Chapter 14
Kyle lay in bed, hands clasped beneath his head, thinking over the night before. So much had happened, so much had gone right. He’d lived his dream.
And yet… and yet…
Something still didn’t quite click. Sure, their physical connection was as powerful as it had ever been, but it felt like a puzzle piece had been shaped a little differently, so something didn’t quite match up as it once had.
Was it the fact he’d moved in too fast, cutting her off with kisses before she’d had a chance to say whatever it was she wanted to say? Maybe. He’d apologized for that last night and asked what it was she wanted to say. She’d said it could wait. So yes, there was something holding her back.
And yes, her mom and his parents were likely to kick up a stink, so that wasn’t great. He’d been praying that they might all come to terms with him and Gen being back together, but it would take a lot of grace.
But even his prayers felt like they were hitting the ceiling.
His phone buzzed with a message. He smiled, glanced at it, then his smile faded. Ryan. Wanting to know if he’d talked with Gen yet about salvation.
Huh. No. There had been no time for that yet. He had needed to make sure they were still on the same page physically before getting into the spiritual stuff.
What would happen if she didn’t want to talk about God? What if she rejected Kyle because she rejected God and Kyle’s determination to live for God and not himself? His chest tensed. Would he really have to follow Ryan’s lead and let her go until she found faith herself?
His phone buzzed with a reminder notification of the message just sent. Kyle knew that Ryan would keep hounding him until he responded, so he replied with a
Not yet. Soon.
Then he muted notifications from him, not wanting Ryan to be the conscience Kyle didn’t need.
Was that why his prayers felt like they weren’t getting through? Maybe. Okay, probably. How could he say he was following God if he ignored those little inner nudges that might just be the Holy Spirit’s leading?
He winced, his heart and flesh wanting to relive those moments when fire seemed to flame between Gen and himself. That wasn’t wrong, was it? Why did Christians have to complicate things all the time? What was wrong with love being love?
And yet… and yet…
Yet that verse about not being unequally yoked wasn’t going away. Ryan’s warning, the comments from the others too, refused to leave.
And okay, maybe it had been selfish to want to kiss her rather than find out where she stood in matters of faith, but he’d get to it. Maybe even tonight.
Tonight.
He chewed his lip. Gen’s shift finished at six, and he’d offered to take her out for dinner.
She’d seemed a little hesitant, saying she’d need to see how things went, that work often ran late, so maybe he’d need to show up at her work to convince her.
Not that he wanted her to think he was a pain, always getting in her way, but he did want her to know that he was serious.
Committed to her. In this for the long haul.
He’d not ever give her a reason to think he was going to flake out on her again.
He texted her now.
Thanks again for a great night last night. I hope you’re having a good day today.
He stared at the message. What good did “hope” actually do? It was one of those nothing words, a bit like people who sent good thoughts. Like, where did good thoughts go?
So he changed the second part of the message to
I’m praying that you have a good day today
and pressed send.
There. That should let her know where he stood.
Like the preacher had said in the online service he’d watched recently, the more little references to God people could drop into conversation the better, as it helped people see that God was not far away, but interested in people and their everyday lives.
So Kyle would do his best to show Gen that God loved her, that He didn’t hold people’s mistakes against them, but loved the world so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on a cross to take the punishment for everyone’s sin, so that all who believed in Him might be saved.
What good news that was! How could Gen—how could anyone—not want to accept it?
“Lord, touch her heart. Help her come to know You as her Lord and Savior.”
He spent the next few minutes praying for her, his prayers interspersed with imagining what life could be like when they were together.
He wasn’t surprised when she didn’t respond to his text message straightaway.
He knew Gen’s work schedule was crazy. She faced challenge after challenge each day, and no doubt needed strength to work with grace and wisdom.
And while he didn’t want to complicate things with her work situation, he didn’t know what else to do but message her this way.
It wasn’t as if he knew where she lived.
Which made him wonder.
She’d refused to let him take her home a couple of times now.
She’d always met him then made her own way home.
Why? Was she embarrassed about where she lived?
A picture of that run-down place he’d seen her at stole through his memory.
Did she live there? He’d thought it belonged to a friend, but if that was her home, he could understand why she might be a little embarrassed, especially now, after having seen his apartment.
