One Chance To Love (Christian Romance) (5 page)

Chapter Eight

She’d caught him off guard with
that last sentence, and Daniel almost missed a turn he needed to make to get to
the church. Allison was proving to be an interesting woman. One he’d like to
get to know a lot better.

He’d wanted to kiss her the
previous night before she got out of the car, but she seemed lost in deep
thought. Now the desire returned, though for a different reason. Maybe their
paths had crossed for the reason he’d dared to hope for. Surely God didn’t want
him to be alone for the rest of his life, but he was willing to live that way
if it was what the Lord truly desired for him. Maybe… but then he realized she
was asking him a question.

“Say that again. I’m not sure I
heard all of it.” Traffic was a bit noisier than usual this morning.

“I was just asking why none of the
articles I read mentioned your work for the food drive? I mean, if you’re doing
this to improve your image as a caring businessman—,”

“What?” He hadn’t intended the
volume of his voice to rise to such a deafening level. “How could you ask me
that? After all we talked about, that’s all you can think of me?”

She’d moved as close to the
passenger’s door as she could. “Daniel, I didn’t mean it like that.” Her voice
sounded too apologetic.

He tried to control his anger, and
lowered his volume. “I can’t believe you’re so cynical.” That’s the part that
affected him the most.

Why did this bother him so much? He
hadn’t even known this woman for two full days, and yet her words cut into his
flesh and left him to bleed. It didn’t make sense.

He forced himself to calm down as
Allison relaxed and stared out the window. “I told you last night why I do
this. The media knows nothing about it because that’s the way I want it. It’s
difficult to have any kind of privacy when all the news crews follow me around
like I owe them something. This is one thing I’d like to keep
out
of the
papers.”

Now she was the one resembling a
chastised child. He couldn’t explain why, but that fact bothered him. The one
thing he didn’t want was to push her away. No. What he wanted more than
anything was to draw her close, press his mouth onto hers, and feel her melt
into him. He wanted to… Better to stop right there before his imagination got
hold of him, causing thoughts he shouldn’t be having. Or worse, causing him to
wreck the car and seriously injure one—or both—of them.

Risking a glance at her, he saw she
was still turned away from him, staring out the window. He’d calmed down to his
normal demeanor by now, and mentally smacked himself in the head for treating
her like he had. She did nothing to deserve it—she’d only asked a simple
question. One that most any other person might have asked if they’d found out
about him the way she had.

A total of five more blocks with
two more turns and they’d be at the church. Mere minutes away, yet not close
enough—or far enough, if he decided to apologize. The fact was, he knew he
should, but his tongue seemed to be made of lead. He was having trouble getting
it to move in order to form the words he wanted to say to her.

Then he made the final turn. Up
ahead, directly in front of the church, was a throng of local news media. All
the local TV stations, and every imaginable newspaper—from the legitimate to
the gossip rags—had sent someone to the scene.

For several seconds, he wondered
why they were there. Had something happened overnight or early that morning?
What was all the commotion about?

Realization settled in, and he
turned to Allison.

“You did this!” His voice boomed in
the confined space once again. “How dare you set this up? Is this why you asked
me that question?”

“I’m as shocked and surprised as
you are, Daniel! I swear!”

Her jaw was slack, but the
astonishment seemed feigned. Why didn’t he believe her? Then the answer came to
him. Of course! It had to be!

“No. You did this! Tell me… how
much did they pay you for the story? Which one of them did you sell it to
first?”

Allison’s eyes opened as wide as
any manhole in the city’s streets. “How could you accuse me… I didn’t… Why
would I—?”

“Because you’re out of work and you
need the money. That’s why you would.” With this statement, he pulled up to the
curb in front of the mad circus.

~~*~~

The car hadn’t come to a full stop
before Allison undid her seatbelt and jumped out. Of all the men in this city,
she had to bump into the most ungrateful, egocentric, handsome, millionaire
bachelor. Oh, for goodness sake—strike those last two off the list. She didn’t
care how good looking or how wealthy he was. It didn't make him any less of an
insensitive, inconsiderate moron.

