A Few Flowers Page 8

  He smiled at yet another of Cindy’s amusing anecdotes, wishing the evening could last forever. However, since they’d had dessert and finished a second pot of tea, he had no excuse to keep her any longer. He could hardly wait until the following weekend, the day of their planned hike.

  Monty slipped on his shoes, then stepped back to allow Cindy to do the same. The woman, although far from dainty, exhibited a grace beyond physical size. He extended one hand to offer some support, even though he knew if she did more than merely steady herself on him, he’d never be able to maintain his balance and hold her up. Just to have her touch him, he decided to risk possible embarrassment.

  Absently, she slid her hand into his, then leaned slightly as she slipped one foot into her shoe, then the other. Thankfully, he managed to maintain his balance.

  When she straightened, Monty didn’t let go of her hand. At her little tug, he continued to hold on until her eyebrows scrunched and she stared at their joined hands. When she tugged again, he reluctantly released her. For a few unguarded moments, it had felt right, just to touch her, even in such an innocent and harmless way.

  Once outside, he walked as slowly as possible without appearing obvious in his desire to simply want to spend more time with her. She slowed her pace to match his without comment or protest. Too soon, they arrived at her car parked alongside the curb in front of his office building.

  “Can I drive you home?”

  She raised one eyebrow and stared at him strangely. “Drive me home? Is there something wrong with your car? Did you want to borrow mine?”

  Monty felt his cheeks heat up. He’d never fished for an invitation from a woman before, but he hadn’t achieved his present success by being insecure. “No, it’s fine. It’s still in the underground parking at the office. I could always take a cab back later to pick it up. I thought that since the night is still young, we could spend more time talking together.”

  “Well, there is something I need to discuss with you, now that you mention it.”

  He could hardly wait to find out what she wanted to say. “Where do you want to go?”

  Cindy lowered her head as she dug in her purse for her keys. “After two pots of tea, I don’t feel like going out for coffee and donuts. Why don’t you come to my house?”

  He smiled. He hadn’t forgotten where she lived. “Sure. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  He hurried as best he could to his car, then followed her through the downtown area and the older section of town to her small duplex.

  While he parked, he made a mental note that the lights were still out, which indicated that Erin was not yet home. He waited behind Cindy as she unlocked the front door.

  She turned her head to glance over her shoulder. “Wait a minute. I’ll turn on the light for you.” While he waited, Cindy stepped inside to the right, and before his eyes, her arms shot out to the sides, and she started to topple.

  Without thinking, he dashed up the two steps and grabbed her around the waist so she wouldn’t fall. Pain shot through his left leg and it buckled at the strain of trying to catch and hold her weight. He gritted his teeth against the stab of pain as he started to go down along with Cindy, his arms still locked around her waist. So he wouldn’t land on the floor on top of her, he pushed her sideways and leaned deliberately to the right. Together, they thumped into the wall and somehow remained upright.

  He couldn’t see anything more than her vague outline in the dark and he certainly couldn’t make out any of her features without his glasses on, but he could feel every inch of her as he sandwiched her between himself and the wall. The pain in his leg subsided to a tolerable level as soon as he straightened his knee and took the majority of his weight off of it. As soon as he could, he stood, leaving only an inch between them. With his hands resting firmly on the feminine indent of her waist, even though he felt like a caveman pinning her against the wall, he couldn’t make himself back up. His heart pounded in his chest as he fought the urge to close that inch. Instead of doing anything ungentlemanly in this intimate position, Monty lifted one hand to graze his fingertips along her cheek.

  “You okay?” he asked, his voice coming out much more husky than it should have.

  “Erin’s shoe. . . ,” Cindy mumbled, her voice trailing off and doing strange things to his insides.

  Inwardly, Monty kicked himself for not being able to wear contacts, nor was he a candidate for laser surgery. His eyes had become accustomed to the semidark, and even though her features were a blur, in the dim light reflecting through the window, he could see Cindy’s slightly parted lips and her wide shimmering eyes staring directly into his. He was lost; he couldn’t help himself.

