Love And Coffee: A Cup Of Grace Romance Series Book 1 (10 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

              It was our two-month anniversary, so Jillian and Kathryn insisted that Matt and I leave the shop early.  I felt so guilty leaving the cleanup to them, but when they insisted, I decided to go along with it.  No sense in arguing, right?  The problem was, Matt and I were so tired that the thought of actually getting dressed and going out to eat was much more exhausting than we were capable of pulling off.

              So here we sat, in Matt’s car in the parking space at our apartments.  We had gone through the drive-thru at Wendy’s.  Matt had sweetly insisted that I get anything I wanted off the menu.  Isn’t he wonderful? So I went for it and bought a Baconator.  Yup, sweet little delicate me.  I was starving.  I also decided to celebrate our relationship with a large chocolate frosty.  My favorite.

              “I think this is the best Frosty I have ever had in my life,” I said between mouthfuls of the cold, delicious choclatiness.

              “It is pretty good, isn’t it?” he said.  “Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached around behind his seat and pulled out a single red rose in a glass vase.  “For you.  The most specialist person I have ever met,” he said with a grin.

              “Oh my gosh, Matt!  That is so sweet!  I love it!”  I took it from him and put it in the cup holder next to me.  “I will cherish this moment forever.” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss, hoping it wasn’t too greasy from the Baconator.

              “You better.  Because I’m too tired to give you any more moments like it,” he said.

              I laughed.  “Me too.”

              “I am so tired,” he said, laying his head back on the seat.  “Maybe sending out resumes to other newspapers in town would have been a lot easier than this.  In fact, I’m sure it would have been.”

              “Yes, but then we wouldn’t have been able to spend as much time together as we have been,” I answered.  “And I know that makes it all worth while.”

              “True. And I wouldn’t know that A, you owned a HAZMAT suit, and B, bugs make you scream like a little girl.  And vomit.  Lots of vomiting.  In fact, I’ve experienced more vomit since I met you than I have in many, many years.”

              “See what you would have missed?” I said, taking another bite of my Frosty.

              “Yes, you’re right.  This career path is the one for me.  No doubt about it.”

              I sighed, scraped out the bottom of my Frosty, and wished I had another one.  “What would I do without you? How did I make it this far in life without you?”

              “I have no idea,” he said.  “I suppose it’s about time we went in, but I don’t know if I can get out of the car.  It’s a long walk to my front door,” he said.

              “Oh I know.  Like fifteen yards at least,” I answered.  “I suppose we could just sleep here in the car.”

              “I’m all for it.  But the neighbors might talk.” He gave me a smirkey smile.

              “I don’t care about neighbors right now.  If they have any complaints, they can come and carry me into the apartment.”

              Matt chuckled.  “That’s what I like about you.”

              “What?”

              “You’re funny.  And you don’t care what people think about you.”

              I smiled warily.  “I do care.  It just seems like no one cares that I care.  So what’s the point?”

              “I care,” he said quietly.

              “I know you do,” I said and laid my head on his shoulder.

              “As much as I hate to break up a good thing, we better get inside.  Morning is going to come way too soon,” he said after a few moments.

              I groaned.  “Ok, if you insist.”

              I opened the car door, forcing my sore, tired muscles to move, and got out of the car.  “Oh,” I said under my breath.  Jillian and Kathryn’s cars weren’t in their parking spots.  “The girls must still be working.”

              I walked stiffly towards the door with Matt slowly shuffling alongside me.  Hmm, that’s funny.  There was a paper stuck on my door.  I glanced at Matt’s door, but no paper.  “Wonder what that is?” I said out loud.

              “Let’s see,” Matt said and reached for the paper when we got to the door.  “Uh oh.”

              “What?” I said warily.

              I read by the porch light.
Eviction Notice
.  “What?  What on earth?”

              I pulled my key out of my pocket and turned it in the lock.  “Why would they do this?” I said.  Then I read that the reason for eviction was non-payment of rent.

              “How can that be?” I exclaimed.  We always pay our rent on time!”

              “That’s weird,” Matt said, following me into the apartment.  “Maybe they put the notice on the wrong door?”

