Part 30 (1/2)

When the counseling session was over, before they went home, Kari and Tim had walked hand in hand through a wooded park together, talking. They promised to dance more closely together from that point on.

A quick knock at the dressing-room door told Kari she needed to put the memory aside. ”Okay, beautiful, time's up,” Hank said. ”Let's work these sets and get home.”

”All right ... coming.”

Kari adjusted the next outfit and put the finis.h.i.+ng touches on her appearance.

She, too, was eager to finish the job and get back home.

She and Tim were getting follow-up counseling with a Christian psychologist in Bloomington. Their next appointment was this evening, and Kari had at least an hour's drive back home before that. She smiled to herself. The counseling sessions were sometimes difficult and painful, but thinking of them made her feel a sense of hope. A tender, tentative sense of a hope that could mean only one thing: Her broken heart was beginning to mend.

266.

Fifty-five miles south, at the Silverlake Apartments, Angela Manning sat at her kitchen table, sipping coffee and contemplating Tim's disappearance. She simply couldn't comprehend what had happened. Their relations.h.i.+p had been going beautifully. There were a few tensions, but that was normal, wasn't it? Angela had been sure that things would calm down once Tim's divorce was really in the works.

Then one evening while she was at the library, he had simply packed up and disappeared, leaving only a short note to explain his change of heart.

Her heart ached as she picked the note off the coffee table and read it for the hundredth time since he'd gone back to his wife.

Angela, I'm sorry. I've made a terrible mistake, and it's destroying me.

I need to be with my wife, and you need to move on. Forgive me. Tim At first Angela had wondered if the note was some kind of bad joke, Tim's attempt to scare her. But when he didn't show up that night or the next, she began to panic. Never had she intended to get involved with a married man. But once she had, the only thing that kept her going was a strong belief that his marriage was over and his future was here with her, at this apartment just off campus.

To think that Tim might never have been serious about her, that he had perhaps allowed the affair to continue with no intention of being with her on a long-term basis, was more than she could bear. It made her feel cheap and sordid and used.

Just like the woman her father had left home for.

She felt the sting of tears in her eyes and took a sip of coffee, remembering the shock of those first few days after Tim left. When she realized he'd gone home to his wife, she told herself he'd be back. He had left only because of his guilty conscience.

267 When he realized what he'd left behind, he'd start divorce proceedings-the way he should have months ago-and then come knocking on her door.

But after a week had pa.s.sed, Angela began to have doubts. Had Tim's wife come back to him so willingly? Tim had said she was staying with her parents before.

But now, were they already living together? in their house?

Angela couldn't stand the thought, so for the past two days she'd left hourly calls on Tim's office voice mail, desperate to talk to him. She'd even considered going to his office and waiting for him. She drummed her fingernails against the coffee mug. If he didn't call her back today, that's exactly what she would do. She had no choice.

Because now that she'd fallen in love with Tim, it didn't matter whether or not he was married. All that mattered was being with him.

All she could think about was him.

The phone rang.

Angela jumped and sloshed coffee on her jeans as she rushed to pick up the receiver. It was Tim; it had to be. Of course he'd call her back. He loved her as much as she loved him. This going-home thing was only part of the separation process, something he had to get out of his system. Yes, that was it.

A ray of hope shone across her heart, and she clicked the b.u.t.ton. ”h.e.l.lo?”

There was silence for a moment, and then Angela heard someone breathing on the other line. Apparently Tim was upset and having trouble speaking. She was about to say his name when a man began talking. ”Hi, Angela. It's me.”

Angela felt the sting of disappointment. ”Who is this?”

The caller uttered a single chuckle, and something about it sent a chill down Angela's spine. ”Don't you know, baby? It's Dirk.” Frustration filtered through Angela's veins. Dirk Bennett?

Hadn't she gotten through to him yet? The kid was obsessed. The fact that they'd slept together didn't mean she wanted to 268.

marry him. Besides, he was so young. After being with a man like Tim Jacobs, there was no way Angela could go back to a boy.

She released a sigh that conveyed her irritation. ”What do you want?”

He was silent for a while, no doubt weighing her reaction. ”Well ... I know you're not seeing the professor anymore, and I wondered if you'd go out with me tonight.”

She rolled her eyes. ”No, Dirk. I won't go out with you tonight or tomorrow or any other night. Our dating days are over. Are you reading me?”

Dirk's breaths grew louder and closer together. ”Don't you understand, Angela?”

There was something odd about his voice, and Angela felt the chill again.

”Understand what?”

”Ever since we fell in love, I've been making plans.” His voice was louder, angrier than before.

Angela glanced at her watch and considered hanging up on him. Tim was probably trying to call, and here she was carrying on a conversation with a deranged guy she hadn't dated in a year. She ma.s.saged the bridge of her nose and tried to be patient. ”What plans?”

Dirk hesitated, his voice softer again. ”Plans to marry you, Angela. I have everything worked out.”

Angela couldn't have felt more disgusted if a dozen spiders had been released down the back of her sweater. ”Are you crazy? I have no intention of marrying you.” She shuddered at the thought. ”I've got to go.”

”Wait!” She was about to hang up when Dirks voice sounded again. This time his words were couched in nothing less than hatred. ”The professor doesn't want you, Angela. He's back with his wife. I saw them together the other day. Holding hands.”

Angela's breath caught in her throat, and a searing pain ripped across her heart. No! It wasn't possible. Tim was only taking some time to collect his thoughts; he wasn't really back with his wife. It had only been a few weeks.

269 ”Did you hear me, Angela?”

Dirk's tone frightened her, and this time she did hang up. When the phone rang fifteen seconds later, she took it off the hook and hid it beneath a pillow.

Then, for the first time since Tim moved out, Angela buried her face in her hands and cried.

An hour later, when her sobbing had eased, she stretched out on the sofa and considered her options. She didn't like any of them.

She had an idea. It was deceitful, even downright dirty. But the more Angela thought about it, the more she believed it could work.

At the very least, it would get Tim back to her apartment one more time. After that it would be simple to convince him to stay. She'd gotten him to fall in love with her once; certainly she could do it again.

The idea grew and took shape until Angela was convinced it was the right thing.