Page 7 of In the Arms of a Hero

Beaming, she nodded. “That’s perfect. I have a photo shoot scheduled for Saturday afternoon, so Friday night would be great.”

His smile widened. “I’d love to pick you up, but I understand if you’d prefer to meet me.”

“I’d usually just meet you, but since you’re a deputy, I feel certain you must be trustworthy.” She laughed. “You can pick me up out front here. I live upstairs.”

“Really?”

“Yes, there are two apartments up there. I live in one, and Bess lives in the other.” She hesitated, then pulled her phone from her pocket. “I don’t want to sound too forward, but could we share phone numbers in case something comes up and we need to get ahold of each other? I promise I wouldn’t use it for any other reason than?—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he assured. They quickly exchanged phone numbers and settled on a time for Friday night. “Good night, Belinda. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow?”

Chuckling, he said, “I gotta start my day with coffee before I keep the county safe.” With that, he walked out, smiling at the look of delight on her face.

4

Belinda lingered in the doorway, her gaze following Aaron as he walked to his vehicle. She admired the way his deputy’s uniform clung to his muscular frame. As he drove away, his glance met hers, and he returned her wave and smile. And if she wasn’t mistaken, he winked. Such a simple gesture, yet it filled her with eager anticipation for their date.

The click of the door’s lock echoed in the quiet bakery, and she turned to walk toward the back. Her feet stumbled at the sight of Bess leaning against the doorframe between the kitchen and the shop. Her sister’s exuberant smile lit up the room more than the afternoon sun.

“What are you staring at?” She tried to hide her own smile as she feigned innocence.

“My beautiful sister who has caught the eyes of a really good-looking guy, who also happens to have a good job, who also happens to be local, so it’s easy to know he’s a good guy, and?—”

Throwing up her hands, Belinda said, “Okay! Okay! I get it. There are a lot ofgoodsin your analysis of my upcoming date.”

“Are you going to see him again?” Bess cried, her smile widening.

“Yes. He’s coming by tomorrow for some coffee before work.” Belinda tried not to laugh at her sister's fallen expression. “Oh, and I have a date for Friday night.”

Bess jumped up and down, clapping her hands, looking more like a teenager than a twenty-eight-year-old who runs her own business.

Sighing, Belinda ushered Bess back into the kitchen, looping arms with her. As she looked around, she could see that Bess already had the kitchen clean and the prep work for tomorrow finished. “You know, it’s not like it’s been forever since I’ve had a date.”

Bess nodded. “I know. It just seems like you and I don’t have great luck in the romance department. We have no trouble meeting guys. We have no trouble getting a date. But it’s hard as hell to make it to a second date, much less anything more. There’s little time when you’re running your own business.” She planted her hands on her hips and blew out a breath that pushed her curls away from her forehead. “And why is it that men, even in this day and age, seem to want the little woman to be available at their beck and call? As soon as someone figures out your schedule and realizes you can’t spend all your time waiting for them, they decide to move on to easier pastures.”

Belinda couldn’t help but laugh in the middle of Bess’s heartfelt tirade. “The saying is greener pastures.” Her sister had a habit of tossing out old sayings but somehow messing them up and creating her own. It was one of her many endearing qualities. That, and being unfailingly loyal.

“Easier… greener… whatever! I just mean that you and I haven’t found anyone willing to put in the work it actually takes to date someone.”

After another moment of silence, the two locked up the back door after taking out the trash. They walked up the steps to their apartments and stopped outside their doors.

“Well, at least, we can hope that Deputy Bergstrom wants to take a chance to get to know the real you.”

Belinda agreed with a nod and reached out to grab Bess’s hand. Giving it a little squeeze, she pulled her sister in for a hug. With good nights said, they each disappeared into their identical apartments.

As soon as Belinda stepped into hers, she glanced around and had to admit that other than the floorplan, she and her sister's apartments werenotidentical.

Her apartment stood in quiet contrast to her sister’s vibrant sanctuary. Bess would often spend her evenings experimenting in her kitchen. She had various cooking and baking books taking up space on the coffee table, her small dining table, and the kitchen counter. Bess’s interior was an explosion of bold colors, infusing every room with red, blue, and purple.

Belinda closed and locked her door and smiled as she looked around at her canvas of her life and interests, and the familiar calm enveloped her. She had not inherited the cooking gene, and her kitchen was functional, unlike her sister’s creative hub. With a one-bedroom apartment, there was no separate place for an office, so she opted for a large kitchen table that served mainly as a desk. Computers, monitors, and camera equipment filled most of the space, leaving only a small area for her to sit down to eat.

Her coffee table was filled with photography books and magazines. She kept her decorating palette neutral to be a backdrop for the framed nature photographs she’d taken and now hung on her walls. Her apartment was an extension of her soul… a place where light, shadow, and color all told stories without words.

For a while, she lost herself in editing the last photographs she’d taken, but soon, thoughts of her impending date encroached. Hitting save, she gave up and walked to her comfortable sofa, falling backward onto the cushions.

At thirty years old, she rarely returned her thoughts to high school, but now she gave way to the memories pushing in. Considering she and her sister never kept secrets from each other, Bess was the only person in the world who knew her secret adolescent crush had been Aaron Bergstrom.

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