Free A Taste of Chocolate by Vonnie Davis

 
    Chapter One
    Her lungs stopped working. This couldn’t be happening. Hope Morningstar read the words on her cell’s screen once more. Black spots danced across her vision field, and she finally breathed again. “He broke up with me!” Her gaze jumped from the screen to her sister’s questioning face, her finely waxed eyebrows scrunched and her brown eyes narrowed. “Barclay broke up with me…in a text!”
    Gracie snatched the cell from Hope. “Let me see.”
    Hope rested her elbows on the table and dropped her face into her hands. This couldn’t be happening—not again.
    Gracie, her older sister, ever the protective one, muttered several choice words about Barclay’s paternity and physical attributes. Then she read the text out loud, as if it wasn’t already seared into Hope’s psyche. “Dumpin u. Been fun, but m bored. Good luck finding someone who can handle ur bossiness. B.”
    Hope didn’t bother to hide the tears slipping down her cheeks, not here on her sister’s deck, surrounded by swaying palms and ferns. Her sister’s backyard had always been an oasis of peace with its gurgle of a waterfall into the koi pond. “What’s wrong with me?” Hope swiped at tears with the back of her hand. “This makes the second sudden breakup. First Jason and now Barclay.”
    “There’s nothing wrong with you.” Gracie gathered a fussy Olivia from her infant seat and settled her to her breast. “If you’re doing anything wrong, it’s the kind of men you pick.”
    Hope tugged a package of tissues from her shoulder bag and pulled one out. “Yeah, I am a jerk-magnet. I mean, how many women get a ‘Dear John’ letter from a serviceman while he’s deployed? Usually it’s the other way around, but not for me. Then I meet Barclay and things go well for six months. And now this.” She glanced at her phone and chewed on the corner of her lower lip. “Should I text him back or call him?”
    “And what? Beg him to reconsider? Certainly not!” Gracie ran a hand over her daughter’s blonde fluff. “Look, you have to stop being so desperate. You run after these guys, and then they break your heart. Let one chase you for a change. Let him prove to you he’s worthy.”
    “You make me sound like…like…” She blew her nose, not wanting to voice her thoughts.
    “Like a woman with low self-esteem.” Leave it to her sister to zing in with the obvious.
    “Men always walk away.” Her own father had started this mass male exodus from her life, followed by every guy she’d ever cared for.
    “Daddy left us because something was wrong with him. If he couldn’t handle the responsibilities of family, he shouldn’t have gotten Mom pregnant twice in two years. And if he couldn’t be a faithful husband, he shouldn’t have gotten married—three times. He was the one with the problem, not us.” Gracie stared at her. “Honey, you are as deserving of love as anyone else.”
    “Then why am I always left behind?” Her vision blurred with tears.
    “Because the men you choose are players, just like Daddy. Time for you to look for someone who’s deep, not superficial. Quit worrying about their looks or what type of car they drive and focus on the depth of their character. And quit trying to run their lives. I’ve watched you push or pull them to do whatever you want. It’s as if you think by controlling them you’ll have them forever.”
    “I don’t do that...do I?” Her sister gave her a self-satisfied smirk. “That’s easy for you to say. You’ve got a man who adores you. And a baby. And, yes, I’m jealous.”
    “Is your biological clock ticking?” Gracie patted Olivia’s back to burp her. “Don’t give me that narrow-eyed glare, little sister. You don’t scare me.” Her lips twitched into a smile. “Look, you’ve got your career. You seem happy with your teaching.”
    Hope smiled, her stomach unknotting from Barclay’s text. “You know how much I love my students. Two more weeks and school