9781618853158SpecialKindofWomanBergman (17 page)

“Have you talked with
her any?”

“I left a message for
her but I haven’t actually talked with her or seen her since that day. I told
her that I wanted us to talk in a week but I don’t know if that will happen. I
honestly don’t blame her if she doesn’t. I did her so wrong but I know that
once I talk with her, I want to set things straight and hopefully she’ll
forgive me in time.”

After Alannah grabbed
her son’s hand, he lifted hers and kissed the back. “All you can do is pray my
son.”

“How about I get you another
cup of tea Momma?”

“I’ve got to go in
anyways, I’ve got to get started on lunch.” As she got up, Collin held out his
arm for her to take and Alannah took it. As they made their way back inside as
the other men returned.

“So did you guys get
things squared away?” asked Randy as he brought in some groceries along with
Bobby and Mackenzie.

“Yeah we did, now bring
those in the kitchen Collin, you’re going to help me with fixing lunch today as
well as dinner tonight too,” Alannah told him as his father handed him a bag. His
brothers snickered and he rolled his eyes at them.

“I guess he’s being
punished huh?” Mackenzie said with a chuckle.

“Keep it up and you’ll
be in here next helping us cook!” shouted Alannah as Randy Sr. was the one who
was chuckling this time around.

“And you know she will
do it too boys,” Randy said while opening up the newspaper.

Chapter
Nine

It was two days later
when Regina decided to call up Maxine to let her know how she was.

“Are you all right?”

It’s so good to hear
her voice, Regina thought smiling.

“Yeah, I’m doing all right.
I found this little B&B by a lake, it’s so peaceful here and quaint. The
people who own this place are very nice and they just let me keep to myself
though. This is fine with me because all I’ve been doing since I got here is
sleeping, taking long baths and crying a little here and there.” Regina looked
out from the porch onto the lake. It had been a pretty cloudy morning. The air
smelled like rain would be coming soon.

“Isn’t there anybody
else staying there with you?”

“An elderly couple came
yesterday. They came over and introduced themselves to me, Fred and Martha
Rosenthal from Spokane. Too adorable for words they are, I’m supposed to be
having lunch with them today in their room. They have the biggest room in the
house here and from what Martha told me, they’ve been coming here for the past
twenty years and they always get the same room.”

“How adorable, that’s
so sweet.”

“Oh it is.” With a weary
sigh, the other reason for this call flashed through her mind. “So, have you
seen or heard anything about Collin lately?”

“Nancy told me he had
gone to his parent’s house for a while to get away, she says hello by the way,
but he’s been pretty busy working lately. Linda came back to work and asked
about you as well.” Her friend hesitated before asking, “Would you like for me
to tell him something for you?”

Regina thought for a
moment. “Can you just tell him I hope he’s all right and that I’ll call him on
Sunday? I’m honestly thinking about staying here for another day or two, I
really like it here,” Regina told her as she found her shoes and put them on.
“I’ve got to go Max. I’ll call you in a day or two all right?”

“All right then, you
take care and enjoy your time there. Love you girl.”

* * * *

“When do you want me to
be there? On Friday till Monday huh, I will have to check my schedule. I know I
won’t have anything planned during that time. But let me get back to you in
about ten minutes, goodbye,” Collin said to Mr. Taylor, one of his clients. Mr.
Taylor wanted him to come to his Tampa home, to deal with paperwork that needed
to be signed and notarized. Even though Collin knew it would take no more than
a day to deal with, Mr. Taylor wanted him to stay over for a get-together he
was having with friends. He honestly didn’t want to deal with parties at that moment.
The only thing that was on his mind was Regina.

After he clicked on the
button for Nancy, she quickly came into the office. “Yes Collin?”

“I want you to get
someone to go to Mr. Taylor’s in Florida for me. He wants me to stay there for
the weekend, I’m not in the right frame of mind to mingle, see if someone else
will go in my place. If he asks why I didn’t show, tell him something equally
important came up.”

Nancy nodded and walked
away but before the door closed, the woman who cared for Regina came in.

“Hello there…Maxine? How
are you today?” Collin asked as he stood up to greet her.

“I’m doing just fine, thanks.
I wanted to let you know I got a call from Regina just a while ago,” Maxine said
with a smile.

His heart raced a bit
hearing her say Regina called. “How is she? Did she ask about me?” Collin asked
quickly.

“She told me that she’s
doing fine, she went to some B&B for the week, said she’d probably end up
staying a couple of days more because she likes it so much there. She also
wanted me to tell you that she hopes you’re all right and that she’ll get in
contact with you on Sunday.”

Breathing a sigh of
relief, Collin was just happy to know that he was still in her thoughts. After
all that had happened, he didn’t’ think he would be. “Well at least she’s doing
all right. Did she say what B&B she was at?”

“All she said was that
it was a B&B by a lake, very quaint and peaceful. Don’t tell me you’re
going to try and find her, let her enjoy herself for a while Collin, remember
you told her a week. I know you want to see her and all but give her that week
to recover, she told me that she had basically been sleeping and eating and
crying the whole time she’s been there. She needs this and if you go right now,
it will screw everything up.”

She’s right, Collin
thought, and patted her hand while nodding in agreement. “Thank you for letting
me know how she was, if she asks about me again, let me know.”

Maxine nodded and soon
left Collin alone with his thoughts. He only had a couple of more days to wait
and wonder and pray she would forgive him.

* * * *

“I love their
sandwiches here and Bertha knows how to make a wonderful soup,” Fred Rosenthal
told Regina as they all sat at the table in their room that afternoon.

