been through hell with the male species and don’t need or want any more of the aggravation.”
“All men aren’t jerks, Amber. My Henry is wonderful,” Eileen said with a firm conviction in her voice.
“Then consider yourself blessed. And I don’t mean to sound like I’m grouping all men into the same category as my ex-husband, but at the moment I have a lot going on in my life and don’t have the time to devote to a relationship, or at least to making one work.”
“You would think differently if the right man came along,” Jennifer said with a twinkle in her eye.
Amber shrugged as she grabbed her purse from behind the counter. Maybe Carla and Brandy would feel that way but she wouldn’t. By staying away from men she was trying to prove a point to herself: that she was not the sex-crazed, hot-between-the-legs person Gary had accused her of being. She had been celibate for over two years and was damn proud of it.
She glanced over to where her staff members, Jennifer Claymore and Eileen Brogan, were standing, erecting a huge floor display of the latest romance novels that had arrived that week. She knew the two were die-hard romantics who usually tried to talk any customer who claimed not to read romance novels into trying one. They had even talked her into reading one, and she had to admit she’d rather enjoyed it, although while reading she kept thinking it was pure fantasy and that real life was totally different. But still, it had been a wonderful way to pass a few hours, to rest her mind and escape. She figured there was nothing wrong with wanting to believe that there was some handsome, drop-dead gorgeous man out there who could sweep a woman off her feet and who actually treated a woman like a queen.
“Don’t forget I’m leaving early tonight,” she called out to Jennifer and Eileen.
Eileen raised a brow. “Got a hot date?”
Amber smiled. At sixty-four the woman liked getting the scoop on Amber’s love life—or lack of it. At first it had irked her but now she simply ignored it. She knew Eileen meant well and managed to take both Eileen’s and Jennifer’s lectures to heart. They lived by the theory that when you were young you were supposed to enjoy life to the fullest, married or unmarried—but preferably married. It wasn’t until their age that you sat back and savored the memories or created some new ones.
Jennifer, at sixty, was a widow but had a constant companion by the name of Moses Lakestone and Eileen had been married for over forty years. Both women embraced life and looked upon Amber the same way they would their granddaughters.
But Amber felt that she knew more than anyone else what was best for her. Neither woman had been married to Gary Stuart, so they would never understand her reluctance to get involved with another man. Establishing a relationship took hard work and she didn’t have the time or the desire to do that.
“Sorry to disappoint you but there’s no date. My Savvy Sistahs meeting is tonight and later Carla, Brandy, and I are going to dinner and possibly take in a movie.”
“No men?”
Amber couldn’t stop the smile that began to play around her mouth. “No, there won’t be any men. The three of us have sworn off the opposite sex.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re all turning gay does it?” Eileen asked with concern etched on her face.
Amber couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, it means we’ve all been through hell with the male species and don’t need or want any more of the aggravation.”
“All men aren’t jerks, Amber. My Henry is wonderful,” Eileen said with a firm conviction in her voice.
“Then consider yourself blessed. And I don’t mean to sound like I’m grouping all men into the same category as my ex-husband, but at the moment I have a lot going on in my life and don’t have the time to devote to a relationship, or at least to making one work.”
“You would think differently if the right man came along,” Jennifer said with a twinkle in her eye.
Amber shrugged as she grabbed her purse from behind the counter. Maybe Carla and Brandy would feel that way but she wouldn’t. By staying away from men she was trying to prove a point to herself: that she was not the sex-crazed, hot-between-the-legs person Gary had accused her of being. She had been celibate for over two years and was damn proud of it.
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