              “No, it has our apartment number,” I said.  I glanced at the clock.  It was way too late to call the manager.  “This is crazy.”

              “Check your bank account.  Maybe something went wrong with the check?” Matt suggested.

              “I didn’t write a check.  I withdrew cash for my part of the rent and gave it to Jillian to pay,” I said, trailing off.  “You don’t think?” I said looking at him.

              He gave me a crooked grin.  “Well, the manager isn’t that cute, so I can’t imagine there was a problem there.”

              “Funny,” I said. 

              “I’m sure there’s some kind of mistake and as soon as Jillian gets here, it will be straightened out.  She surely got some kind of receipt if she gave him cash.  Right?”

              “I certainly hope so.  I don’t want to be living in my car.  I don’t have the cash to put out on a new apartment rental with first month and security deposit and all that.”

              I heard a key in the lock and headed toward the door.  I pulled it open before Kathryn could get it open. 

              “Well, hello!” she said with a little jump.  “Did you two have a nice evening?”

              “I did.  But then I didn’t,” I said and handed her the notice.  I looked over her shoulder at Jillian.  “Did you pay the rent?”

              “Of course I did,” she said sweetly.  And then a look came over her face.

              “What does that look mean?” I asked.

              “I think I might have forgotten,” she said.

              “How could you forget something like that?” Kathryn asked, staring at her. 

              “Oh, I don’t know.  We’ve had so much going on with the shop, that I guess I forgot.  I think.  I mean, I don’t know.  I think I forgot.”

              Kathryn handed her the eviction notice.

              She took it and read it.  “Okay, well, I guess that solves that mystery.  I did forget.”

              “I’m sure it will be fine if you just explain it to the manager and pay the rent,” Matt said.

              “I’m sorry guys,” Jillian said and walked over to the sofa and threw herself down on it.  “I just keep messing things up.”

              I sighed.  I didn’t want to be mean to Jillian, but I was really tired and I didn’t need another problem just then.  “Well, can you please take care of it in the morning?”

              “I will.”

              I could hear tears in her voice and I felt bad.  We were all starting to stress out just a little with all that was going on at the shop.  Plus having almost no time off made things even harder.

              “It says here at the bottom that there’s a $500.00 reinstatement fee if we want to stay.  Plus all the back rent,” Kathryn said.

              “What?  Are you kidding?  What happened to just making up what we owe?” I said.  Five hundred dollars.  I blinked.  And then I blinked again.

              “I’m sorry.  I’ll pay it,” Jillian said.

              “Jillian, why don’t you give me the money we gave you?  I’ll go down to the rental office tomorrow morning and see if I can talk the manager out of charging the fee,” Kathryn said.

              “He’s a reasonable guy. I’m sure he will understand,” Matt said.  “That seems like a steep fee.  I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

              Jillian jumped up and went to our bedroom.  She reappeared a few minutes later with money in her hand.  “It looks like I might have spent some of it,” she said.  “I’m so sorry!”

              Kathryn sighed and held her hand out.  She counted it once, and then counted it a second time.  “We need another three hundred dollars.”

              “Wow.”  That was all I trusted myself to say.

              “I’ll go to the bank tomorrow and get the rest,” Kathryn said.

              Jillian ran to our room crying.

              We all sat around staring dejectedly at the floor.  Money was going to be an issue.  Especially if it was in Jillian’s hand.

              “Well, I guess we’ve learned a valuable lesson,” I said.

              “What’s that?” Kathryn asked without looking up.

              “Some people cannot handle money.  And we should not trust money to said people.”

              “Agreed,” Kathryn said.

              “Okay,” I sighed. “It’s late.  I need a shower and I need sleep.  I’ll speak to Jillian after she has a few minutes to herself.  And after I have calmed down.”

              “Okay, sounds good,” Kathryn, said.  “I’m beat, too.”

              “I better get going,” Matt said, standing up. 

              I walked him to the door.  He turned around to look at me before leaving.  “Happy anniversary,” he whispered and gave me a quick kiss.

              “Happy anniversary,” I said.  “It was a really good one.”

              He smiled.

