Chapter Nine (Angela's POV)
Luke and I really had a wonderful time on our date. All I could think about while trying to sleep that night was how well we connected, yet we had just met that day. It just made me so happy that I could connect so well with someone. I barely got a wink of sleep that night, thinking over all that had happened in the course of one day. Of course I knew that it was way too early to assume anything…
After I got a shower and got dressed, I headed to the front room. Bo, Luke, and Dale were already in there, and it appeared they had been up a while. I glanced up to the wooden clock on the wall which read 8:00. I must've gotten up around seven, which appeared to be late for them. They all looked a bit surprised when they saw me.
"Rise and shine, sleepy head!" Dale laughed.
My cheeks got hot, but I laughed along with the three. Luke spoke up, "Dad, Bo, and I are gonna go work on your house today. We'll be home around five,"
"Okay. I'll go and entertain myself until then," I smiled.
So we all said goodbye and left the wooden cabin. I didn't know what I was going to entertain myself with, but I figured I'd head to the Inn to get some breakfast. I had smelled the food that had been cooked in Dale's kitchen. It smelled like a culinary disaster. Chase definitely had the three beat in the way of cooking.
I headed toward the Maple Lake District, looking over all the places Luke had brought me to. And then there was the spot we had talked to Chase. I looked closely to see that Chase was outside of his house. Today wasn't Sunday, though… The Inn opened at nine. Why wasn't Chase at work? Wondering, I directed my path to Chase.
He saw me as I headed toward him, "Hi, Angela…"
"Hi, Chase. Is today your day off?" I asked.
"I guess you could say that. I normally don't get a day off, but Miss Yolanda decided to give me one… Where's Luke? I thought you two were an item…?" he strayed off the subject to inquire about me.
I could feel my eyebrows arch automatically without delay in confusion of the question, "He's working on my house… and no. We went out on a simple date is all. How about you and Maya?" I fired a question as personal as the one he had just asked.
"What're you talking about? Maya and me?" he pointed at himself, laughing sarcastically, "Yeah, right… The girl can't hold a serious conversation for five seconds. She's too immature for me."
For some reason, a wave of relief went through me. I couldn't explain it. It was almost like we were in junior high, talking in the hallway. And me, feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders all because some boy wasn't dating another girl. It made me feel much younger than eighteen, for sure. It was positively odd.
"Oh, I thought… Never mind…" I dismissed the topic, "So how well do you know Luke?"
His face grew tense, "Um… Not really well. He's an okay guy, I guess."
Something told me he and Luke didn't get along. It was a toss-up between the somewhat awkward conversation the three of us had the previous day and what Chase just said. But it wasn't any of my business to go meddling with affairs.
"Angela…" he spoke up suddenly, "I've got to tell you something… I know I've been kind of cold to you ever since you got here… but I… Well, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted so rude."
I was kind of shocked, but still quite pleased to hear the apology from his mouth, "That's what Kathy told me. I understand. And I forgive you."
His mouth formed into a grin, "Thank you. And what all has Kathy told you?"
"Well, she's told me about the people here. That includes you. She's told me about what they're like. And what they'll act like when they really feel another way. But really, I can't go into details. That would be betraying her confidence," I answered.
He sighed and looked a bit anxious, "Oh… darn those little pacts that girls have where they can't tell anything their friend tells them…"
I chuckled at the sarcasm, "I can tell you like sarcasm."
He answered without hesitation, "It keeps me sane. Most of the day I'm working with two girls that don't get along with each other that well and are constantly bickering. Sarcasm is a way for me to release anger without really hurting anybody, if worded correctly."
"Ah, I see. The only thing that was keeping me sane back home was knowing I could go out on my own when I turned eighteen. I was never good enough, never 'girly' enough… It got to me… My mother would always find something to complain about…" I said, looking around at the yellow flowers that were placed in no specific order among the green blades of grass.
He looked off for a moment, "I know what you mean…" He then paused and said, "How about I cook some breakfast for the two of us? Maya's taken over as cook at the Inn until tomorrow, as Yolanda had to go out of town for some spices and things for the kitchen…"
I smiled at the generous offer, "Of course. How could I refuse?"
He laughed a bit, and smiled as we both turned to find our eyes had met. And had locked on to the others. We stood there, staring for a moment until Chase coughed a bit under his breath and I pretended to yawn. We laughed a bit, trying to ignore the awkward moment, but the efforts were quite unsuccessful. However, we both put on a slight smile as we headed into the nice little house that Chase called 'home' to have breakfast.
