And the Greatest of These Is Love: A Contemporary Christian Romance Novel (6 page)

His gaze never wavered from gentle though it was laced with some surprise. “Well, to be honest, I admire your determination.”

Despite her best efforts to stop it, to not feel what it felt like to have him look at her like that, she blushed.

Then he smiled softly. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Fighting to get back to angry and in control she glared at him. “Count on it.” And with that, she climbed into her broken down car and slammed the door. The car roared to life, and she drove off leaving him standing right where she’d left him.

Slowly, Andrew turned and walked to the little red sports car that had been so important to him only — when was that? Yesterday? Yes, it was yesterday. But now climbing into it and driving away from here, back to the safety of his own neighborhood made him feel very guilty and very, very selfish. He’d never met anyone like her, and he was pretty sure even as he drove out of the lot that he never would.

Everywhere Gabi turned she saw his eyes — those green eyes that melted her to the very core. Her brain still whispered to her at odd moments that she had seen him somewhere, but where? It wasn’t likely that their paths had crossed in any of the usual places she hung out. And it was clear by the way he talked about the kids that he hadn’t done much “slumming” in his lifetime.

“Face it, Gabi. He’s an arrogant, obnoxious jerk,” Gabi told the can of mushroom soup she held in over the pan. “He’s here for a story, and then he’ll be gone. Forget about him, and concentrate on what’s really important.”

There were only a handful of people left at The Herald by nine-thirty. It was late, and most sane reporters had gone home for the night.

A thousand tiny dots covered the paper that lay in front of him — made by the unconscious tapping of his pencil as his thoughts drifted again back to her as they had repeatedly since she’d driven away. Gabi at the piano, Gabi in the park, Gabi with leaves in her hair. He smiled at that thought. He had so loved seeing her like that.

“Yoo-hoo! Andrew! You in there?” Rob asked from across his desk as he crumpled a piece of paper and sailed it across, pegging Andrew squarely on the forehead.

“Hey! What was that for?” Andrew asked, snapping out of his daydream though not at all happy about it.

“Kersh… Earth to Andrew,” Rob said, speaking into his hands. “Come in, Andrew.”

With no enthusiasm, Andrew leaned back in his chair. “Ha. Ha.”

Rob narrowed his eyes. “Okay, what’s her name?”

“Who’s name?”

“The girl.”

“What girl?” Andrew asked as if he had no idea what Rob was talking about.

“What girl? Yeah, right. I know you better than you know you, Drew, and you’ve got it bad.”

“I do not,” Andrew said defensively, however, he couldn’t meet his friend’s gaze.

Rob grinned. “Oh, you don’t, do you? Yeah. Then let me ask you this. Who gave away the story of his career to his arch enemy?”

Anger and annoyance with himself snapped into him. “I didn’t realize we were arch enemies.”

“In the newspaper business, everyone’s your arch enemy,” Rob said in a brusk matter-of-fact tone as he scrutinized his friend carefully. “And
you
gave this story to
me
on a silver platter. Why?” He narrowed his model-like eyes once again. “To go to Collins? To some ghetto center? A place so far on the wrong side of the tracks they can’t even see the tracks from where they are?”

At one time that joke would’ve been funny, but somehow it seemed truly insulting to Andrew now. Gabi’s tear-streaked face flashed through his mind, and his heart wound around itself at his own arrogance and heartlessness. She didn’t deserve to be relegated to the laughing joke over the water cooler. None of them did.

“A place,” Rob continued as if he thought Drew would join in at any moment, “that last week you would’ve scaled Mount Everest to avoid, and now not only are you doing a story on it, you talked Bill into letting you do a whole series on it?”

“This story’s important,” Andrew said, wishing he had gone home instead of coming here.

Rob’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “More important than taking down a district attorney?”

Andrew just sat there twirling his pencil in his fingers, thinking through the absurdity of it all. Had it been a week ago and the rolls reversed, he would absolutely be asking the same question of Rob, and the truth was, he didn’t have an answer for that one no matter how logical it sounded.

