No Wasted Tears (26 page)

“Adam, I’m so
sorry.”

Suddenly her arms were wrapped around him, her cheek pressed to his chest, and her arms around his back, holding him close to
her.

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but I’m also proud of
you.”

For a moment he stood very still.
It felt good—her holding him like
this.

He’d had female friends in the year since his deliverance, but no one had held him like they cared. Like she was holding him now. He wrapped his arms around Destiny wanting her to care about him like he cared about her. They were at a crossroad and he didn’t know how it all was going to work between them, but he had to try. He wanted
her. He hadn’t realized how much until this minute. She could be his sounding board, his cheering squad, his devil’s advocate and faithful sidekick. No wonder he’d been thinking about her so much lately. No wonder she’d been in his
dreams.

Before he changed his mind he blurted out, “Go with me next week to a one-night conference in Tacoma, Washington.”

She swallowed a nervous laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

He sobered just as quickly as she asked the question. “No, I’m not. I want you to accompany me if you don’t have any
plans.”

Destiny was shaking her head, but she was really cautious as to why Adam was asking her to go with
him.

“I don’t know, Adam. What would people think?” She looked at him with concern in her
eyes.

“Destiny, this is not about us sneaking off to do something that we could do right here in Seattle. I have to preach in Tacoma and I want you there with me. It will also give you the chance to be with me in a setting other than at Greater Community. We could make a day of it, returning late Wednesday
evening.”

Rising on her tiptoe, she kissed his chin. “I don’t know, Adam. It’s so soon. Can I think about it and let you
know?”

Gathering her closer, he buried his face in her long, fragrant hair. “Of course you can, but you don’t have to worry. We’ll have separate rooms. It would be a blessing to me if you were there, and it would give us a chance to get to know each other away from
here.”

She smiled. There was no doubt he wanted her to feel comfortable traveling with him. “I’ll let you know as soon as
possible.”

Curving a hand under her chin, he raised her face to his. Pulling back, Adam looked her in the
eyes.

Destiny studied his expression, wondering if he thought she was too forward. Her heart was beating so
fast.

“Happy birthday, Destiny.”

“Thank you, Adam.” And she had enjoyed herself up until this moment. She had grown to understand more about Adam than she anticipated for one
night.

“How about us having breakfast at my place tomorrow?” He looked at her with a soft expression. “I want to spend as much time as I can with you this
weekend.”

She looked at him puzzled. “Can you make an
omelet?”

“Yes.”

“What else do you eat for breakfast?” She couldn’t resist asking him the
question.

“Muffins,” he said while brushing a strand of hair that had fallen out of
place.

“What time is
breakfast?”

“Let’s make it brunch. Is eleven too
late?”

“No.”

With brunch being at eleven, it would give her enough time to go over to visit with Tina and baby Richard before joining Adam. Maybe she would even have enough time to go to the gym to workout, especially after eating like a pig
tonight.

The return trip home was rather quiet. Both of them were caught up in their own thoughts. Destiny was relaxing while listening to Smokie Norful through the sound system in his car. She told him Smokie was one of her favorite gospel artist. Closing her eyes, she smelled the scent of Adam’s cologne. She knew he was staring at her whenever they stopped at a light, but that was fine with her. Never in her life had she contemplated a relationship with a pastor, but this was the sweetest man she’d ever met other than Willie, Shawn, and
Richard.

Adam had planned a perfect evening. Which had almost ended in disaster.
She opened her eyes and caught Adam looking at her in that moment. With the glow of the lights from the dashboard she couldn’t see the expression on his face. Was he feeling like she was feeling? Destiny looked away first. He was pulling the car into the driveway to park. Waiting until he came around the car and open the door for her, she placed her hand in his, giving him her keys. They mounted the steps
together.

“I’m glad they left the light on for you, but you need to get that one that’s out fixed and the other one has flashed a couple of
times.”

She laughed. “I’ve been meaning to do it for a couple of days. I will take care of it tomorrow. We always leave the lights on because there are three females in the house. The Lord supplies us daily with his mercy, and we have our ministering angels keeping watch over
us.”

Adam unlocked the door and was met by yet another soft glow of light from a lamp by the door. He looked around and placed the keys back into her hands. Turning, Destiny laid them on the table by the lamp, dropped her purse in the chair, and kicked off her
shoes.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven, but I need your
address.”

Reaching into his breast pocket of his jacket, he withdrew a pen. Destiny handed him a piece of paper she found at the bottom of her purse. He wrote down his address and number, handing her the
paper.

