More Than This: Contemporary Christian Romance Novel (10 page)

“No. Seriously. Why don’t you go on home? You don’t need to be here. Besides, you’re scaring the customers.” Mia went around and filled the order she had taken ready. When she came back, Liz still hadn’t moved. “Okay. Now, you’re scaring me. Go home already.”

“But I don’t want to leave you here… ACHOO!” The sneeze practically blew her ears apart. “Alone.”

“Yeah, because you’re being so much help as it is.” Mia delivered the coffee with a smile. In seconds she was back. “Seriously, Liz. Go home. Get some sleep. Take some cold medicine. Do something.”

“I did.”

“Well, then take some more.” Mia lifted her from the stool and angled her steps to the back. “Go. I’m fine. Go home. Go to bed. Get some rest.”

“Okay.” Liz didn’t want to go, but Mia was right. She wasn’t doing anyone any good like this.

Jake’s steps took him as they so often did on nights like this now to the street with the theatre flanked conveniently by The Grind. He didn’t go in. He never did anymore. Instead, he had learned to just walk past, hoping only to get a glimpse of her. She was always working because he knew how to time such things. Monday night. 9:20. She would be immersed in customers and lattes. She wouldn’t even have time to glance outside to see the idiot walking by looking in to get a glimpse of her, at least she never had before. It was pathetic. He knew that. But he just couldn’t help himself. His heart clenched at the thought of never seeing her again, of never getting to sit with her and look into her amazing eyes.

His steps took him to the window, and his gaze scanned the place even has his feet kept walking right on past with the others on the sidewalk. The steps slowed as he scanned the establishment, but he did not see her. They slowed further, begging him to stop, telling him just this once wouldn’t hurt. Then, just as he got to the door, a hooded figure came jangling out on a single hard push. Before he could think what to do or what he should do, it turned right into him without stopping.

The collision was hard, knocking him backward as books went scattering all over the sidewalk, dropping like small bombs around them. Instinct only allowed him to catch the figure before it too went crashing to the concrete. “Oh, my… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” His hands steadied the figure, keeping it from joining the books as humiliation rained across his consciousness. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there. Are you okay? I’m so sorry.”

“I’m… ACHOO!”  The hood dipped down with the sneeze which was followed by a loud sniffle. “Ugh. I’m… ACHOO!”  The three hard coughs that followed the sneeze sounded right out of the pneumonia ward at the hospital.

Concerned and flummoxed, he bent to retrieve the three books and the one up-ended notebook on the ground. “I’m sorry. I really… I didn’t see you. Are you all…”  And then he took a good look at the book in his hand. He still couldn’t read it, but that design in the top right corner could be none other. His hands slowed, and as he looked up, he angled his gaze to under the figure’s hood as it wrapped its arms around itself, looking like it wanted to disappear. “Liz? Is that… you?” Without him thinking it all the way through, his hands gathered the last of the books, and he stood all the way up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you. Are you okay?”

Slowly, sheepishly, she pulled the hood from her head and sniffled again. The white Kleenex in her hand stood out in stark contrast to the black hood and the darkness around them. “I’m sorry,” she said, with another sniffle, but she kept her gaze down as she reached for the books. “I should’ve been watching where I was going.”

Panic and concern met somewhere in the middle of his heart as he looked at her. “Are you okay? You look pitiful.”

“Gee, thanks.” Anger tinged the words as she swiped at her red nose and took hold of her books though he didn’t really let them go.

“No.” He held on. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“I know what you meant.” There was ice in her gaze when she glanced up at him, and she yanked her books free of his grasp. The look hurt as much as seeing her sick did.

They were still standing in the doorway as another couple stopped to gain entry.

