God In The Kitchen (9 page)

            I left the diner that afternoon soaring and sad at the same time. I was ecstatic that I was going to see Chloe again. Not because I was interested in her, but because she really deserved a break from her everyday life. And I was excited that she was bringing Ian to the concert. I would get to see the little guy experience the bright lights and loud noises for the very first time.

            As I sat in the back of the cab I had called to pick me up and take me back to the station, I thought about the arrangements I had made with Chloe. I would drop her tickets off at the will call window since I had to be inside to set up and we would meet in row 2 after I introduced the group on the stage.

            It wasn’t an intimate setting. It wasn’t even a date. It was just me doing another favor for this mom, who I barely knew.

            The cab driver turned on his left signal, which clacked noisily as if it needed its own muffler. I wondered why I wanted to do things for Chloe. What was it about her that brought out this side of me?

            Apparently, I didn’t think it was enough to fix everything that was wrong on her car without her even asking. I had to invite her and her son to a concert as well and see if I could meddle any further.

            I could still picture Ian’s wispy blonde hair and freckled face. His mother said he wasn’t going to have the second surgery he needed and for whatever reason, I needed to know why. I wanted to fix things for him. It wasn’t fair that I had gotten so many years on the planet and he had been allowed so few.

            I smiled as I thought of Chloe’s excitement when I waved goodbye. She had been to a concert before, but not very many. I knew she was more excited for her son than for herself.

            The cab lurched to a stop as I planned out the rest of my day. By the time I got back to my car, tended to a few things in the office, and made it home, I wouldn’t really have much time. After a long morning in the diner, I felt like I needed a warm shower. I smelled like bacon and eggs and that didn’t go over well at rock concerts.

            Once I got home, I would climb into the shower, and then go directly from there to the couch. I wanted to be fresh for the evening’s events, for both the listeners and Chloe and her son.

            I heard the turn signal blare again as the cab pulled into the station parking lot. The ambulance was parked haphazardly in its normal spot. I could tell Jim had left it in a hurry, though I was sure he had already unloaded the equipment from the back.

            I paid the driver, stepped out of the cab, and strolled across the parking lot to peek inside the vehicle. It was sunny and the blacktop was hot. I couldn’t quite feel the steam of its heat on the soles of my feet, but I knew it was close.

            Once inside, I answered a few emails. Then, I opened my desk drawer to grab a pen and found Abigail’s book staring at me.

            So I hadn’t gotten a chance to read it yet. That didn’t make what I had felt for her any less real.

            I then let Abigail’s face envelop my thoughts. The way her hand felt in mine…the way her teeth permeated her smile…the way her curls bounced over her shoulders. I was falling fast.

            I thought about calling her, but then I remembered I had told her I would call Sunday and I didn’t want to seem too anxious. I wanted to do what I promised.

            I closed the drawer guiltily, knowing that I was not going to read the book that afternoon.

            I swiveled around in my chair and stood to leave in one fluid motion. I was looking forward to my afternoon of solitude, though the hours were dwindling and I wouldn’t have all that much time left to shower and lounge.

            More than that, though, I was looking forward to the concert. I couldn’t wait to see Chloe’s reaction and I dreamed that her son’s eyes would light up as the sounds met his ears. There might not be much I could do to change Chloe’s situation, whatever it was, but at least I could give her tonight.

            I showered and I lounged, as planned, though I had to shorten my lounging time in order to make it to the concert venue an hour before the doors opened. The afternoon guy was driving the ambulance over to the stadium with all of the promotional items we needed. I just needed to be on hand to help unload and set up.

            I managed to get to the stadium a few minutes early so I sat in my car and thought about how things might go that evening. I hoped that I would have the energy I needed to schmooze with the listeners. I really wanted to save the best of myself for Chloe and Ian. It was going to be a different kind of experience attending a concert with a little family.

            I saw the ambulance arrive, though I heard it chugging through the parking lot first. I waited for Ricky, the afternoon guy to pull up right in front of the stadium and park in a slanted, well visible location.

            I jogged over to the ambulance and waited as Ricky got out and came around to unlock the back doors.

            “Hey man,” Ricky said. “Ready for tonight?”

            It didn’t matter what Ricky said, he couldn’t turn his radio voice off. Some people sounded different on the radio than they did off. Ricky always sounded the same. When he talked about his weekend or a movie he had just watched, all you had to do was close your eyes and it was like you were listening to him on the radio.

            It was sort of a strange phenomenon and he was often the butt of friendly jokes because of it. “Ricky Radio,” we would call him.

            “Sure thing,” I said.

            We began carting things into the stadium. We didn’t need all that much. Just the promotions box and a few banners, but it still took us each two trips.