              I wondered if we were celebrating an anniversary if that meant we were an actual couple.  You know, going steady?  What was it that you called it when you were a twenty-something adult?  I liked going steady.  I thought I would try it out on him tomorrow and see how he liked it.  I giggled to myself.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

              We sat at a corner table in a cute little French restaurant down the street from Cup of Grace.  I had gone all out, dressing in the cute little black dress that I had wanted to wear on our first date.  I had picked Matt up.  Of course, he lived next door to me, so that was easy.  It was Matt’s twenty-ninth birthday and I wanted to take him to a real restaurant.  See?  I’m not always cheap.

              The place was quiet.  It was a Tuesday night and I guess they didn’t see a whole lot of business on Tuesday nights.

              “So, what kinds of goals do you have your twenty-ninth year, Mr. Matt? I asked taking a sip of my water.

              He looked at me thoughtfully.  “You know, I don’t really know.  I mean, I kind of know.  But I don’t feel like I have all the details just yet.”

              “I see.  And what does it feel like to be nearly out of your twenties?” I asked in my best reporter type voice.  “You’re nearly an old man, you know.”  I wanted to hear more of his thoughts.  Sometimes it felt like we were so busy at the shop that I never got to really hear what was on his mind.  I made a mental note to make sure that we had a little quiet time every day.  Just so we could focus on us.

              “It feels kind of strange.  I mean, my twenties have been great.  But I keep feeling like there should be more to it.  Don’t you?” he asked, looking deep into my eyes.

              “Kind of,” I said.  For some reason his question made me feel uncomfortable.  I realized that since we had opened the shop, we hadn’t made much time for church.  I sighed. 

              “What?” he asked.

              “I just feel like it wasn’t supposed to be like this.  All this busyness.  I mean, we wanted to open a Christian based business, but here we are, ignoring God.  I might be a little bit frustrated,” I admitted.

              “Exactly.  We need to make a change,” he said.  He broke open a French roll and spread butter on it.

              “You know what?  No more being open on Sunday.  I am making an executive decision,” I said.  “That was kind of dumb call to begin with.  I’m not sure what we were thinking.”

              He looked at me.  “Really?  I was going to suggest that we should push back opening time.  But closed is good.  In fact, closed is better.”

              “Yes.  I mean, look, we are all exhausted and there’s no end in sight.  We need a rest day.  I think if we put God first in this, don’t you think He will honor that?  And bless us on the other days because of it?”

              He smiled.  “I like how you think.  You’re right, we need to be closed.”

              Exactly.  Now I just needed to convince Jillian and Kathryn.  Although, with as worn out as they were, it probably wouldn’t be a hard sell.  I just hoped we really could afford to do it.  The radio programs had begun today and we had heard one on the way to the restaurant.  I hadn’t seen much increase in sales yet, but it was only the first day, so I wasn’t worried about it.

              The waitress brought us our food.  I had ordered bouillabaisse for starters and quiche Lorraine for a main course.  Matt ordered escargot and coq au vin.  Snails.  Gross.  The nasty little things were still in their shells and some sort of green sauce poured on them.  All I could see in my mind’s eye was them leaving a slime trail a cross my front step.  I suddenly wished I had my HAZMAT suit with me. 

              “You aren’t really going to eat those, are you?” I asked. Part of me wanted to vomit.  My stomach twisted and I looked away.

              “Of course I am,” he said.  “It would be a complete waste of money to let them just sit there all curled up and slimy like that.  They were meant to be enjoyed.” He picked one up.  “Want a bite?

              “I think I might be sick,” I said. My stomach turned some more and I wondered where the rest room was located.  I looked away as he put it into his mouth.

              “Mmm, mmm,” he said for my benefit, no doubt. 

              “That’s disgusting,” I said and peeked at him with one eye.  “Have you had those before?”

              “Sure have.  I went to France after high school.  It was a great trip that my parents gave me for graduation.” 

              “Wow.  France?  That must have been awesome,” I said and took a spoonful of my bouillabaisse.  I had never had it before and it was really good.             

“Yes it was.  I would love to go back some day,” he said and picked up another one.  “It would be a very romantic trip if we went together.”