“Oh, um, sorry.” Realizing they had to move, Jake took Liz’s arm and pulled her away from the door down the sidewalk. Three steps and she sneezed again, the violence of it shaking him as well. The coughs that followed grew increasingly insistent until she was very nearly doubled over with them. Worry slithered over him. He stopped, mid-sidewalk, and looked down at her. Suddenly she seemed very small and incredibly fragile. “What’s going on? Why are you at work? You look like you need a gallon of orange juice and a week of sleep.”

“Duly noted, doctor.” She ducked her head, swiped her nose again, and started past him, but Jake couldn’t let her go that easily. Not like this.

He reached out and arrested her motion, taking hold of her arm. “Liz, wait.”

Turning on him with anger and a venom he hadn’t expected, she scowled. “What?”

“I just…”  His words stopped as he searched for more. She was clearly angry in addition to being really, really sick. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine.” But the cough that followed belied the truth of that statement, making her quake and shiver.

“No. I don’t think you are.” His gaze traced up and then down the sidewalk and then fell back on her. “Were you going home?”

She mumbled something.

He bent to hear. “What?”

Then she hit him with both barrels of her eyes. “I said, ‘What do you care?’”

This time he backed up physically, seeing now it was more than the cold that was making her upset. “Care? Of course I care. Why wouldn’t I care?”

Liz shot him a look meant to singe him to the core, and it did a very good job of that. “Well, you could’ve fooled me.” And with that, she took off past him.

Emotions slammed around inside him, scrambling his thoughts as she walked the next three steps down the sidewalk before he moved. Then Jake turned and raced after her. “Liz. Wait.” He caught her by the elbow again and turned her back to him.

“What?” Now she sounded tired instead of angry, and he wasn’t sure he liked that any better. Her shoulders slumped, and she looked like she was about to cry. “Look. I’ve been at class all day and at work all night. I’m tired. I’m sick, and I have three hours’ worth of homework. Can I just go home already? Would that be a crime?”

But Jake wasn’t about to let her go home alone. Not like this. “At least let me walk you there. You’re in no shape to be going anywhere alone.”

“Gee, thanks.” She sighed and turned her steps back up the sidewalk without really giving him an answer, so he took that as a yes and followed her.

Liz could hardly muster the strength to move one foot in front of the other. It wasn’t fair that she now had to deal with him too. She trudged forward, hoping if she was mopey enough, he would take the hint and leave her alone. The first block she made in absolute silence, and besides his glances at her every five steps, he seemed content to simply follow. That was okay. She didn’t want to talk to him. She didn’t even want to see him.

Why was he here anyway? Was he coming to The Grind? No. She didn’t want to know. Step. Step. Step. Just keep walking and don’t think. That would work. If she just didn’t think about him walking beside her. She felt the sneeze coming up long before it made it to her nose. “Achoo!” The force of it made her head swim. Her throat felt like it was on fire. She swallowed back the cough, but that hurt too.

“That’s a pretty nasty cold you have there,” he said.

She said nothing in return, hoping he would take the hint.

“I hope you’re getting enough rest. That’s the best thing for a cold.” He walked three more steps with her wishing he would just disappear. “Rest and lots of fluids. That’s what my mom always said.”

Something sarcastic went through her mind, but she didn’t catch it because her whole body and mind were shutting down. She entered into a strange haze that made everything blurry and not quite real. That was it. Maybe this was all some elaborate dream. In another block, it wouldn’t matter anyway. She’d be home and in bed one way or the other.

“Do you have plenty of orange juice?” he asked. “If not, I could run get you some.”

“I’ll be… A-a-achoo!”  She hated sounding so weak, being so weak. It annoyed her. “Fine.”

“Yes, and you’ll be better with some orange juice.”

At the steps to her place, she turned, fully expecting him to stop, but he followed her up three of them before she stopped and turned. “What are you doing?”

Putting his hands on his hips, his eyes said he was in no mood to argue. “Making sure you’re okay. Besides, how will I know which apartment to bring the juice to?” He stepped past her and up the last three stairs before he opened the door and turned to let her in.

