Free 15 Tales of Love by Jessie Salisbury Page B

hear the disapproval in his voice, his annoyance with Matt’s leaving her.
    What harm can it do? Matt must be eating out . With somebody . Resigned and exasperated she said, “All right, Rory. This once.”
    He grinned at her. “Once is how to start.” He looked at Horace. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Jameson. Jaz, I’ll pick you up around nine-thirty or so.”
    “Sure.” With Rory it would always be “or so,” never definite. But did that make a lot of difference?
    She watched him climb into the truck and wave to her, smiling as he backed his truck around. She asked, laughing at herself, “Where did you meet Rory, Uncle Horace?”
    “Know his folks. His father’s one of those fix-it-up guys, can do most anything, really smart. Makes a pretty good livin’ at it, doin’ a little of this and a little of that. Rory helps him out a lot. Came over couple of years ago and helped me straighten up the old barn, put in a couple of braces.”
    She didn’t answer.
    “Lot of satisfaction in helpin’ folks out, you know.”
    “I’ve known him since high school. He never seemed to have any goals. Didn’t go on to school.”
    “Lots of folks don’t need to.” He turned to look at the littered ground he intended to rake. “And some folks never learn anything no matter how long they go to school.”
    “You mean Matt, Uncle Horace?”
    “It the shoe fits, honey.” He turned to peer closely at her. “Think about that piece of popple and the oak stick. Only one of them is dry on the inside. Outside don’t count.”
    Just what is inside? Well, why not? Maybe Rory would be fun. I haven’t had much fun lately. She said, “Well, I said I’d go. I never told Matt I wouldn’t do anything while he was gone. Even if he seems to expect it.”
    Horace smiled at her. “I think you’ve said good-bye to him this time, and it’s his loss. Books can’t make up for people, and maybe it ain’t books that he went to Boston for.”
    She looked down the road to where Rory had gone, considering him. He did have a few good traits that Matt lacked, like helpfulness and consideration for other people, people Matt seemed to think were beneath him.
    “Don’t do no harm to change direction some times,” Horace said, “when the weather changes.”
    Jasmyn wondered. She had loved Matt for a long time, or thought she did. Had she just loved being in love, always having a date for the dance, having a secure future with a man destined for success? But she was no longer sure how secure that future was. She said, “Maybe the weather has changed, Uncle Horace.”
    “Only one way to find out, honey. Matt will hear if you’re going out. See what happens then.”
    So he would. People love to gossip. She said, “Rory can be fun. It will be an entertaining brunch.”

THE FOURTH WATCH
    It is said that all experiences, everything seen and learned, remains somewhere in the subconscious. In the deepest part of the night, the mind is the most vulnerable, the body at its lowest ebb, and it is then that the subconscious tends to surface.
    The ancients called it the fourth watch of the night.
    There were times when Naomi Caldwell dreaded sleep. No matter how tired she was, she would wake in the early hours, overwhelmed by her doubts and fears. Now was one of those times: Tom was leaving, deserting her, just as everyone else in her life had. She had no one to turn to for comfort.
    She had been abandoned so many times in the past, she should be used to it. Her heart was hardened, but each time it hurt more, left a deeper, aching empty place in her soul. When she was ten, her beloved father had left. He went out on a Friday morning as usual to go to work and did not come back. She had never seen him again and no one had ever told her why.
    She still dreamed about him sometimes, imagining him phoning her, his rich, warm voice asking about her, saying he wanted to see her, could she come to him? Such dreams caused a tightness in her chest that could