She stormed away from the car—back
in the direction from which they’d come—and didn’t slow down until she turned
the corner. The fact that he hadn’t tried to stop her did not go unnoticed.

Leaning her back against the side
of the corner store, she pulled out her phone and the card for the cabbie.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t be bothering him at this hour of the morning.

“Hello?” Oh, no. He sounded as
though her call had awakened him.

“Hi, James. It’s Allison from
Greenwich Village.”

“Oh! Hi there!” She knew he was
awake now.

“I hope I’m not bothering you, but
I could really use a ride.”

“No bother at all. Are you at home?
Where do you need to go?”

“Actually, I’m in the Bronx.” She
looked up at the storefront and gave him the address. “It’s right down on the
corner from where you dropped me yesterday. I just need to get home.”

“Sure. I know right where you are.
I’ll be there in ten or fifteen minutes, okay?”

“Thanks, James. I’ll probably be
inside. I hope they have coffee in there.”

“Okay. See ya in a few.”

He ended the call, and she slipped
her phone back into her purse.

Not wanting Daniel to see
her—although it made no sense why she even cared—she peeked around the corner
to see if he was still outside the church. Thankfully, he wasn’t. She stepped
around and went into the store in search of a cup of hot coffee.

“Good morning, little lady.” An
elderly gentleman sat behind the counter. “How can I help you?”

She felt a small smile form. “Do
you have coffee, by any chance?”

“Sure do.” He pointed to the far
corner. “Right over there. Got a special on the thirty-ounce size. Only fifty
cents.”

“Thank you so much. I think that’s
what I’ll have.”

Heading toward the coffee, Allison
took the chance to give the place a good once over. For a little store, this
one seemed to be well stocked with almost anything a person could need. Nice
and clean, too. That was a definite bonus.

She found the Styrofoam cups in the
larger size, filled one with what smelled like freshly brewed nectar, and added
sugar and cream until it was just the way she liked it. A good sip and all her
cares seemed small and trivial, melting away into nothingness. At least for a
moment, anyway.

Placing a lid on her cup, she
brought it to the gentleman at the counter.

“What’s all the hubbub down the
street?” His curiosity bubbled over as he rang up her purchase. “Some big movie
star down there, or something?”

“Dunno,” she lied. “Probably
somebody like that.” She dug the change from her purse and paid for her coffee.

“We don’t get many of them folks on
the streets around here, ya know.”

“Yeah. I know. Real shame, isn’t
it?” She hoped she sounded sincere.

“Got that right.” He finished
counting the coins, smiled, and nodded at her.

She glanced around the place,
noting that she was the only customer, and decided to lean against the counter
to continue her conversation with the nice older man.

“Do you mind if I wait in here for
my cab?”

He grinned. “Not at all. It’s a bit
nippy out there this morning.”

“A little too chilly for my
liking.” She was thinking not only of the weather.

“I know what you mean. But it won’t
be long before Spring comes to warm us up a little.”

“Mmm…” She sipped her coffee.
“That’s my favorite time of the year.”

“My Marion loved it, too.” His
voice held a melancholy tone. “May she rest peacefully.”

She turned to face him, searching
his eyes. “How long were you married?”

“Fifty wonder filled years,” he
replied without hesitation. “Only been six months since she passed, but it
feels like eternity.”

Would she find someone to spend
that many years with? Or had she already found him? No. Can’t go there. He’d
already shown her what he was really like. How could he honestly think she’d
called the media and took money from them?

A cab pulled up to the curb
outside.

“Oh! There’s my ride. Thank you for
your hospitality, sir.” She headed toward the door.

“Any time, Miss.” His face held a
big smile as he waved.

~~*~~

There was a comfort and security
inherent to being in her own home. So it wasn’t a palace, or even a small
house, but it was
her
place, and Allison wanted nothing more than to
stay. However, with her current financial situation, she knew she’d have to go
elsewhere in less than a month. How she would be able to afford it was a bigger
question. She’d lost her job.

