Better Than Chocolate by Pat Amsden Read Free Book Online Page A

with I don’t have the phone number. And,” he said hastily, as the girl began to write it down. “I think it would be better if I talked to her in person.”
          She looked at him for a moment. “You had a fight.”
          “A misunderstanding,” he said.
          She smiled at him. “It’s OK. You can follow me out when I leave at 9:00.”
          “They don’t know I’m coming.”
          “It’ll be all right,” she said easily. “I know Bente.”
          And so less than an hour later he was following her down a small, winding, gravel road that seemed to be cut out of the rainforest with small clearings showing periodically along the way, lights twinkling in the night air.
    He was not at all sure it was a good idea. In fact he had a better than average idea that it was a mistake. A huge mistake. Unfortunately he couldn’t come up with a better one and at least this way he’d be able to find the damned place.

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
          She sat at the table drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee and watching as Bente tidied up the kitchen and helped her oldest with homework, before shooing her off to bed. There was an ease here, a feeling closeness and intimacy that Elena longed for, would have died for.
          Only a couple of years older than her, Bente had married Jim after her first year of university. Together she and her husband had built a life together. After graduation they’d decided to move up here. Bente had started a small business selling bird houses while her husband taught at the local school. It was the bird houses Elena was interested in. If you could call them that.
    They were works of art made out of drift wood that seemed to blend into the forest, organic in design, so that they looked fit for the fairies she also made.
          Right now Bente was more interested in catching up on old friends. She brought a cup of coffee over to the table along with a plate of cookies. “So tell…?”
          “What?” Elena asked innocently.
          “Who’s Brad?”
          She blinked. “I didn’t think I said anything about Brad.”
          “Didn’t have to. That was Shelley at the lodge. He’s there asking about you.”
          “What?” Shocked, Elena felt her coffee go down the wrong way causing her to splutter and cough.
          “Interesting,” Bente said.
          “He’s just a friend.”
          “OK.”
          “I’ve been consulting with him,” Elena said, regaining a measure of composure.
          “Is that what they call it now,” Bente said.
          “It’s not like that,” Elena said desperately.
          “Good. Then it won’t bother you that I’ve invited him here.”
          “What? Now!” This was not happening. “He’ll be lucky to find the place in the dark.”
          “Maybe. But I think he’s following Shelley out. That’s probably him now.
          She watched as two cars turned off and made their way down the driveway. She was only too aware of her heart beating double time in her chest. It might not be him she thought desperately. It could be anyone. But as Jim appeared with a freshly washed baby, toddler and Star, now finished her homework and ready for bed, she was painfully aware she couldn’t be that lucky.
          “Good night.”
          “Good night,” she said. “You know I used to be a good story teller…”
          “Another time,” Bente said firmly. “Make yourself at home. I’ll read Good Night Moon and be back out in ten minutes.”
          “Aww. Mommm.”
          “No Aw Mom’s,” Bente said firmly tucking the baby into her arms and disappearing with Meghan and Star in tow.
          She was left to answer the door. Some friend Bente was, she thought resentfully. She could just not answer. Maybe he’d go away. But the ringing continued. Resigned, she made her way to the