  His eyes drifted shut, and he tipped his head to kiss her. The second his lips touched hers, the light flashed on.

  “Cindy? The door was wide open and. . .” Erin’s voice trailed and died.

  Cindy’s head turned abruptly at the same time as they both flinched and separated. Monty dropped his hands, stepped back, and turned around.

  He blinked against the shock of the sudden light. Erin stood in the doorway, her eyes and mouth open wide, and behind her stood Troy, towering over Erin, glaring at him, his lips pressed tightly together.

  Seven

  Monty backed up to allow Cindy to step away from the wall. She cleared her throat and smoothed her hair. Her voice came out in a strained squeak. “Erin, Troy. Hi.”

  Monty gritted his teeth at Cindy’s weak greeting, then tried to smile graciously, although he’d never felt less like smiling. Looking at Troy’s expression, he had been judged, tried, and convicted on the spot. Not only was the developing relationship between himself and Cindy none of Troy’s business, but after the display Troy and Erin had made on the couch a few days ago, Troy was in no position to judge. Monty also refused to be intimidated by a hostile ex-boyfriend, despite the fact that Cindy said that she and Troy were now just friends. He didn’t see how any man could possibly be merely “friends” with someone as special as Cindy.

  Neither of them answered Cindy’s feeble greeting. She cleared her throat again. “Why don’t we all go into the living room and sit down?”

  Monty nodded and stood to the side to allow Erin and Troy to precede them. Although he knew he wasn’t supposed to feel this way, he resented Troy and Erin’s appearance.

  Erin hesitated, but Troy strode inside. As Cindy turned to follow Erin, Monty tried to get her attention, but she wouldn’t make eye contact.

  Troy and Erin made themselves comfortable on the small love seat, so when Cindy sat on one end of the couch, Monty parked himself on the other side. The space between them stretched for miles.

  Erin tried to make conversation, but Troy glowered in silence, which suited Monty just fine. Slowly, Cindy relaxed, and as she did, Monty relaxed, too, however he added little to the stilted conversation.

  Cindy stood. “I think I’ll go make a pot of coffee.”

  Monty stood before she had taken her first step. “I’ll help.” As he followed her into the kitchen, he couldn’t help but feel Troy glaring into his back. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he returned Troy’s glare to let him know he had better stay put.

  Once in the kitchen, he leaned one hip into the wall as he watched Cindy make the coffee. She didn’t say a word during the entire process. She measured the water carefully, adding just a bit more to the pot three times until she had precisely matched the water to the line. Then, she slowly poured the water into the machine. With the same precision, she measured the coffee into the filter before turning the switch on to brew.

  Monty didn’t move as he continued to watch her. She selected four brightly colored mugs, again performing each movement in slow motion. When she pulled a bag of cookies and a plate out of the cupboard, Monty couldn’t stand the tension anymore.

  He walked across the room to where she carefully arranged the cookies in an artful pattern and removed the bag of cookies from her reach.

  “Cindy, please
tell me what’s wrong.” He wasn’t going to apologize for kissing her. It was right. If not for Erin and her boyfriend walking in on them, the timing and unexpected rightness of it would have been perfect. He wanted to kiss her again, to kiss her well and good, without interruption.

  She met his eyes and took the cookie bag from his hands. “I thought you just wanted to meet me a few times, satisfy your curiosity about me, and that would be the end of it.”

  Monty rammed his hands into his pockets. “That’s what I thought, too, but it’s not enough. I want to get to know you as more than just an acquaintance.”

  “Well, that’s not the way I wanted to get to know you.”

  He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. No words came.

  “Monty, look at you.”

  Obediently, he lowered his chin to look down at himself, ran his hands down both sides of the front of his suit jacket, wiggled the knot on his tie, then returned his hands to his pockets. “What about me?” Monty considered himself a nice guy, honest, intelligent. Well dressed. Professional. A Christian.