His mind spun back to that day when he’d made Lee stop outside the shack that screamed it had last seen paint in the seventies. Then another thought wove back through his memories.
Who was that little girl he’d seen give her a hug?
He frowned. Gen was an only child, like him. She didn’t have any nieces or nephews. Maybe it was a neighbor’s child, or a friend’s. But then, that hug had looked pretty personal.
So, who was she?
The thought nibbled at him as he got out of bed and got changed. Pecked at him as he put on a load of laundry. Gnawed at him as he ate breakfast.
He spent some time praying, reading the Bible, then wondered what to do today.
The off-season sometimes made it hard to structure his week, even more so when he’d been advised to take things easy, so he couldn’t even train.
Which meant his time was his to do with as he pleased, leaving empty days with emptier hours begging him to waste time in a multitude of ways.
He wasn’t much of a gamer, so now he’d worked on his property investments he needed to busy his mind so he wouldn’t boredom-eat, and there was a limit to how many movies and TV series a man could binge. So what to do?
Gen floated back to mind. Her stress, her workload. Maybe he could get her some flowers. She’d like that, right? He hoped they’d brighten the day of the woman who had stolen his heart years ago and never fully given it back.
He finished his breakfast, glad to finally have some purpose to his day. He could get Gen flowers and take them to her at work, let her know he was thinking of her, even if she was too busy or too tired for a meal tonight.
He bought flowers online, waited for them to be delivered, then wrote a note that he hoped would make her smile, then got in his car.
Twenty minutes later he was parking his Audi in Seattle General’s parking lot. He got out, pulled his ball cap low, and grasped the flowers. She’d be so surprised.
He went to the emergency section, and was met with raised eyebrows from a woman he didn’t recognize. “Can I help you?”
He smiled. “I sure hope so. I’ve got these flowers for Dr. Genevieve Rivas. She’s working today, yes?”
The nurse’s eyes widened a little. “I remember you. You’re the guy she treated, right?”
“Um, a couple of months ago, yeah.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about you. Well, it’s nice to finally meet the man who made our favorite doctor smile.”
“She’s your favorite too, huh?” He grinned, then the second part of her sentence dropped into awareness. “She doesn’t smile much, huh?”
“She never used to. But this past week, it’s all anyone can talk about. It’s like she’s found a reason to be happy again.”
His heart warmed. Maybe it was prideful to think so, but he’d like to think he’d had a hand in that. “Well, I hope these flowers make her smile. Would it be too much trouble if I ask you to pass them on to her?”
“My pleasure…?” She waited, eyebrows raised, clearly waiting for him to offer his name.
“Kyle.”
“Kyle.” She smiled, and her sternness dropped a thousand degrees. “Well, I’ll make sure she gets these very soon.” She gestured to a chair. “If you like, I could even see if she is on a break and could come out for a minute, then you could give them to her yourself.”
“Uh, sure.” But only for a minute. The longer he waited, the more chance he might get recognized—or pick up a disease he really didn’t need.
He waited, standing in the corner, studying his phone so he didn’t accidentally make eye contact with someone who might want to talk to him. Today was about Gen, not anyone else.
But the “Kyle” that floated softly across the room was not from Gen, rather, the same nurse as before.
“I’m sorry, but she’s elbow deep in a procedure and will be really busy for the next hour or so.”
He handed the flowers to her. “Then if you could pass this to her, that would be great. I don’t want to interrupt her day.”
“So sweet. Well, I’ll make sure she gets these as soon as possible.”
“Thanks.”
“Bye Kyle.”
He lifted a hand and the corners of his mouth, then exited.
Okay. So, no Gen. Well, he knew it would be a long shot, so he shouldn’t be surprised.
Now what to do…
He got back in his car and somehow roadwork pushed him away from where he’d intended to go, along a series of one-way streets he half-recognized, more roadworks, a freeway exit, then he was passing through a somewhat run-down neighborhood in a section of Seattle he’d rarely visited before. Where on earth—?
Then he turned the corner, and saw it. Run-down, seventies exterior, dead grass out the front. Huh. Wasn’t this where he’d seen Gen and that girl? What were the chances?