Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (13 page)

I didn't understand the relief I felt at the fact that Harvey was single. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm myself. I didn't want to feel this way about him. I pushed through the big glass doors to the church. He followed

Jazz and Destiny were outside on the steps. They looked over as we approached. Destiny's cheeks flooded with colour. Wow! She really did like the look of Harvey.

"Hi, Jazzlyn," Harvey said.

Jazz smiled prettily. "Howdy."

Jazz was stunning today in a simple pink summer dress. Her hair was tied back, providing a great view of her perfectly lovely face. Harvey was probably wondering why he was wasting time tracking down the scraggy-haired girl in the trackie bottoms when she had such a delectable friend.

I hopped down the steps. Note to self:
Stop leaving the house without makeup!
It was totally uncharacteristic of me.

Harvey was smiling at Destiny. Maybe he'd noticed that he was unnerving her. "Hi, I'm Harvey," he told her, offering his hand.

Destiny smiled as they shook hands. "Destiny," she said in a small, shy voice.

"That's a lovely name," Harvey commented. He sounded sincere. Personally, I thought that Destiny was a bit ridiculous as a name, since it was a word, not a name. You might as well be called Breakthrough, or Gospel!

Anyhow, Destiny's rosy blush had turned to a deep crimson. "Thanks. I'm a friend of Drew's."

"Well, Drew has some beautiful friends," Harvey said, looking from Destiny to Jazz. Even Jazz was reddening now. I rolled my eyes.

"So, where are you from in America?" Destiny asked.

And on and on she went asking questions. Did Harvey like England? How was he finding the weather? Had he been to a football match yet?

"I haven't," Harvey said, in answer to the last question. He looked at me. "Maybe you can add that to our sightseeing itinerary."

"You're taking Harvey sightseeing?" Jazz asked me.

"She promised to," Harvey said. "But she's trying to get out of it."

Destiny glared at me.

"I didn't promise," I protested.

"You did," Harvey said. "I start work in a week, so we need to sort this out."

Taking Harvey sightseeing would be a bad move. I could barely handle him in short infrequent bursts. What would happen if I spent full days with him? I didn't want to think about that.

Harvey removed car keys from his pocket. They had a BMW logo on them. He looked at Jazz and Destiny. "Girls, it's been a pleasure."

"The pleasure was all ours," Jazz replied sweetly.

Harvey looked at me for a moment and then winked. "Start working on our sightseeing program. This week you're all mine."

Destiny giggled when he walked away. "I think he likes you, Drew."

***

Jazz and Destiny changed their minds about Nandos and accompanied me home to my mum's. We lounged outside in my mum's big back garden. It was beautiful, and it was just the weather for sitting outside, painting. I couldn't get my watercolours to give me the exact shade of Kale's eyes, but I was close.

Jazz looked at my painting. "That's really good."

"You think so?"

"Yes, it looks just like him."

Destiny eyed the portrait for a moment. I'd done a pencil sketch before I started painting and I was following the lines I'd pencilled in. "His lips are a little different from what you've drawn, though," she said.

"I know. I'm going to look at them properly next time I see him."

Destiny gave me a weird look. "Try to be discreet about it, you know?"

"Of course," I said, rolling my eyes. "What did you guys think of Pastor Eddie's 'dating with a purpose' concept?" I asked them.

"I think it's good," Jazz said.

"Kale is the kind of guy I could date with a purpose," I told them. He was the steady, dependable type. Harvey was the 'make you dizzy' type, and that type was nothing but trouble.

"But Harvey is so fine," Destiny said, from her sprawled out position on the grass where she was sunning herself. Destiny tanned really well. In an hour she'd be a lovely shade of bronze, almost as brown as me.

"Is fineness all that matters?" I asked Destiny. This was so out of character for her; it was starting to scare me. "And Kale is fine, too."

Destiny rolled onto her front so her back could tan too. "I'm not sure I agree with pastor's dating with a purpose thing."

"Why not?" Jazz asked.

"He said we should date only with marriage in mind. That's pressure. And that means that if a guy in church asks you out, you'll think he has marriage in mind. And he might not. He might just want to hang out."

"Well, I agree with pastor," I said. "People just play with people's hearts and that's not right."

"But, how do you know that you want to marry someone if you haven't dated them?" Destiny asked. "You can't commit to marriage until you know someone."

"I get what you mean," I told her. "But I think what pastor was getting at was that we should have respect and not just use people. I was with Travis for six years, but he didn't want to marry me. That hurts. Now he wants us to get back together and I'm thinking,
What for?
Another six years of sex without proper commitment?
"

Destiny nodded. "I see your point."

"I don't think pastor was saying that if a guy asks someone out he has to marry her," I said.

"Did you want to marry Travis?" Destiny asked.

"I wanted a committed relationship."

"You've gotten over Travis so quickly, though," Destiny said. "It's hard to believe you were together that long. It's like you just hit delete for your feelings."

I laughed, although I wasn't so sure I was as over him as I thought. If I was, why was I having stupid visions about him? "Things had been going wrong long before we actually broke up. I think my heart detached about two years ago, so it's been easy to let go."

"Or maybe God helped you," Jazz said.

"Maybe."

"Just don't get all crazy about this dating with a purpose thing," Destiny told me. "Take it easy."

I was a little disheartened. I liked the concept. But then again, what did I know? Destiny had been a Christian longer than I had.

My phone broke in from the patio. Jazz was closer to it, so she picked it up and looked at the screen.