            Once we had everything inside, we were led to a long table near the entrance. We would set all of our things up there and hang out with listeners as they came in for the concert.

            The concert was going to be a first for me in a number of ways. Not only was I going to have guests other than my parents, but I was going to be enjoying the music of this particular band myself in person for the first time.

            The band was called simply “This” and I often wondered how they had chosen such an obscure name. I hoped I would get to ask them backstage before I introduced them to the crowd.

            “This” had a reputation for crossing many different musical lines. They were a rock group, first and foremost, but they were also becoming very mainstream. They were even inspirational and some of their songs had been picked up by Christian radio stations.

I was excited about hearing them live because “This” had touched my own life. Their latest song, “Home to You” was more of a ballad and it was something I couldn’t seem to stop hearing when I was home tending to my father’s funeral details.

It was a tough song to hear because it brought up a lot of emotions, but at the same time, it was so hauntingly beautiful.

Ricky and I set up in record time and he managed to wrangle a chair from another table so he assumed his favorite position-leaned back, feet on the table, hands behind his head.

“What’s new man?” he asked. It was another one of his habits. Everyone was “man,” even women.

“Not much,” I shrugged. Not wanting to get into details about Abigail, Chloe, or anything else I had going on in my personal life. I knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Ricky was also the type of guy that could talk about nothing for hours on end without noticing that no one was listening.

When Ricky began to wonder out loud why the leaves on trees were only certain colors instead of involving all of the colors of the rainbow, I began to hope it was about time for the doors to open.

I got my wish and shortly after Ricky decided fall would be even better if there were purple and blue leaves on trees, the stadium security began unlocking all of the doors to let the crowds into the venue.

The seating was all assigned, but people were too excited about this concert to wait until the last minute. Plus, many of them would want to buy merchandise and browse some of the promotional tables that were set up.

The flow of listeners steadily streamed past as Ricky’s laugh rang through the hallway and I shook too many hands to count.

“You’re Jared Jones?!” they said in a surprised voice. “You look nothing like I thought you would.”

And so the night had officially started. It was something I was used to hearing, though I never got used to the descriptions they gave as to what they thought I would look like.

“I sure thought you’d be taller.”

“You should be more ethnic.”

“Did you ever have a mustache?”

I didn’t, but the woman thought I certainly should have had one because apparently I sounded like I had one. It was amusing, to say the least.

By the time Chloe walked in the door with Ian on her hip, the smile I had plastered on my face was beginning to hurt. When I saw her, however, my smile was genuine once again.

“Hey,” she said, walking up to the booth as I got a side-glance from Ricky.

“I’m glad you made it,” I returned, trying to get a look at Ian, who had his head buried in Chloe’s dark hair, which sparkled under the fluorescent lights. She was wearing it down and it was much prettier than it had been in a braid.

“Me too,” she said. “Ian’s really excited, aren’t you baby?”

Ian nodded quickly and continued to hide from me.

“He’s a little shy,” she explained, “but he’ll warm up to you.” Then to Ian she said, “This is the man who gave us the tickets.”

Ian pulled himself away from his mom and turned in my direction. His eyes grew wide as they looked me up and down and his face turned from serious to delighted. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was excited.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Chloe said, reaching into the purse she had slung over the other shoulder, “you must have dropped this back at the diner.” She held out a small slip of paper that I recognized as the check Cal had given me to pass on to the sales department.

“Thank you,” I said, feeling a rush of relief run through my veins. I hadn’t even noticed it was gone. What would I have done if that had gotten into the wrong hands?

            I didn’t admit to Chloe that I didn’t know it was missing. Nor did I tell her how much it meant for me that she was the one to find it.

            “See you in there,” she said, turning away from the table and hauling Ian into the venue to find their seats.

            I nodded and waved and watched her walk away, wondering why Ian didn’t walk on his own. It looked a little awkward, her carrying him. He was obviously big enough and old enough to get around on his own. Maybe he was just scared with all of the people around.

            “Not much, huh Jones?” Ricky said, suddenly appearing at my side.

            “What?” I asked, trying to arrange the window stickers on the table into an orderly design once again.

            “I asked you what was up earlier and you said ‘not much.’ If you ask me, that girl is much more than ‘not much,’” Ricky had two fingers of each hand in the air, creating quotation marks as he elbowed me in the side. “I’m going to need some details, man. Lots of details.”

            Luckily, Ricky’s biggest fan, an older woman who always said she listened to him every day came up to the table at that point. I was able to sneak away so I could get backstage and prepare for the introduction I was going to do on stage in a little while.

            As I snaked my way past the “restricted access” signs and flashed my pass to several guards, I wondered what I would have told Ricky had we had more time.