  She sighed loudly. “We come from two different worlds. We can’t possibly enter into that kind of relationship.”

  His heart sank. Of all the things he thought about Cindy, this wasn’t something he thought would concern her. The fact that it mattered to her that she’d come from a nice, normal, middle-class, Christian family while he’d been a throwaway from the wrong side of the tracks and a failure of the miseries of child welfare services stabbed his heart where he didn’t think he’d heal.

  Monty stiffened his back, trying to think of something to say in response without letting her know how badly she’d hurt him.

  She clutched the bag of cookies to her chest like a teddy bear while the coffee maker gurgled beside her. “Look at you,” she repeated. “How much did that suit cost?”

  He rocked back on his heels, his hands still deep in his pants pockets, while he looked down at himself once more.

  “This one? I can’t remember, probably under eight hundred dollars.”

  “See?”

  He stiffened to his full height, standing ramrod straight. “No, Cindy, I’m afraid I don’t.”

  “If you added up the price of the suit, the silk shirt, the handpainted tie, the cufflinks, the shoes, just what you have on right now, it’s probably more than the cost of my entire wardrobe!”

  “So?”

  She banged the bag of cookies down on the counter, catching the corner of the plate and destroying her creative placement. “Up until I got this job six months ago, I had to count every single penny. I was so broke, I made most of my clothes. I still do. Your suit is probably worth more than my car.”

  “I think you’re exaggerating.”

  “Don’t bet on it.”

  When she made another grab for the cookie bag, Monty yanked his hands out of his pockets and grasped her wrists to hold her hands still. “Cindy, up until a few years ago, I barely had two pennies to rub together. You’ll make it, too.”

  “No, I won’t,” she mumbled as she bent her head, staring at the disarray of cookies. “I don’t have any marketable skills and I won’t until I complete my courses, which I haven’t even started yet. All I have is a rundown half a duplex that’s mortgaged to the max and an old car that’s coming close to its final journey to the repair shop.”

  “Cindy, stop it. That’s not important to me. What’s important to me is you.”

  She raised her head, and his heart nearly stopped. Her wide eyes showed such anguish, he didn’t know what to do. His first impulse was to hold her close in a tight embrace, but since what started this whole fiasco in the first place was the barest start of a small kiss, he didn’t know if that would make things better or worse. He didn’t dare take the chance.

  He gently ran his thumbs up and down her wrists a couple of times, then released her hands. “The coffee’s ready. I think we’d better fix up that plate of cookies and pour the coffee, or Erin and Troy will come looking for us.” What he didn’t need right now was another interruption in a sensitive moment.

  She nodded but didn’t say a word. Monty chose to leave well enough alone.

  He watched Cindy’s awkward movements as she first poured the coffee, then placed the steaming cups, the cream and sugar bowls, and a small handful of spoons onto a tray that looked early-garage-sale era. Monty picked up the cookie plate and a stack of napkins and followed her into the living room.

  Troy and Erin sat close together on the couch, not locked in a passionate display as he expected, but talking in hushed whispers with their heads close together. They stopped as soon as they realized Monty and Cindy had returned.

  Troy leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was wondering if I should check in there to see if maybe someone had an accident or something.”

  Monty cringed inwardly at the word “accident” but, gathering his best business acumen, he smiled politely back at Troy, even though Troy greatly aggravated him. He could only guess at how uncomfortable Cindy felt, and he didn’t want to make things any worse than they already were. Using more self-control than ever before, he held back the scathing reply that was on the tip of his tongue.

  Troy opened his mouth to speak, but Erin grabbed Troy’s hand and spoke first. “We went to the opening night of that new play at the Arts Club Theater. I forget the name, but it was really good. Where did you two go?”

  The quick change caught Monty off guard. All he could think of was Troy being such a jerk. At a loss for words for one of the few times in his life, he turned to Cindy. Her beautiful smoky gray eyes widened, making his heart beat faster, and for a few seconds he forgot about Troy and his annoying attitude.