Wait a sec. What did Flanders say
about it that day in the meeting? It had to do with the internet, or so it
seemed. Think, Allison. What was it?

Then it came. Yes! He’d said that
most publishers these days were hiring freelance editors on the internet
because it was more cost effective. That’s what ultimately caused him to close
Elite Editing Services.

With a renewed sense of hope, she
turned on her laptop, opened the search website, and looked up freelance
editing. She couldn’t believe the number of sites she found that would help her
find work. It took some time to go through those that seemed the most
reputable, but she found one that was highly promising.

Signing up to be a member of the
site was easy and cost her nothing but a few minutes of her time. Once she’d
gotten through the required steps and set up a way to be paid, she looked
through the list of available jobs. There were literally hundreds. The pay
wasn’t even close to what she’d been making at Elite, but most of them she
could almost do in her sleep.

She felt giddy with excitement—and
nervousness—as she picked out three that she was sure she could do. Even if she
was chosen for all of them, it wouldn’t take her more than a week to get them
done. Confidence and hope welled up within her when she’d finished applying for
the last one. Now all she had to do was wait for the notice that she’d been
chosen—or not.

Of course, she didn’t expect to get
any of them instantaneously. She knew it was more probable a notification
wouldn’t come for a day or two, but that didn’t stop her from being hopeful.

Two hours later, with still no
word, she finally stopped checking for messages every five minutes. Besides,
her stomach was launching a campaign to get her to feed it. That’s when it
dawned on her she hadn’t had any breakfast, and lunch time was upon her.

Giving in to hunger, she went into
the kitchen in search of nourishment. A can of vegetable beef soup would do
just fine. She’d have to do some grocery shopping afterward if she wanted to
eat for the next few days.

With her lunch finished, she
decided not to concern herself with the computer or any messages that may or
may not come in. A mission was upon her. She had a need to walk the four blocks
to the local store and procure items for her cupboard and refrigerator.
Starvation was not going to claim her this week—at least, not if she could stop
it.

Chapter Nine

The weeks seemed to go past as if
on a wild dash to usher in the Spring that was to follow. Allison had gotten
all three of the freelance jobs she’d applied for. Each of the clients loved
her work enough to keep giving her more. She didn’t question it—or even wonder
why it was happening—but simply accepted it.

Although she wouldn’t have admitted
it aloud to anyone, Daniel was never far from her thoughts. If nothing else,
he’d taught her to be thankful for everything, and she was trying. Yes, she
even confessed to herself that God knew how hard she was working to change her
life. It was oddly interesting how good everything turned out when she let Him
in and accepted His help.

Only two things saddened her just a
little.

The first was that she had to give
up the apartment she’d come to love. But she’d found another—though smaller—one
in a nicer section of Greenwich Village. The kicker was that her rent went down
a considerable amount. That was good, because even though she was making money
with the freelance thing, it wasn’t as much as she’d made before. But she could
pay her bills, and that’s what mattered.

The other issue that brought her a
touch of sadness was that the crystal angel she wanted so much was no longer in
the window at Tiffany’s. She’d waited a few days after the incident with the
media before daring to venture out again. A desire to reconnect had pulled her
there, only to find the figurine was gone. A salesperson inside—was her name
Taylor?—had told her it was sold not long after Allison had last seen it.

When she thought about the bigger
picture, however, she couldn’t complain. She felt happier than she could
remember. Even calling her mother was becoming less of a chore and more
heartwarming. Yes, it would be a while before she could handle a deep
discussion with Mom on anything to do with faith, but she was making slow
progress.

Even Marcy seemed to notice the
change when they talked on the phone or met for lunch. Oh, and Allison even
talked her friend into joining the website, so now Marcy was bringing home a
paycheck again.

All things taken into account, life
was wonderful. With only one exception.

Most nights she’d lay in bed for
hours thinking about Daniel. Sure, she had his cell phone number and she could
call him. But he’d been so irate the last time she’d seen him. What if he was
still upset with her? No. Best not to bother him further. Besides, he also had
her number, but did he bother to call her? Nope. He’d likely forgotten all
about her, anyway.

