Authors: Sydney Logan
Force of Nature (5 page)
“It always is.”
“You know,” she said, leaning her
elbows against the glass counter and grinning. “You can’t pick and choose,
Angelina. You either believe or you don’t.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d
been called a hypocrite. Angelina was immune to it.
With a grin, Angelina nodded
toward the window. In a matter of seconds, the heavens had opened.
“Maddie, I can believe in the
rain. I can
see
the rain.”
“I wonder what we’ll
see
today.” Maddie’s eyes widened. “I can’t leave! What if
he
shows up while
I’m out getting your tea?”
With a groan, Angelina walked
around the counter and grabbed her friend by the arm, all but shoving her out
into the torrential downpour.
*
* *
“Why are you looking at me like
that?”
Maddie’s hands were on her hips.
“It’s closing time!”
“And I couldn’t be happier.
You’ve been so preoccupied with the spell you haven’t even wished me a happy
birthday.”
She narrowed her hazel eyes.
“Happy birthday, you skeptic.”
Angelina laughed and began to
empty the register. With the day’s slow sales, doing the evening bookkeeping
would be a breeze.
“You have to believe in true
love,” Maddie said as she followed her partner back to the office, “otherwise,
he’ll never show up.”
Angelina sighed and sat down
behind the desk. “First of all, the spell doesn’t stipulate he’ll arrive
today
.”
“I know, but your parents met on
Celia’s twenty-first birthday.”
“Yes, but my grandmother met my
grandfather almost a year after she turned twenty-one. It’s not time-specific,
Maddie.”
“You mean I might have to wait a
whole
year
?”
Angelina smirked. “My deepest
apologizes. And for your information, I do believe in true love. My parents
were proof that it exists. I just don’t believe blowing out a candle and
singing some silly song on my thirteenth birthday is going to make the man of
my dreams appear out of thin air to sweep me off my feet.”
“He’s out there somewhere,”
Maddie said, sighing dejectedly, as if it were
her
heart on the line.
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Mom wanted to bake me a cake, so
I’m headed home.”
She frowned. “You’ll never meet
him at
home
, Angelina.”
“Who knows, Maddie. Maybe he’s
waiting for me on my front porch.”
“Do you promise to call me if he
is?”
Her eyes were wide, and she
sounded desperately hopeful, so Angelina resisted the urge to laugh at the
silliness of it all. Instead, she made a vow to her best friend.
“Absolutely, Maddie. If there’s a
man waiting for me on my front porch, you’ll be the first person I’ll call.”
*
* *
It was dusk by the time Angelina
drove out of town and up the winding mountain road that would lead her home.
The sky was a pinkish-orange as the sunset lingered just above the trees. Rain
was still falling, but it was nothing more than a light shower as it gently
tapped against the windshield.
Angelina couldn’t wait to get
home. She wanted to curl up on the couch, eat a slice of birthday cake, and
forget all about the curse.
By the time she reached the
house, the rain had all but diminished. The fog was still dense, but it wasn’t
so thick that she couldn’t see the black SUV parked in her mother’s driveway.
Or the man sitting on her front
porch.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to Jennifer Hensley for her constant
encouragement and endless determination to pull me out of my shell.
To Wendy Depperschmidt, Shaina Hanson, and Kathie
Spitz for editing, proofreading, and for wanting to be involved in everything I
write.
Special thanks to T.M. Franklin for taking time out
of her busy schedule to create the book cover.
To Alicia Justice at Jitterbug PR for connecting me
with new readers.
Special thanks to The Writer’s Coffee Shop
Publishing House for their support.
Last but not least, thank you to my readers. There
are literally millions of books in the world. Thank you for reading mine.
2 Timothy 1:7