Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            “Hey…” Bonnie stopped her midsentence. “We’re your friends. We’ve shared everything from busted fingernails to divorces. We only did this to help you get over the sorry sucker who made you walk around here all down in the mouth.”

            “I’m over the past. I told you that.” Then she started to laugh.

            One minute everything was as quiet as a prelude to a funeral, the next minute Angel was wiping tears from her face and hiccuping. “You are all a bunch of devils, and I love every one of you—horns, pointy little tails, and all.” She pulled a tissue from a box in the middle of the table. “Clancy is moving in with me. We’re goin’ to make it this time! I’ve realized anything worth having is worth fightin’ for, and no one is getting between me and Clancy Morgan again. Maybe I should have fought for him all those years ago, but then if I had, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Clancy and I needed ten years to grow up enough to realize what we have, and I thank all of you for seeing that when I was blind.”

            “Hot damn,” Patty swore loudly. “Is there goin’ to be a weddin’?”

            “Maybe someday.” Angel nodded.

            “Someday…” Allie drew out the word and raised an eyebrow.

            “Let’s get back to business,” Angel said. “And you should know that Red has hired a new man who’s pretty sharp. His name just happens to be Clancy Morgan, and I don’t think even I will be able to blink my pretty lashes and get him to give me a good deal.”

            “Well, isn’t it a small world,” Mindy said. “Angel, it might take a while for us to forgive that man, but we promise to give him a chance. Right, girls?”

            “Right,” they chorused.

            “Now, let’s get back to work. I’ll be in when you and Susan get done.” Mindy headed for the door.

            “Nothing much has happened since you’ve been away,” Susan said when she and Angel were alone. “Except for Red’s heart attack. Shook us all up. We reckoned he’d be around until eternity.” She toyed with a lock of her hair. “Life sure don’t offer any guarantees, does it, Angel? I’m goin’ to tell Richie to set the date. Maybe a Thanksgiving wedding would be good. Bonnie will be married by then. I want us to fly to Jamaica and tie the knot down there.”

            “If that’s what you want, then go after it.” Angel led the way from the conference room to her office and sat down behind her desk. “I’m hoping that Clancy and I will just wake up some morning and know that it’s the day and find us a judge.”

            “I’m really happy for you,” Susan said. “Guess he turned out better than we expected. We shouldn’t punish him forever for a mistake he made ten years ago, but if I’m honest, it might take me a while to get over still wanting to shoot him.”

            “I understand.” Angel opened a portfolio on her desk and reviewed Susan’s proposition for a new advertising campaign. “Looks really good,” she muttered, turning the pages. “Let me know when you’re ready to spring it on the oil industry.”

            “Will do, and it’s good to have you home. Gotta run. Never know what might come walkin’ in the front door.” Susan stood up.

            Angel had barely gotten through her mini-meetings with each of her friends when Patty buzzed to tell her Clancy was on the phone.

            “I need a refresher course,” he moaned. “They’re talking drillers and roughnecks and rigs and casings, and I’m having trouble keeping up.”

            “You’ll learn. Old dogs can be retaught if they want to learn,” she said. “Remember, anything worth having is worth fighting for. Like Red told you last night, half of Texanna Red is yours right now. If you want to keep it, you’ll learn.”

            “How can I learn this and court you too? I can’t think about business for thinking about you,” he said.

            “Then you better learn to control your thoughts a little better. From nine to five only think about Texanna Red, and from then on you belong to me.” Angel laughed.

            “Are we still going to the farm tonight? Are we going down that curvy back road?” he asked.

            “Clancy, it’s twice as far to go the highway, and it only takes thirty seconds to cross the bridge over into Hendrix. You should have had to cross the old bridge. It looked and felt like it might collapse anytime. The new one is concrete and sturdy,” she said.