“Is that a no comment, Mr. Clark?” Rob asked, eyeing him closely. He waited for a response, and when it didn’t come, he knew. He leaned back in the chair. “So, what’s her name?”

Andrew stood, annoyed more with himself than with Rob, and walked over to the coffee pot while Rob’s eyes burned holes into his back. Was he throwing away the story of a lifetime, the story that could make his career for a girl who hated his guts? He filled his coffee cup and sipped it slowly on his way back to his desk. He sat down, desperately avoiding Rob’s eyes because his friend knew too much.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Rob finally asked.

A few seconds and checking over his notes, Andrew started typing, hoping Rob would take the hint.

A few more, and Rob shook his head. “All right, but promise me you’ll let me meet her before you run off to Vegas and get hitched.”

Andrew’s was the first car in the center’s parking lot the following morning. It had taken two alarm clocks and a whole pot of coffee, but he was awake, and he was here — waiting.

Gabi pulled slowly into the parking lot and immediately noticed the little red sports car. It wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with pushers on the center’s grounds, but the other time Jerry had been here for back up. And right now his car was nowhere in sight. Fear wound its way through her brain as she contemplated her options. She could just drive away and wait for Jerry, or she could park close enough to the front doors to try to get into the building before they had the chance to get out.

She had one foot on the brake and one on the accelerator, trying to decide what to do when the car door opened and out stepped... Andrew? Her breathing and thought-patterns slammed to a stop. What in the world was he doing here? One more good look, and she knew it was him, now striding across the lot right to her car. She rolled her eyes in disgust, shoved the car in park, and shut it off.
Great. What a wonderful way to start off the morning.

“Hi,” he said, greeting her brightly as she stepped out of the car dragging her stuff and her anger at him out with her.

“Hello.” Formal and cold. That would be best. She slammed the door of her car and without really much of a glance at him, walked purposefully across the lot. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, well, I thought it’d be a good idea to see what a whole day around here is like,” he said, hurrying to keep up with her. His breath made little smoke puffs in the morning air. “Research for my story, you know.”

“Uh-huh.” Her scowl didn’t so much as deter him as he followed her up to the doors. She tipped her head toward the lot. “And the little red number?”

“My car.” He dug his hands deeper into his pockets as his gaze slipped to the hard concrete at their feet.

She wondered vaguely how much that car had cost but quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Who cared anyway?

“So, what time will the parents get here?” Andrew asked as she got the door open, and he caught it on her pull.

“Pretty soon.” With a half-glance, she checked her watch over and through her belongings.

Completely beyond belief, he followed her down the hall. “Are you always the first one here?”

“No, most of the time Jerry beats me. In fact, I’m surprised he’s not here yet,” she said, opening her classroom door and wishing she could figure out how to give him the brush off, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, he followed her inside like he had nowhere better to be on the whole planet.

“So, do you think I could talk to your kids today?” he asked as he fingered the raggedy doll on the shelf.

“My kids?” she asked, stopping cold at her desk and looking at him with a stare that could have frozen ice.

He let go of the doll and came toward her, sliding one hand into the pocket of his pants, looking every bit the handsome big city reporter. “Yeah, I thought they might be able to give me another angle on this place.”

Anger sliced through her. “Oh, they’d give you an angle all right.” She glared at him as if prepared to rip out his liver if he took even one more step toward one of her kids. “But no, I don’t think you can talk to them.”

His gaze slipped into puzzlement just as he got to her desk. “Why not?”

“Because they’re kids, that’s why,” she said, slamming the book in her hand to the desk in annoyed frustration. “Because they might understand what you mean when you say they don’t have a chance, because I don’t want them to worry about the center’s problems, and because I think you are an arrogant, self-centered jerk who will say the wrong thing and crush some poor kid’s spirit and then go back to your little newsroom high up on the hill and leave us to pick up the pieces.”