She wanted to argue. Really. She did. But she didn’t have the strength. So instead with a sigh, she accepted the gesture, trudged up the last steps and into the apartment house. Down the hall and up the stairs she went, feeling his black shadow following her. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. On the stairs that led to the second story, she stopped. “You know, Jake, this is very nice, but…” The words stopped as the sneeze crawled up her throat.
Don’t sneeze. Don’t sneeze…
  “I’m… A-A-ACHOO!”

“Fine. I know. You said that.” He took her arm and led her up the last of the steps. “Which one?”

“Uh, down there. Last one on the right.”

He nodded and took her to it. She looked up at him and gave up. There was no getting rid of him, and she was too tired to argue. When she opened the door and heard Becca, gratefulness came through her. At least she wouldn’t be alone with him. However, although she had worked to get him to leave, now when she expected him to follow her, he didn’t.

Instead, he stayed right there at the threshold. “I’ll be back. I’ll go down to the corner and get you some orange juice.” He pointed back down the hallway. “Do you have some cold medicine?”

“Jake, you don’t have to…”

“Okay. I’ll get you cold medicine too.” And then before she could object, he turned and headed off down the hall.

“Jake!” she called after him.

He waved without turning. “I’ll be right back.”

Too tired to move very fast or very far, Liz sighed and shut the door.

“Were you talking to me?” Becca asked, coming into the room.

“No.” Liz leaned on the doorpost, seriously wondering how she would ever move again.

“Then who was that?”

“Jake.” She yanked herself to fully upright, stepped inside, tossed her books down onto the floor, and wrenched her coat off.

“Jake? Who’s Jake?”

“Some guy I met at the coffee shop a couple months ago.”

“O… kay.”

“He decided to walk me home.” She hung the coat on the rack, swept up the books, walked to the table, and dropped them there with a thud.

“You didn’t invite him in?”

“First of all, I didn’t
invite
him anywhere. Second of all, he’s going to be back in a little while with some orange juice.”

“He’s getting you orange juice?”

Liz collapsed onto the couch and pulled the pillow over her face. It felt so good. “Yeah.” Sleep. It would feel so incredibly good. She coughed hard, leaving her lungs begging for air.

“Well, that’s… bizarre.”

“Yeah, it is.” That was the last thing she remembered.

Jake hurried from her apartment to the convenience store on the corner. His thoughts were not on himself or on how his life had turned such a sharp corner. They were on her and how awful she looked. Sleep. She needed a lot of sleep. Orange juice would help. So would cold medicine. Maybe Vicks for her feet. That’s what his mother had done with him. He wondered then about her class schedule. What did she have tomorrow? She said she had three hours of homework. Did she have any tests or assignments due? Surely she wouldn’t try to complete anything in the shape she was in.

He regretted he hadn’t asked more about her. Why hadn’t he? He couldn’t remember.

Pushing into the brightly lit store, he went right to the things he needed, taking only the barest minimum amount of time to make decisions about each item. Orange juice, no pulp. Cold medicine, extra strength with pain reliever. Vicks. Kleenex. The big box. With no more thought than that, he took the items to the front and paid. Purchases in hand, he headed out. Worry had focused him as he hadn’t been in a long time. His steps didn’t vacillate. They went in one hurried line straight back to her apartment.

It was only when he was back at her door that he hesitated. Wouldn’t it be a bit strange for him to take over like this? What if she didn’t accept his generosity? What if she told him to get lost and never come back?

Stuffing that down, he picked up his hand and knocked solidly. Far more solidly than he felt. A moment and another and there was movement on the other side of the door. However, it didn’t open.

“Who is it?” It sounded like all one word.

He leaned toward the door. “Jake.” What next? He looked up at the cracked white paint on the chipped wooden trim above the door. “Liz’s friend.”

Nothing for a second and then movement. When the door opened, it was not Liz but a short, blonde girl with suspicious eyes and a hard-as-nails attitude. Jake fought not to look past her as he steeled his nerves.