Destiny stood motionless, staring at Adam. Drawing her close, his fingers tightened on her arm as he pulled her closer to face him. One hand slid down her arm to her hand, and the other claimed her waist, drawing her close. He held her for a moment as if in a motionless dance. The glow from the lamp outlined his head, but reading any facial expression was impossible in the dim
light.

She waited. Her pulse quickened. Finally, he lowered his head as his lips brushed her cheek in a soft
caress.

She took a deep breath to clear her head because she assumed he was going to kiss her. His fingers slid down her arms in a tingling caress as he relinquished the embrace. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and
husky.

“You are dear to me, Destiny. I don’t want
to mess this up, do you
understand?”

“Yes, I do
understand.”

She couldn’t see his expression, but she felt the tension mount between them. When he answered, his tone was
serious.

“Outside of my mother, you’re the only woman who has ever heard me say those words in the last three
years.”

Destiny smiled. Clearing her throat, she said, “Thank you for the wonderful evening, Adam.”

With one last kiss to the cheek, Adam said, “I’ll see you at eleven. Make sure you lock the
door.”

Turning, he opened the door, walked out, and then closed it quietly behind him. She watched the tail lights of his car disappear down the driveway. 
She let out a long breath and turned toward the bedroom, pausing in the doorway as a thought occurred to her. 

She had a father and a good man in her life she was developing feelings for. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Lord, who am I to judge anyone
who has hurt me?
She clasped her hands together.
I
know I’m not perfect
. I too am saved by
your grace, Lord. I’
m thankful for havin
g you as my heavenly
Father. You cared e
nough about me to br
ing my earthly fathe
r into my life. You
forgave me for all o
f my sins, and you h
ave shown me uncondi
tional love. For tha
t, I want to say tha
nk you. I know it’s
your will for me to
love and trust again
. I repent for any n
egative thoughts I’v
e had about my past,
and I close that do
or in my life. In Je
sus’s name, amen.

Just as she got up off her knees the phone rang. Adam had just left and she couldn’t believe he was calling her so soon. Maybe he changed his mind about their brunch. Picking up the receiver she said, “Hi, Adam you didn’t forget anything did you?” She waited for a
response.

Terror filled her as she heard the breathing. She slammed the phone down. She paced the room, nervous tension building up in her spirit. It rang again. Letting it ring a couple of times, she picked it up
again.

“What do you want?” There was silence again and she hung up, stepping slowly away from the
receiver.

When it rang a third time, she turned the phone off. Leaving her room, she went to check the doors in the house to just make her feel safe. Everyone was asleep but her. Amid the fear and tears, Destiny felt a little better. She had made up her mind—no longer would she be held in the bondage of her past. It was time to move on, to get back in the game. It was time for her to live, and in order for that to happen, she had to trust God completely. With that last thought she climbed in
bed.

On the other side of town, thoughts came in what seemed like a dream. Too many thoughts were confusing. It was that Destiny woman who was quickly becoming the center of Pastor Wheeler’s attention. For months after she arrived on the scene, the thoughts were always the same. Who was she, and where did she come from? But now she knew. She’d made that phone call to Womack Industries and found out that the CEO was Stanley Womack. After all of the planning, now everything was coming together. She was tired of going home to an empty apartment. This was a city full of eligible single men. The previous city was filled with singles, but none of them wanted to be in a committed relationship. She would be the First Lady of Greater Community. A slow smile formed and quickly changed into an outright
laugh.

Chapter 24

Destiny heard the phone ringing and reached to pick it up before the ringing woke up a napping Sara. “Hello?” she spoke into the receiver. No one said anything so she hung up and picked her magazine focusing on the article she was
reading.

She saw Sara’s eyes open. “Another hang
up?”

Destiny shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to make too much of the call and worry her aunt. It wasn’t five minutes later that the phone rang again. Before she could pick it up, it stopped. Frustrated, Destiny was getting concerned about the calls that were being made to their home phone. It was almost as if the caller knew when she was at
home.

She’d asked Cynthia if any hang-ups happened when she was home but she assured her that none had occurred. The calls were occasional when she first moved to Seattle but now they seemed to have become more frequent and at uncommon times. There were even times Destiny could hear breathing and knew there was someone there. She felt the caller knew her personally. It irritated her then but now for the first time, she was beginning to be concerned about
it.

They had all agreed to change the house phone number and for a while the calls ceased, then they started again. Sometimes the sound of deep breathing, then a coarse whisper would burn her
ear.

“He’s coming.” The caller in a singsong voice would
say.

It was hard to understand the muffled words at first. But then panic set in when she asked the caller, “Who are you?” There was something demonic about the voice that caused a chill to run through her, she found herself trying to rub it away by running her hands up and down her
arms.

“He’s
coming.”