The anger and passion in her voice echoed throughout the room, and Andrew’s heart fell into his shoes. So she did think he was a jerk. Worse than that, he couldn’t blame her for thinking it. “Gabi...”

“Look, Andrew,” she said, gazing at him evenly. “I know that Jerry thinks your little article thing will help, but personally, I don’t think we need your mightier-than-thou attitude spread around this place. We’ve got enough problems as it is. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a class to prepare for.”

With that and only that, she started rifling through the papers on her desk, and it was clear that this conversation was over. Andrew stood in shocked silence wishing he knew what to say, but he could think of nothing. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind at all. She hated him — that much was obvious, and sticking around here was a very bad idea. He decided to cut his losses and disappear.

“I’m really sorry you feel that way,” he said slowly backing toward the door. “Umm, I guess I’ll be going now.”

And then, he turned on his heel, strode out, and closed the door softly behind him.

The second he was gone, Gabi put her head down and shook it slowly. She didn’t want to be mean to him, but his thoughtless comments tossed out for everyone’s benefit had to stop, and if she had to be mean to get that accomplished, then so be it. At that moment Mrs. Williams knocked on the door, and her day began.

Andrew sat outside Jerry’s office until 7:30, waiting. He watched as harried parents dragged in half-awake children, dropped them off, and then hurried to work. It occurred to him that most of these parents were no different than many of the people he worked with — trying to provide the best they could for their kids and running in circles trying to make that happen.

Gabi was right. This was a world he had done whatever he could to avoid until now. What had Rob said about Everest? How could he be so arrogant? While he worried about what story to work on next, these people were worried about putting food on the table and clothes on little backs. These kids didn’t need a story, they needed people who were willing to get in here and help.

“Good morning, Andrew,” Jerry said, and Andrew heard the fatigue in the older man’s voice. “I didn’t expect you here so early.”

“Good morning, Mr. Richardson.” Andrew stood. “I was kind of hoping we could talk.”

“Sure. Come on in,” Jerry said, unlocking his door and putting his belongings down in the office. Going around the desk, he settled himself heavily in the chair and turned his full attention to Andrew. “What’s up?”

Andrew carefully sat down in the dark wooden chair opposite the desk. “Well, Mr. Richardson, I really appreciate all you’ve done to help me with this story, but I’ve been thinking...”

Uh-oh. Here it comes
went through Jerry’s eyes, but he said nothing.

“To tell you the truth, I think I might be able to learn more about this place if I maybe volunteer for the rest of the week,” Andrew said as if each word might get him taken out and beaten. This was definitely territory he had never been in before, asking for something even he himself didn’t fully understand.

Jerry’s eyebrows wrinkled his forehead. “Volunteer? Here?”

“I just thought it might give me a better feel for the place if I worked instead of just watched.”

“And what exactly do you want to volunteer to do?”

“Anything you need,” Andrew said suddenly finding strength inside himself that he didn’t even know was there.

The surprise on Jerry’s face fell somewhere between disbelief and distrust. “What hours?”

“Six ‘til whenever,” Andrew said, hoping his resolve could get him out of bed again that early tomorrow morning.

For a long moment Jerry sat, contemplating this turn of events. “During the morning we just have the little ones, you know, until school gets out that is. Then the older kids come. Do you play basketball?”

“I have,” Andrew said slowly.

Jerry nodded. “Well, I could set you up to play with some of the boys in the afternoon. We don’t have many men who volunteer, so I think that’d be good for the kids.” He nodded some more. “As far as the mornings go, all we have is the little ones.” His gaze became skeptical and challenging. “How are you with babies?”

“Babies?” Andrew shifted with his elbows on the chair. “Uh…?”

“That’s our most urgent need right now, but if you don’t feel comfortable with that...”

“Oh, no. Uh, that’d be fine.” What parallel universe had he fallen into?

“Great. So, when can you start?”

“Well, I think I should probably go home and change right now,” Andrew said, looking down at his suit and tie, “but as soon as I get back, I’ll be ready.”

