Saving All My Lovin'. Donna Hill

his mouth. He was silent for a long time and Ann Marie began to grow uncomfortable. The center of his brow was a series of tight lines. Maybe it was too much too soon, she thought in retrospect.

      “I’d have to do some investigating but I can certainly find out for you,” he said finally. He looked across the table at her. “I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to tell me all that. I appreciate your honesty.”

      “Are you ready to run?”

      He grinned. “Tough battle is my middle name. I love a challenge. And you are certainly that, if nothing else.”

      She exhaled a soft sigh of relief. “So you think you can help me?”

      “I can try, but only if you make me a promise.”

      “What kind of promise?”

      “That this won’t be the last time I see you and, when I do, it won’t be business related.”

      Ann Marie bit back a grin. “I think I can help you with that.”

      He raised his half-empty glass of iced tea. “To more…”

      She raised hers as well as her brows. “To more what?” she asked softly, leaning forward.

      “To more of getting to know each other.”

      She touched her glass to his. “To more,” she said.

      When Ann Marie arrived at the spa the following afternoon it was with a new attitude. She’d had a wonderful time with Sterling. He was fun, intelligent, handsome and an absolute gentleman. What endeared him the most to her was that he was not turned off by her situation. To her that said a lot about the kind of man that he was. And maybe she was finally growing up, too. It was the first time in years that she’d actually been totally honest with a man about her past. Hopefully, it was the start of something new.

      “Hey everybody,” she greeted as she sauntered in, her hundred-watt smile in place.

      Barbara looked over Ann Marie’s shoulder. “Anybody see a weepy, fresh-mouth woman about five feet two inches tall?”

      Ann Marie gave her a playful shove on the shoulder. “Oh stop. It wasn’t that bad.”

      “Oh yes it was,” Stephanie said. “Scared me.” She grinned.

      “Feeling better I see,” Elizabeth said, walking up to join the impromptu gathering. “A handsome man wouldn’t have anything to do with it would it?” She winked.

      “Maybe,” Ann Marie said, playing coy.

      Barbara sat down on the stool by the check-in counter. “Look, Ann, I’m really glad you’re feeling better. But I’m going to say this in front of everyone so that there is no misunderstanding.” She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “We need to be really careful about taking up with clients.” She looked Ann Marie in the eye. “We don’t want this place to get the wrong reputation.”

      Ann Marie cocked her hip to the side and the words flew out of her mouth so hard and fast it was difficult to understand anything other than she was pissed off. “What you saying? You t’ink me messing ‘round wit the clients? That me pickin’ dem up like some street walker?”

      Barbara held up her palm. “Ann,” she said in a tone one uses with an excitable child. “That’s not what I’m saying.”

      “Well what are ya saying then?”

      “Be careful and mindful that’s all.”

      “Listen hon,” Elizabeth said, “We’re happy if you’re happy.” She turned her gaze on Barbara. “You didn’t meet him here anyway. Not exactly. So it’s not the same thing.”

      Ann Marie huffed and folded her arms.

      “That’s all I’m saying,” Barbara added. She stepped up to Ann Marie and put her arm around her tense shoulders. “I hear he’s a lawyer.”

      Ann Marie looked up at her. “How did you know that?”

      “We looked him up?” Elizabeth beamed.

      “Maybe he could help you with your Terrance problem,” Stephanie said.

      “You all have this figured out, huh?”

      “We thought it would be a good idea. I mean you can always ask him hypothetically, ’cause we know how you are about your personal life,” Barbara said.

      “Well for your information, me did tell him. Told him everything.”

      “You did?” they echoed in disbelief. First the tears and then true confessions. What next?

      Ann Marie nodded.

      Barbara had to sit down. “Well, what did he say?”

      “Him say he loves a challenge. And…he wants to see me again.” Her smile lit up the room.

      “Truth is good for the soul,” Elizabeth said preaching to the choir.

      Ann Marie took a seat next to Barbara. “It was scary, you know.” She looked from one face to the next. “It’s easy to keep folks at a distance, not let them get too close.” She lowered her gaze and focused on her Jimmy Choos. “Been that way all my life.” She drew in a breath then looked up. “But something hit me last night. I realized that all the secrets, all the keeping folks at bay had hurt me more than helped. And me tired of hurting all the time,” she added in a whisper.

      “It’s gonna be fine, girl,” Stephanie said. “Just wait and see.”

      “Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed. “Just wait and see.”

      Barbara uh-huhed her response but silently wondered just how fine it would all turn out.