A Flower for Angela by Sandra Leesmith Read Free Book Online Page A

news concerned her job. He wanted to reassure her, but instead, he turned away to stare at his clenched fist. "There's been an outbreak of violence at Copperville. The miners are on strike again. Since Copperville’s a couple hundred miles south of here, I doubt I'll be back in time to come in as planned on Monday."
    "You won't be in danger, will you?"
    Her concern touched him.
    "I won't do anything foolish." He gave her the only promise he could. They sent him on this kind of assignment often. He was told it was because he was fearless, and perhaps they thought he was reckless, too. But he always returned with a dynamite story.
    "When will you be back?" she asked.
    "Depends. I'll get in touch when I’m home again." He turned to face her and willed her to see his sincerity. "We're going to videotape your class, I promise."
    With that, he stood and paused, wanting to succumb to the temptation that had tortured him since his arrival. He could almost feel the brush of his lips across her parted mouth. The imagined sweet taste of her sent shivers through him. He wanted more—much more. Reluctantly, he left the courtyard. He had to leave now or not at all.
     
    "WHAT'RE YOU SO UPSET about?" Maria startled Angela with her question.
    Angela glanced over at her friend who sat behind the wheel of her Mustang convertible as they drove east on McDowell Avenue. Maria had offered to take Angela home, and today Angela had let her. Tired and preoccupied with thoughts of Ricardo, she'd been silent most of the way across town.
    When Angela didn't answer, Maria pressed, "It won't do any good to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Out with it."
    Maria wouldn't leave her alone until she was satisfied she’d gotten the truth, so Angela told her about Ricardo's visit, trying not to reveal her feelings for the reporter. Nevertheless, Maria zeroed right in on the source of the problem.
    "You're attracted to him. So? What's wrong with that?"
    "Everything," Angela groaned. "I refuse to be interested in any man connected with my job."
    "Why be so stubborn on that point?" Maria stopped at a red light and glared at her friend. "Mike Garrett has been after you to go out with him for months, and you won't give him the time of day."
    "That's not true." Angela stiffened. It had required skill and tact to fend off Mike's advances without hurting his feelings. "Since Steve, I refuse to date men I work with."
    "Steve?" Maria's ebony brows rose.
    A sinking feeling settled over Angela. She knew she had to explain who Steve was and what had happened in Yuma. When she spoke, there was bitterness in her voice. "As you know my first teaching job ended in disaster when I fell in love with my principal."
    "And he fired you for that?"
    Steve had bowled Angela over. She probably would have married him in her innocence if one of her colleagues hadn't been so jealous.
    "A teacher accused me of sleeping with him to get special privileges." Angela shuddered, remembering the pain of that awful time.
    "That's ridiculous! Anyone who knows you wouldn't believe that."
    "But it was true."
    "What?"
    To this day, the confrontation with Steve remained vividly clear in her memory. Disgust and shame had swamped her then — and now.
    "I wasn't aware of it, but Steve did give me preferential treatment because of our relationship." She had been so naive not to notice she had the newest equipment, the best classroom.
    "So what did you do?" Maria slowed down as they approached Angela's apartment.
    "I left as soon as the year was over."
    "It should have been him that left!" Maria growled in defense of her friend.
    "It was hard to come home with such a botched career and love life," Angela admitted. Thank goodness her family had provided the support she had needed to get her back on her feet. "So, you see why I can't allow myself to get involved with Ricardo."
    "Well, I understand, but you should know," Maria advised her, "that I heard Cathy and Lupe talking in the