Save My Soul (13 page)

I looked at the hopeless case and a
light bulb came on above my head. She was about my size, and her
skin tone was almost the same as mine. I looked at my watch again.
10:10 a.m. Well, at least she was early.

I grabbed the girl's arm and pulled
her through the house to my bathroom. "Get in the shower and scrub
all that stuff off your face. Wash and condition your hair. I'm
going to try and find you some things of mine to wear." She didn't
argue with me. I didn't know if it was because I sounded angry, or
maybe she wanted someone to help her.

I found three outfits for her to wear.
They were some of my best clothes, but the girl wouldn't have them
on for very long. I opened the door enough to get my arm through,
and I hung the hangers with the clothes, on a hook inside the
door.

"Put one of these outfits on when you
get out," I looked at my watch again. "And hurry. If we aren't
finished by 11:25 we'll have to end our session early." I didn't
mean to sound rude, but damn.

The door opened, and the girl still
looked bad, but she had potential. I had her sit on a stool I keep
in the bathroom. I use it when I don't want to stand up to get
ready. No joke, I am lazy sometimes. I finished removing her
mascara and eyeliner, she looked like a raccoon. She already looked
99% better than she had when I opened my front door.

I told her that her foundation was too
dark. Then I told her to make sure it matched her skin tone in the
future, or she shouldn't wear any at all. I applied my foundation
to her face while she watched in the mirror. Someone had to teach
her. I dusted her with loose powder then gave her a precision line
on the tops of her lids with my eyeliner. I explained everything I
was doing, and showed her how to put it on herself. We went through
blushes, eye shadows, mascaras and lip glosses. When I finished
with her makeup, her eyes began to tear-up.

"No, don't," I fanned at her face.
"This mascara isn't waterproof."

I took the towel off her head then
turned her to face me. I used the blow dryer to make her hair
straight. She actually had very pretty, long hair. I used my flat
iron and straightened her hair even more to give it a style. I
could tell her hair had a natural, nasty wave like mine.

When I was finished, I wanted to weep.
I cursed myself for not taking a photo of her before the fix, so
she could see just how bad she had looked. She was very pretty now.
If I went to school with this girl, I wouldn't have recognized her
after this fix.

"Everyone is going to think there's a
hot new student in their school." I turned her to face the mirror.
She screamed then started to cry fresh new tears. I fanned at her
face again. "Michelle, you're going to have to stop that. You are
ruining everything I've created."

She threw her arms around me and
hugged me tight. "I know, and I'm sorry, but no one has ever cared
enough to show me anything."

I wiped under her eyes with a tissue
then powdered her up again. I pointed at her. "No more tears until
after we're through with the shots."

She nodded and smiled shyly. I grabbed
the other two outfits in one hand and pulled her to my studio with
the other.

I got some really great shots of her.
Those senior guys won't know what hit them when she walks through
the door on the first day back to school from summer
break.

When we were finished, Michelle put
her old clothes back on. She looked a little depressed when she
walked out of the bathroom holding a small wad of money.

"You don't have to pay the sitting
fee. Go buy yourself a new outfit Michelle." her eyes lit
up.

"Do you really mean it?" She began to
tear-up again, but I was finished with her shots, so I didn't care
if she cried a river.

I nodded and smiled back at her. "Only
if you promise that you won't tell anybody about today. I want you
to walk in that school with your head held high, and let everyone
see how beautiful you are. I'm not taking credit for this, mainly
because I don't want a bunch of teenagers at my door wanting beauty
tips." I looked at my watch. 11:24 a.m.

"Go on now, I'm running late."
Michelle hugged and thanked me again, then out the door she went,
with me right behind her.

I drove like a bat out of hell, mainly
because I knew that when I reached the outskirts of the city, I was
going to be creeping with the noon rush hour traffic.

I arrived at Cavernous five minutes
late. Maybe he hadn't given up on me. I opened the door of the
little corner restaurant and walked in. It was packed, and there
were people waiting to be seated, sitting on benches by the door. I
scanned them for Adam, and when I didn't see him on the benches, I
went up to the front of the line. A few people gave me dirty looks,
but I wasn't cutting in front of them; well I guess I was, but I
was hoping Adam was already seated at our table.

The hostess looked up and gave me a
fake smile. "Party of one?"

"No, I'm meeting someone. Chamberlain,
Adam Chamberlain."

The girl gave me a funny look, then
said, "Right this way." What was that about?

I followed her through the main dining
room, then into another room that was almost as big. She led me to
a corner booth at the far end of the room. It was still crowded,
but there was not as much noise. I spotted Adam, and he rose from
his side of the booth to greet me.

"Sorry I'm late. My last appointment
was a fixer-upper." He smiled as I sat, then he sat too.

"No worries. I took the liberty of
ordering you a glass of Chardonnay. I didn't know what you would
want, so I ordered what you had last night." Had he noticed that
much about my date with Mason?

I really looked at him then. There was
a dark shadow around his left eye. "What happened to your
eye?"

He gave a nervous laugh. "I was hoping
you wouldn't notice. One of the nurses went over it a little with
some of her makeup. It looks a lot worse without it."

"I'd imagine it would. What happened?"
Had Mason done this out of jealousy? If he had, I wouldn't be
taking or returning any of his calls. He knew I had to see Adam
this week.

"Sherri didn't take too kindly to the
way I acted toward you last night. She got the impression that I
was more interested in you than I was in her." He'd made the same
impression on me, but I wasn't going to let him know that I had
noticed.