"Is it Kale?" I asked hopefully.

She ignored me and answered the phone. "Hello?...No this is Jazz; Drew is here, though. Hold on…Oh, I'm fine. Yourself?"

She skipped over to me with a smirk and handed me the phone. The caller ID told me it was Harvey. I glared at her. "Why did you do that?" I whispered in annoyance. I turned to Destiny. "It's Harvey!" I mouthed.

Destiny burst into laughter.

I put the phone to my ear. "Hi Harvey."

"Hey, girl," Harvey's drawl came down the phone. "How you doing?"

"Fine," I said flatly.

"So where are we meeting tomorrow?" he asked. "I'd ask about the agenda, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'm so excited."

I covered my face with my free hand. "Um, where do you want us to meet?"

Jazz and Destiny collapsed into laughter. "Wimp!" Jazz whispered loudly.

"Where are you?" Harvey asked. "What's all that laughing?"

"I'm at home. My friends think it's funny to laugh at me." I turned away from them. "I can meet you wherever is convenient for you. Where are you familiar with?"

"Why don't we meet near where you're taking me?"

Because I didn't know where I was taking him. "You know what? Just meet me at home."

"In Oxford?"

"No, I've moved to London. I'll send you my address when we get off the phone."

"Cool. What time should I come?"

"How's two o' clock?"

"Isn't that a little late?"

"Well—"

"I hope you haven't only booked afternoons? I want you to cram as much as possible into each day. I'll get to your place at ten."

Ten!
"Um—"

"Thanks so much for doing this, Drew. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome." I hung up. "Jazz!"

"What?" she asked innocently.

I stomped inside to get my laptop. I'd better start planning.

Chapter 8

It was half nine on Monday morning and I had just finished getting dressed. I was wearing the hottest casual-day-out outfit: an aqua vest with a denim skirt and white flip flops. I'd taken the time to blow my hair straight—not because I was trying to impress Harvey. A girl got self-conscious in the presence of a handsome man. It was my way of shielding myself.

As I printed off my online reservations and tickets, I realised that I was nervous. And there was absolutely no need to be.

I packed a bag with everything I needed for today. On second thought, I tossed a tube of sun cream into the bag. I'd applied it liberally, but I had to be on the safe side. If I almost passed out in front of Harvey again, he was going to think I had issues.

I heard a car outside at three minutes to ten. I looked out of my bedroom window and saw Harvey getting out of a taxi. I ran down the stairs, and opened the door. Harvey was wearing three quarter cargo pants and a white t-shirt that offset his beautiful skin tone nicely. His sunglasses were on his head. "Hi, Harvey."

"Hey, you look lovely," he returned with a wink. "I left my car at home. I thought it'd be better if you just drive, you being my tour guide and everything."

"I don't drive."

"You don't? Why?"

None of his business. "Stop that taxi or we'll have to wait ages for another one."

Harvey waved down the taxi that had brought him as the driver completed a turn in the road manoeuvre and was about to drive away. It was the turn in the road manoeuvre that I failed my last driving test on. I'd touched the kerb. Only slightly, but it was enough for the examiner to fail me.

We both got into the taxi, and I scooted as close to the door as possible. I didn't want Harvey's bare legs brushing against mine. "Euston station, please," I told the driver.

"The train station?" Harvey asked. "Girl, where are you taking me?"

I was about to tell him when he held his hand up. "Actually, don't tell me."

I couldn't believe he was so excited about this. I laughed. "You're funny."

When we got to Euston, I led him down to the Underground section. "We're taking the Tube to where we're going," I told him, handing him his tickets.

"I've heard of the Tube, but I've never been on it."

"Well, it's part of the London experience."

We'd missed the rush hour, so the Tube was pretty empty. I sat down in a torn seat and checked the time. We were right on schedule.

"Why don't you drive?" Harvey asked, taking the seat beside me as the tube lurched forward with a roar.

"I…don't have a license."

"Why not?"

"I've failed my test eight times," I admitted. Harvey's eyebrows shot up and I knew my face must be scarlet. "I can't do another test after so many failures."

"You can't give up."

I glared at Harvey. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do."

"I see this is a touchy subject."

He was right. It was. What had possessed me to tell him I'd failed eight times anyway? The only other person that knew that was Travis.

"I passed mine on Friday," Harvey said. "I still find driving on the right pretty weird, but I've got my British license now."

Good for you!

"What's your favourite thing to do in the world?" Harvey asked.

I ventured a direct look at him, something I'd managed to avoid doing since I opened my front door to him. "Why?"

"Just interested."

I pulled my eyes away. "Dunno. I guess I like to paint."

"Apart from painting?"

I considered it. "Eating at nice restaurants. I like to eat."

Harvey stretched his long legs out in front of him, the movement sending a waft of his clean earthy scent my way. "What's your favourite restaurant?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like to go to Le Frasca, though. It's a new restaurant on the waterfront."

"If you do your test a ninth time, I'll make it happen," he said.

"I don't think I can do another test."

"Even if you fail, you'll still get the dinner. Don't you think that's worth it? It's a win-win situation for you. I just want you to do one more test." Harvey looked at me for a moment then leaned back in his seat. He took an abandoned newspaper from a nearby seat and leafed through it.

I hadn't attempted another driving test since becoming a Christian. If I booked another one and prayed about it, would God help me to pass? Eight failed tests was pretty discouraging. I didn't know if I could bear to do another one. What if I failed again?