It felt as if she was dying.
Please Lord, help me not spiral into a panic attack. I’ve tried so hard to be strong and to rid myself of this problem. Please let me get past these feelings!
She reached for the knob for the radio and twisted it so that it began to play really loudly in the car. Lorelei closed her eyes and sang along to the music. It was one of her soothing mechanisms when the pressures got too much for her and the panic started to creep in. After a few moments her chest pains began to ease up along with her breathing. She began to take slow, calming breaths. The pounding in her head subsided. She no longer felt as if death was imminent.
“You’re alive. You’re present. You’re in the here and now.” She repeated the words her therapist had taught her. They were words that were supposed to ground her in reality. At the moment they seemed to be working, along with the music.
“Thank you, Lord,” she whispered, acknowledging His presence in these moments when she felt as if she had no control over a single thing in her world. He was always faithful and ever present. Despite her fears and anxiety, He would never forsake her.
Feeling stronger, Lorelei began to drive away from the huge building with the initials DD sitting boldly at the top of the structure. Daniel Donahue. If she lived to be a hundred, Lorelei never wanted to see him again. And the next time she ran into Micah, she had every intention of telling him what a horrible person his brother was.
**
For the remainder of the day, Daniel sat in his office and reflected on his meeting with Lorelei James. Even though he had sat in on three model interviews prior to meeting with the red-haired beauty, none of them came even close to Lorelei’s appeal. Both Sharon and Guy had told him in plain terms how rude he’d been to Lorelei. It frustrated Daniel to hear such feedback because he hadn’t meant to be offensive at all. It was a character flaw he had been dealing with for most of his life. He could be impersonal at times. Abrupt. According to some folks it was rudeness. But in his heart he hadn’t meant to be obnoxious to Lorelei or hurt her feelings. Why would he? She was stunning in every way imaginable. Her soft, lilting voice had been alluring. It was the type of voice that could lull a baby into a deep and restful slumber.
He bit his lip. She was friends with Micah! He could just picture the horrified look on Micah’s face when Lorelei told him about the dreadful interview. Micah wasn’t the type to hold back his feelings. He grinned at the thought of Micah and his fiancée, Faith. They were truly an inspiring couple. Their whirlwind courtship had ended in an engagement that the entire Donahue family had taken part in. Seeing Micah and Faith find true love with one another gave Daniel the slightest bit of hope it might happen for him as well.
With their wedding coming up at the end of the summer, his entire family was in a flurry of activity. Faith didn’t have much in the way of family, so his parents—Penelope and Jude—had been all too happy to step in and help out with the details. Daniel had offered to host the reception—with the help of his sister, Shayla—at an elegant estate in Pelican Bay. Daniel wasn’t great with interpersonal skills, so Shayla was on board to work out the details with the club’s staff. Daniel was all too happy to pay for the event. At the moment he was making more money than he had ever dreamed possible. Aside from donating to charities and trying to help out his family members (who were incredibly resistant to taking his money), Daniel didn’t quite know what to do with so much money.
When his cell phone rang and he saw Micah’s number pop up on the screen Daniel let out a huge groan. “Already?” he asked himself. It hadn’t taken Miss James long to run to his brother complaining about him.
“Hey, Micah,” Daniel answered the phone with a cheerf
ul tone. “What’s up?” he asked, preparing himself to get blasted.
“Hey there. I just wanted to check in with you regarding the reception venue. Faith was thinking about doing the flowers herself. We just wanted to make sure that was all right. She would need to get in there the night before to set things up.”
“I’ll have Shayla check it out. Is she sure about the flowers? I don’t mind taking care of that for the two of you.”
Micah let out a chuckle. “Daniel, you’ve been more than generous. Besides, Faith loves arranging flowers. She’s really excited about creating the centerpieces.”
Daniel could totally picture Faith creating the centerpieces. She was a lovely and down to earth woman. She had been through a lot in her life—losing her parents in a terrible fire and dealing with severe burns as result of the tragedy. She and Micah were a perfect fit.
“That’s great. I don’t imagine it being an issue with the venue. Is that the only reason you’re calling?”
“Yeah. Should there be another reason?”
Daniel could easily imagine Micah on the other end of the line frowning in confusion.
He stumbled, uneasy about lying to his brother. “Umm…well no, not unless your friend Lorelei called you.”
“Lorelei? Lorelei James? Why would she be calling me?”
Daniel let out a sigh and told Micah all about the events of the interview.
Micah began to grumble loudly. “Of all the people in the world to be snarky to. Lorelei is one of the sweetest and most supportive women I know.”
“I didn’t say I was snarky,” Daniel protested. “You’re just assuming.”
“After a lifetime of knowing you and from the way you described Lorelei’s reaction, it’s safe to say you were being snarky.”
“I’m misunderstood,” Daniel said, hoping to make his brother laugh. It had been a running joke between him and his siblings for years.
The line went silent. Clearly, Micah wasn’t amused.
Finally, Micah spoke up. “So, how are you going to make things right? This is my friend you’ve mistreated. And before you say you didn’t, would you want someone to treat Shayla like that if she went for an interview?”
Daniel’s heart sank. If someone treated his baby sister like that it would enrage Daniel. Suddenly he felt like the worst human being on the planet. In trying to be direct and to the point, he had insulted Lorelei.