“You could call me.”
“W-what?” With her eyes and nose running, she stared at the edge of her wool scarf, desperation growing.
“You could call me. At four in the morning.” The phone line hummed between them. “I’m single, too, remember, kid?”
“You probably snore and wouldn’t hear the phone ring,” Belle muttered, pouncing on an ancient tissue tucked down in her coat pocket. With her tears quickly dried and voice steadied, she begrudgingly offered an apology. “I’m sorry to sound like a shrew. I’m absolutely—”
“Exhausted. I know, babe, and I’m sorry to pressure you after a week like this.” The sympathy sounded genuine. Patrick was her mentor, after all, her confidant.
There had never been anything more between them. She was certain there wouldn’t be now.
“Look, I’ll get back to you,” she promised vaguely, then hung up the phone before she realized she didn’t have his number. Should I have asked for it?
She couldn’t deny his offer was tempting. Oldies music, the midday show, small town, smaller egos, no more competition for ratings, the thrill of a brand-new station, the chance to pursue theater.
The chance to work with Patrick again.
“Oh, Lord …” She sighed into the smoky air around her. “I don’t know whether to sing a chorus of ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’ or ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.’ ”
“Simply put, Redeeming Love is the most powerful work of fiction you will ever read. It is a masterpiece that moves beyond allegory to touch the reader at the deepest level where faith is born. You cannot read this book and not be changed.”
—LIZ CURTIS HIGGS,
bestselling author of Thorn in My Heart
REDEEMING LOVE
by bestselling author FRANCINE RIVERS
California’s gold country, 1850. Sold into prostitution as a child, Angel survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her. Then she meets Michael Hosea, who obeys God’s call to marry Angel and love her unconditionally. Slowly, he defies Angel’s bitterness until, despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does … the One who will never let her go.
ISBN 1-59052-513-2
Bookends Page 38