I focused on the menu, because I
didn't know what to say. The waitress walked up with my wine about
that time, saving me from having to speak to Adam right away. I
normally didn't drink alcoholic beverages during the day, but the
waitress set a glass of water on the table beside my wine, maybe he
wouldn't notice if I didn't drink what he ordered me.

"Are you ready to order, Ma'am, or do
you need another minute?" I looked at Adam and he motioned for me
to go ahead.

"I'll have the chicken salad sandwich
with chips please," I said, and she jotted it down on her ticket
book then turned to Adam.

"I'll have the same," He said to her,
but he was looking at me.

When we were alone again, I felt
awkward. What could I say to him? I knew I had more work to do with
converting him to Christianity, but where the hell should I start?
I didn't want to discuss the loss of his family. I knew the reason
he didn't believe, but it wasn't making my task any
easier.

"I want to apologize for the way I
acted yesterday, Kendra." Did he mean at the cemetery, or last
night? I was betting on the cemetery.

"You are forgiven. You already
apologized to me on my machine. I got the message."

"Ask him why the sudden
change of heart?"
Rhyan said in my head,
and I didn't question him; he was trying to help me. It was about
time.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" I
repeated aloud to Adam.

He turned his head to the side and
stared at me a moment. He shook his head like he was clearing his
thoughts. "I was a jerk, but I was only taking you out there so you
would understand and then leave me alone. I didn't expect for you
to not see it the way I do. You intrigue me."

"How so?" I asked.

"You are so dedicated to this task.
Anyone else would think you are a crazy woman. I still haven't
ruled that out."

So he did think I was crazy. "I'm not
crazy. There are a lot of terrible things that happen in this world
that no one can do anything about. I'm sorry that you lost your
family, but you didn't lose your life. Look what you've made of
yourself. You are an excellent surgeon. You have saved countless
lives…"

"Two hundred and thirty-two, counting
you." And I was very happy to be on that list of
survivors.

"Fine, you have saved two hundred and
thirty-two lives. Do you not think there is a reason for
that?"

The waitress showed up with our food.
She asked if we needed anything else, and Adam told her that we
didn't.

He sighed. "I don't know what to do. I
don't want to believe there is a God. I can't believe that if there
was, he would make decisions to destroy so many innocent lives. I
became a surgeon because…the lives that he decides to take; I make
sure they stay here where they are supposed to be. I lost you twice
on the O.R. table, but I didn't give up, and look where you are
now."

"And you think if something happens to
me Friday, that you will be able to keep me here…by
operating?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "If your
head is still attached, and your heart is in one piece, then the
answer is yes."

I covered my face with my
hands.
"Help me, Rhyan."

"You aren't going to be
able to talk God into his head, Kendra. You're going to have to
show him. What did I tell you yesterday? He needs to know
love."

I sighed again. What did I have to
lose by trying? My life and soul were already at stake. My problem
was, I'd never been in love myself. How did I show him something I
had never experienced for myself? I loved my family, my friends,
and even Hercules, but from what I'd heard, the kind of L-O-V-E
Rhyan was talking about was different. I'd never felt that kind of
love. I think I was afraid to.

"You can do this. Get to
know him. He's your soulmate…unfortunately."

I removed my hands from my face and
looked at Adam. He was staring at me with squinted eyes, like he
was trying to figure out what I was thinking. I didn't think I had
said anything out loud. "What are you doing the rest of the
day?"

He sat back in his seat and sighed.
"You just don't give up, do you?" I shook my head. He stared at me
another brief moment before responding. "I have a surgery at
one-thirty. It shouldn't take over an hour and a half. I should be
leaving the hospital by three, but I'm on call. Why?"

"Come to my house when you're
finished." I grabbed my purse and retrieved my wallet out of
it.

"I got the bill, Kendra. Where are you
going? Aren't you going to eat?"

"We aren't settling anything here, and
I have a few things to do before my next appointment." I said as I
stood, then I put a ten on the table. "It wasn't a date, remember?
If it isn't a date, then you don't get to pay for my
meal."

"But…" He began to talk, but I cut him
off.

"Call me when you get off and I'll
give you directions to my house," I said over my shoulder as I
walked away from him.

I wished I'd gotten a to-go box. My
sandwich and chips were still sitting on the table at the
restaurant, and I was hungry. Damn.

I had lied to Adam. I didn't have
anything to do before my appointments this afternoon, but I
couldn't sit there and argue with him any longer. I'd thought the
"not a date" would have went smoother. I was praying that it would
go better when he got to my house. I sighed.

"Rhyan, I need some company, care to
pop in?" I said out loud, and then I heard the loud pop. It was a
lot louder in the confined space of the car than out in the open,
or even in my house.

I stuck my finger in my ear and
wiggled it, trying to get the ringing to stop. "I would do anything
for you, Kendra." he said with a grin.

I smiled at him. Man, he was handsome.
I think he got better looking every time I saw him.

His grin spread and I blushed. I had
forgotten that he could read my mind.

"I think I'll visit you more often."
he said.

"Stop," I said and glared at
him.

"Why did you walk out on him at the
restaurant?"

I shrugged. "We weren't getting
anywhere, and I was getting frustrated. I can't get into his heart
by sitting across a table from him in a crowded
restaurant."

He gave me a puzzled look. "Sooo, how
are you going to get into his heart later when he stops
by?"

I smiled. "By getting into his
pants."

His jaw dropped, and his grin was long
gone. "I am definitely going to have to find something to distract
myself later. I can't watch you be with him. I know it's meant to
be but," he sighed and looked sad again. "I love you, Kendra. There
have been many times that I would sit and fantasize about being
with you…like that."