“She told me that she
grows everything herself. We need to try to grow a garden Fred, would be so
nice to have good vegetables right from our backyard,” Martha told him before
taking a sip of her soup.

Regina was enjoying Fred
and Martha’s company. She thought they were too cute for words.

“So where do you live
Gina my dear?” asked Martha.

“I live in Henderson,
which is not too far from here, a good three hour drive.”

“Oh Henderson, I think
we passed by that place on our way over here. Very nice town from what I saw,”
Fred said, and Regina smiled.

They finished their
lunch and retreated out onto the porch. Regina watched as Fred lovingly put a
blanket across Martha’s legs as she sat in the rocker. “Thank you dear, he
knows that if my legs catch cold, my arthritis will act up big time,” Martha
said with a wink as he sat down in the rocker next to her. Looking over at her
husband, Martha moved over toward Regina and told her, “Now that he’s had his
fill of that good lunch, I give him about a minute to fall asleep right in that
rocker there. Do you mind going inside the room and grabbing him a blanket as
well?”

Regina smiled as she
went back into their room and found another blanket on the foot of a bed. When
she came out, she was trying her best not to giggle as she saw a snoring Fred
asleep in his rocker. Gently, she opened the blanket and laid it across him. He
snorted a little and continued snoring. Walking back toward her rocker, she sat
down as Martha started giggling a bit.

“Didn’t I tell you he
would be asleep?”

“That’s amazing you
knew that and very cute. I think it’s going to rain today, I can smell it in
the air.”

“It’s always lovely
here during this time of the year. Can I ask you another question my dear?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Why are you here?
Honestly, I would have thought a pretty girl like you would have been working
or something like that. Yet you’re here, even without her boyfriend?”

The word boyfriend
stung her heart as she immediately thought about Collin. “Well, to answer your
question Martha, I came here to get away from a man. Someone who I thought was
the right one for me, but in the end did me so wrong. I needed to collect my
thoughts and figure what route I want to go now. I’ve already decided that when
I go back I’m going to quit my job because he works at the same place I do.”

“He must have done
something bad to make you want to quit your job. What is his name?”

“Collin and yeah, he
betrayed my trust in him. I thought he loved me because he shared things with
me that I never thought a man would, things I haven’t had for a very long time.
Later I found out it was all a big fat lie and all for some stupid bet he had
going on at his office. I had never been so mad at a person before in my life
until that day, my anger shocked him along with my best friend. So that’s why
I’m here, I need to regroup, figure out how I want my life to be, whether it’s
with or without him.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry that
happened to you dear. But even though all of this has happened to you, it’s
what you want deep down that matters. Do you know what you want?” Martha asked
and Regina could only shake her head no. “Just give it time. Despite you
wanting to be alone, me and Fred will keep you entertained this week, you need
the company.”

Regina smiled looking
out onto the fields and nearby lake as the rain slowly but surely started to
come down. After she made sure Martha was comfortable, Regina went back into
her room, got up under the comforter and let the rain’s soothing sounds lull
her to an afternoon nap.

* * * *

Collin was looking out
the window at the rain coming down. He kept wondering where Regina was but all
he knew was a bed and breakfast by a lake. The phone buzzed and he hit the
speaker button. “Yes Nancy, what is it now?”

“I know you may not
care to hear this Collin, but Carol would like to see you.”

She was the last person
he wanted to see, but she must have a good reason for coming. “Send her in. If
she doesn’t leave in five minutes make sure to buzz with an excuse.” Turning his
chair fully around, he watched the door open gradually.

At first she didn’t
come in right away, but slowly peered around the door, looking at him with a
somber expression. He was really not in the mood for her crap and for her to
come here after all the shit she pulled, Collin had to admit she had spunk for
even showing her face on this floor much less his office. Liking her spunk
didn't mean he enjoyed the way she cringed when her gaze met his any less.

“Collin, I wanted to
apologize to you as well as Regina about my actions.”

“Speaking for myself, I
don’t accept your apology. I don’t know what Regina would say, I haven’t seen
her since that day. And now that you’ve said your halfhearted apology, goodbye,”
Collin said with a look that told her he wasn’t over what she had done and
watched her leave his office. He pressed the speaker button on the phone.

Nancy picked up and
said, “Yeah I know, don’t let her ass back in here again.”

He smiled as he turned
back to his computer, trying to puzzle the mystery as to where Regina was. Collin
knew he was being hardheaded as hell, ignoring what everybody had told him
about waiting but for true love, there is no such thing as waiting. He had to
talk with Regina sooner rather than later.

* * * *

“Oh dearie, it’s so
wonderful to hear your voice. We’ve been worried sick about where you’ve been
and what you’ve been up to. How are you, are you all right?” asked Alannah two
days later, “Randy, its Regina, darling, it’s Regina.”

Regina laughed a bit
when she heard the excitement in Alannah’s voice. It was a refreshing moment
for her as she heard Randy Sr. in the background saying, “We miss you darling
girl, hoping you would have come visit us.”

“Can you please let him
know that I will come by and see everybody when I can? I just had to hear your
voice and see how you were doing and to see if maybe, well, if you’ve heard
anything from Collin?”

“He came home. Randall
brought him the day after it had happened, what a sight to see he was. I was
very angry with him for what had happened and he knew it when I looked at him.
I honestly have never seen Collin cry like that darling, not since he was a
baby. He was so heartbroken, darling, for what he did. But we had a long talk
after he sobered up a bit and honestly darling, he was so upset for making you
so angry with him. I’m telling you this because I know that he loves you so
very much from all the wonderful things he said about you.”