She tossed and turned on those
nights, restless dreams interrupting her sleep, waking her up too many times
before morning. One of those mornings was particularly difficult for her.
Although she wasn’t aware of the fact, it was February 14
^th
.
Valentine’s Day.

Dear Lord, why couldn’t she get him
out of her mind? What was it about him that kept nagging and tugging at her
heart? Okay, so she’d had a boyfriend or two in the past, but none of them
affected her the way Daniel did. Was it possible that she’d found her true
love? That she was
in love
with him?

No. That couldn’t be it. They’d had
less than two days together. But then, every time their hands had touched,
there was the sensation of millions of electrical impulses going off
simultaneously over her entire body. Nobody had ever caused that reaction in
her before. She suspected no one but Daniel
could
cause it.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was
in love with him. That would explain why she couldn’t stop thinking about him,
and yes, even praying for him and Dylan. Although Daniel tried to be optimistic
about his son’s diagnosis, she could tell that deep within he wasn’t as hopeful
as he appeared.

She’d done some research on rare
bone diseases and had printed out the information on each of the five most
uncommon—including the experimental treatments for them. Not knowing which one
was plaguing the boy made it difficult, but she figured it was likely one of
these.

Of course, it was possible she’d
wasted her time doing that. After all, she wasn’t sure Daniel ever wanted to
hear from her again. Maybe she could have brought it to the church and left it
for him, but there was no guarantee he’d actually get it. And she didn’t know
where he lived, so she couldn’t mail it to him.

Even though she’d considered all
these things, she still felt the desire to make the sacrifice of her time to
compile and print the information. Just in case.

~~*~~

Daniel tried not to think about
Allison, but it was a futile effort—not to mention a complete waste of time.
The harder he worked to push all thoughts of her aside, the more insistent they
became. He was losing sleep wondering if she was still upset with him.

Why had he accused her of such a
heinous act? What had come over him that morning? Sure, she caught him off
guard with her questions, but did he have to get so defensive? He knew he was
only torturing himself with all of this, but he couldn’t help it.

Not one of his reactions that
morning made any sense. That wasn’t how he truly was, but it didn’t matter any
more, did it? It happened, and she’d stormed off. He hadn’t seen or heard from
her since then.

How long had it been? Four, five
weeks? If she’d calmed down, she would have called him by now. Wouldn’t she? He
thought most any woman would—but then, she wasn’t ‘most any woman.’ She was
Allison Benton, and he couldn’t shake her image from his head.

Dear Lord, when would he be able to
forget her and have some peace again? Was it even possible that he
could
forget her? And even if he did, would that really bring him any peace? Why must
these thoughts of her torment him so deeply?

Of course, he already knew the
answer to that last question. He was in love with her. He’d known it from the
moment he first looked into those stormy grey eyes that had haunted him. He’d
known since the moment she first shook his hand and he felt a thousand volts of
electricity hit him.

Yes. He was in love with Allison.
Trying to stop his feelings for her would be like attempting to stop a subway
train by standing in the middle of the tracks—impossible. That’s why he’d gone
to her apartment building two weeks earlier looking for her. But he didn’t know
which one was hers. He was lucky, though. A middle aged lady came out soon
after he’d arrived, and he asked if she knew Allison. She did, but said the
younger woman had already moved out. No, she didn’t know where Miss Benton
went.

He couldn’t let that be the end of
it. There were ways of finding someone, and he knew just the man for the job.
That same afternoon, he’d hired Albert Colson. It hadn’t taken the Private
Investigator long to locate her—less than a week—and Daniel gave him a healthy
bonus for his speedy work.

Now here he was, in the early
morning of Valentine’s Day, buying two dozen of the most perfect long stemmed
red roses he could find. Why was he so nervous? Surely she must feel something
for him. After all, she’d experienced the electricity, too. Or did she just say
that? No. He was sure she’d been truthful about it.

Even if she’d once had feelings for
him that were now gone, he still felt he owed her an apology for his barbaric
behavior. It didn’t matter any longer who tipped off the media, but he felt
sure it wasn’t Allison.