  She then turned to face Erin. “We ended up going to this quaint little Japanese place downtown. I forget the name. We even had to take off our shoes. I’m not sure I want to know what I ate, but whatever it was, I thought it tasted very good.” She turned toward him with a shy smile, then looked at Erin again. He hoped this meant she had enjoyed the quiet evening together as much as he had. “It had these neat rice paper walls, which gave it a really nice, private atmosphere around each table. You two should try it.”

  Troy gave a low chuckle, then turned to Cindy with a sly sneer. “Private atmosphere? In a restaurant? Oh, I get it. You didn’t get enough privacy.” He emphasized the word. “If you came here for some of that, I think it helps to close the door.”

  Monty gritted his teeth. He forced himself to keep silent. With a few sharp comments, he could put Troy in his place, but at what cost? Not only were Troy and Cindy friends, but they also worked together. If that wasn’t enough, Troy was immersed in a serious relationship with Cindy’s best friend.

  Monty bit his tongue again and tried to think of an appropriate Bible verse. The best he could think of was something he’d read in Proverbs about a fool showing his annoyance, but a prudent man overlooking the insult. He planned to look it up when he got home. No matter how difficult, he determined to be prudent and honor God with his behavior and response.

  Silence still hung in the room, and judging from Cindy’s shocked expression, she hadn’t taken the comment lightly either, which made his response even harder to withhold. Using a great deal of self-control, Monty changed the subject to something he’d read recently.

  The conversation was strained and Monty hated idle chitchat at the best of times. Rather than make things worse, he decided he should leave.

  To Monty’s surprise and delight, Cindy not only accompanied him to the front door, but outside and to his car parked on the street.

  Stars twinkled above the quiet old neighborhood, radiating a gentle charm. The sounds of traffic drifted from a main thoroughfare in the distance and a dog barked from a faraway yard. Although many houses were dark already, many living room lights remained on, with the glow of televisions indicating most people’s choice of pastimes for a late Friday evening. An elderly couple stepped out of a car that had pulled into
the driveway across the street, and both people waved at Cindy before they disappeared into their humble little house. The street was quiet once more.

  All the tension drained from his body as he enjoyed the gentle breeze in the laid-back community.

  Monty wanted a neighborhood like this. At the high-rise apartment building he lived in, no matter what hour of the day or night, people constantly milled about, hurrying to or from some activity or late-night party, especially on the weekends. In a neighborhood of many such complexes, there was never a sense of quiet stillness, even in the middle of the night. He vaguely knew some of the people on his floor at the office tower, but he really didn’t know his own neighbors at home. He recognized some, but everyone passed each other with tunnel vision, seldom acknowledging one another as they rushed by. On those rare occasions when someone did offer a greeting, they most often consisted of a quick nod without a change of pace.

  Until recently, he hadn’t cared. But the more he became aware of God’s continuing presence in his life, the more he noticed the meaninglessness of his lifestyle. He liked Cindy’s neighborhood. It suited her and seemed to give her a sense of family, and most of all, roots.

  Monty and Cindy faced each other beside his car.

  “I’m so sorry, Monty. I don’t know what’s gotten into Troy. He’s really very nice and has a wonderful sense of humor, but I think he’s taken on some kind of big brother role. I’m so embarrassed that he’s been so nasty.”

  Monty had seen overprotective big brothers in a few of the foster homes he’d been placed in. Troy’s behavior was far different, but if that was what Cindy chose to believe, he didn’t want to burst her bubble. And now that they were no longer in Troy and Erin’s company, he didn’t want to discuss it.

  Very gently, he cupped Cindy’s smaller hands with his and ran his thumbs along the backs of her wrists. Troy and his nonsense became unimportant. “Don’t worry about him. He’ll get over it.” He paused for a few seconds to gather his thoughts. “I wish I could see you tomorrow, but the youth group is doing Computer Geek Day. The last time we did this, not only did things run all afternoon, but the time kind of got away from me and we went long into the evening.”