“Great. Come see me when you get here, and I’ll get you set up.”

The kids were playing duck-duck-goose on the browning grass as Gabi watched them, wondering how many more times she would get to witness this scene. After her outburst this morning, she was sure she’d blown every chance the center had of staying open. Why did he have to be so aggravating? He should’ve gotten his story and been done with it. What was he trying to prove doing a six-part story anyway? That he cared? What a joke.

Andrew Clark cared about one thing and one thing only — himself, and she hated him for that.

Never in his life had Andrew heard such screaming. The wails seemed to emanate from the very walls. His fellow workers were doing their best to calm the babies, but the more one screamed, the more they all screamed. It was becoming clear that separating them was the only way to get them to stop.

“Why don’t I take a couple of them down the hall?” he finally asked in frustration. “I can push them in this stroller. At least that’ll get two of them calmed down.”

Haley, the lead babysitter, was at wit’s end and quickly agreed.

“Why don’t you take Eric here and Charissa?” she asked quickly, handing Eric to him and pointing out one of the little black children screaming from a crib.

“Got it.” Andrew held Eric and struggled to get the rickety stroller to cooperate. It looked like it needed some major maintenance, but he had no time to worry about that now. He placed the two little ones in the stroller and headed for the door.

As soon as the door closed behind him, he literally thanked God that it shut off most of the noise. His nerves were shot. However, Charissa was still crying her little eyes out in the stroller.

“Hey, there,” Andrew said, squatting down in front of it to see the two babies. “Whoa. It’s okay, we’re just gonna go for a little walk down the hall. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

Charissa eyed him warily and stuck her fist in her mouth as she choked back the tears. Sensing he had the upper-hand in the situation, Andrew quickly went around the stroller and started pushing it. Even the sobs began to subside, and his head was finally left in peace. He hummed to himself as he walked slowly to the main lobby. He could almost hear the piano music again though the only sound was his own footsteps.

The situation was heating up at the courthouse across town. The DA had been indefinitely suspended, and the authorities had begun their investigation. At noon, the police chief and federal agents made a statement to the press regarding the progress of the investigation, but the reporter who’d risked his life to break the original story was not among the throng gathered at the courthouse steps.

Even the griminess of the large windows couldn’t dim the sunshine pouring in from outside them. In the lobby, Andrew gently lifted Charissa out of the stroller being very careful not to disturb Eric who had miraculously fallen asleep during their ambling walk around the building.

“Hey, little one, how are you?” He cradled her tiny body next to his chest, and she cooed and looked up at him with wide dark eyes. “Yeah, I think you had enough of that room, too. That’s what I think. Don’t worry though. Everything’s all right now, you’re with me, and there won’t be any screaming here.” He swiped his hand through the dusty rays coming in from the window beyond. “See the pretty sunshine. It’s warm, isn’t it? Yeah. It feels good, so good.”

They sat then enjoying the beauty of the sunshine while Andrew ticked off the things that needed fixed around them. The windows needed washed really badly, and the curtains were rags. The couch he was sitting on was just springs on a platform, and the whole room could use a good coat of paint.

But somehow with Eric sleeping beside him, and Charissa curled up in his arms, none of that really mattered at the moment, so he turned off his critical eye, and for the first time in a very, very long time, he simply relaxed and enjoyed being alive.

It was a constant battle to keep the cloying depression from taking up residence in her heart. Gabi did everything she could think of, but the second her mind wasn’t occupied with something else, it slid back to Andrew, then to the doomed article, then inexorably to the doomed existence of the center. Jerry was going to kill her when he found out, but she hadn’t seen him all day. And to be truthful she had avoided any chance encounter with him like the plague.

However, there was no denying he would be furious when he found out, but there was nothing she could do about that now. If only Andrew had been the nice guy she had thought him to be that first day in the hallway. She sighed at that. He wasn’t. That guy was a figment of her overactive imagination, and that was all there would ever be to it.