              I couldn’t watch and I turned away.  “Maybe you could eat all of those at once?  Otherwise I might have to go home and get my HAZMAT suit.  Really.”

              He laughed. “Now that would be an evening worthy of a memory.”

              I looked down at my meal instead of looking at him.  Not exactly the way that I wanted to spend a romantic evening, but until those nasty slugs were gone, it would have to be.

              “All right, here goes nothing,” he said and he began to pick them off one by one.  After a couple of minutes, he said, “There, I’m done.”

              I sighed.  Finally.

              “So?  France?” he asked.

              I looked at him, smiled, and made a mental note to not kiss him after he had eaten those nasty things.  “I would love to go to France with you.”

              “So, here’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he said, sipping his glass of water.

              “Yes?” I said and took another spoonful of my bouillabaisse.

              “What do you think about full time ministry?”

              “What? For you?”  I hadn’t been expecting a question like that.

              “For both of us,” he said and looked down at his plate.

              “What do you mean?  Do you think you are called to full time ministry?” Worried thoughts popped into my head.  I knew he had said he was feeling frustrated by not knowing what it was he was called to do.  But full time ministry was a scary thought.

              “I don’t know.  Sometimes I think I’m just making it up.  Like maybe it’s just pride that makes me feel this way.  Like, who am I to think that God would call me to full time ministry?  And then other times, I feel like it’s true.  Like I am called to something like full time ministry.  I just don’t know.”  The look on his face was painful.  He was really searching and really wanted to know. 

And part of my pain was that I really didn’t feel called to do anything.  And if God had called me, wouldn’t He let me know?  It seemed like I would have some indication of it.

              I sighed.  “I guess you should do some more praying.  We both should.  I just don’t know if God called me to anything at all.”

              “He has called us all to do something.  You do the announcements at church.  That’s a good start.”

              “Did,” I said.  I suddenly missed church so much.  It brought a tear to my eyes.               Church had been so important to me, and here I was, putting other things in front of it.  I made up my mind to not allow that anymore. “We need to make a real commitment to putting God in first place.  We need to do the Bible study at work like you said.  We are getting our temp tomorrow, so once she’s trained, we will have more time for it.”

              “I agree.  Things will work out,” he said and reached a hand across the table and put it on my hand.  He smiled.

              “I have something for you,” I said.

              “Oh really?” he said, lifting an eyebrow.

              “Uh huh,” I said and reached into my bag. I pulled it out and handed it to him.

              It was wrapped in a gift box and he slid the ribbon off and opened it.  “Oh Tara, it’s wonderful,” he said, lifting the necklace out.  It was a chunky silver cross on a leather tie string.  I had seen it at an online Christian store and knew that he needed to have it.  “I love it, thank you!” he said, smiling at me.

              “I also got this,” I said, handing him a small gift bag.  He opened it and pulled out a black shirt with a picture that had a Bible opened up to John  3:16. Across the top, it said Cup of Grace.  On the front was a small Cup of Grace logo on the chest.  “You get the first one.”

              “It’s really nice, Tara.  Thank you!”

              “I got everyone a couple of shirts.  We will look professional and official,” I said proudly.

              “Thank you, Tara. That’s really nice,” he said.  “I think it’s a great idea to have the shirts.

              “The ones for the girls are yellow and white.  I could have gotten you yellow, but I thought you might like a more manly color, especially since you’re already wearing the white and yellow apron,” I said.  “You’re such a good sport.”

              He laughed.  “Thank you, I appreciate the consideration.  And I love that we are going to be closed on Sundays.  We need to make this commitment to the Lord.  To be more attentive to him, and I think that’s a great step in the right direction.”

              I smiled at him.  He was the most adorable man I had ever dated.  I’m sure he wouldn’t have appreciated the fact that I thought he was adorable, being a guy and all, but he was. There was no denying it. 

              After we were served a six-inch-high piece of seven layer chocolate cake for dessert, we left the restaurant and went to State Street Park.  There, we walked hand in hand in the moonlight around the little pond there.  It was one of the best nights of my life.

              Thank you, God.