On top of all that, Dylan had kept
asking about her. He wanted to know when Daniel was going to bring “that nice
lady” home for dinner. Maggie was no help, either. She’d insisted he wasn’t
giving Allison enough credit, and that he should call her. That was what
eventually prompted him to go to her apartment in the first place, only to find
that she’d moved.

However, all of that was behind him
at present. He would soon know what her feelings were for him—if she even had
any.

He pulled the Lexus up to the curb
in front of the address Colson had given him. He’d even found out which
apartment was hers.

Chapter Ten

“So, are you all settled in your
new place?” It was obvious to Allison that her mother was enjoying the more
frequent calls.

“Well, there’s a few more boxes to
go through, but I’m mostly settled in.” Luckily, the place was furnished—like
the last one—and she didn’t need to haul all that stuff up to the third floor.
Only a bunch of boxes.

“That’s good.” Ruby’s tone
indicated that she had more than just small talk on her mind.

“I’m sure you didn’t call just to
chit chat about things.”

There was a brief hesitation on
Ruby’s end. “You’ve always been so perceptive, Allison. But you’re right—I did
want to ask you about that young man. Have you called him yet?”

She rolled her eyes, even though
her mother couldn’t see it. “No, I haven’t. And I probably won’t.”

“Why not, dear? He’s most likely
gotten over that little spat by now.”

Allison couldn’t stop the giggle.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. You want some grandkids. Neither of us is getting any
younger. Yada, yada, yada.” Interesting. She could say this in a playful tone
now instead of a sarcastic one. That was definitely something new.

“Don’t be a Miss Smarty Pants.”
Ruby was giggling. “But that’s the general idea of it.”

“Well, don’t be surprised if I
don’t find a man anytime soon. Daniel’s not the kind who’s easy to forget.”

“Okay, but just keep in mind that
the clock is ticking. Tick, tock.”

“Mom! I’m only twenty-eight! Not
thirty-eight. I still have some time.” She stifled a chuckle.

“I still think you should’ve
smoothed things out with Daniel. Judging by the way you talked about him, it
seemed like you really cared for him.” Her mother sounded almost melancholy.

Allison sighed silently. “I’m
fairly sure he’s still mad at me, even though I had nothing to do with what he
accused me of.”

“Has it occurred to you that maybe
he found out the truth, and now he knows he had it all wrong?” That was an
excellent question.

“No. I can’t say it has.” Why
hadn’t it? Was she so wrapped up in believing he could hold a grudge for so
long that a simple thought like that never crossed her mind?

“Well, you might want to give it
some consideration. Wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t even care about that
incident anymore.”

She made a good point, but enough
was more than enough. She had to think of something to get Mom to hang up the
phone before the woman made her crazier than Aunt Cindy ever dreamed of being.

“If anything changes, I’ll let you
know. In the meantime, I have a lot of work to do today. The sooner I get it done,
the sooner I can get paid.” It wasn’t a lie. She’d been given a big editing job
the previous day, and wanted to keep her reputation as a good, fast, and
reliable editor. Besides, the more work she could put out, the better her
financial situation became.

“Okay, dear. I’ll talk to you next
week, then.”

“Love you, Mom.”

“Call me if anything changes with
Daniel.”

Allison ended the call, giggling.
Her mother was incorrigible.

Oh, well. Time to get herself
moving. Breakfast wasn’t going to get cooked, nor the coffee brewed without her
input.

~~*~~

This was it. The moment of truth.

Standing outside her door, Daniel
didn’t understand why he was so nervous. What if she slammed the door in his
face? Or worse, didn’t open it at all? What then? He wouldn’t know if he didn’t
knock, but still he wavered.

What was it about her that could
make him go through so many different emotions? But then, did he really need an
answer? No. There was only one emotion that mattered. His love for her. If she
asked him to prove it by walking ten miles over a bed of burning coals on his
bare feet, he’d do it without hesitation.

For five minutes he stood there,
uncertain if he could deal with her rejection—
if
she was still upset
with him.

The aroma of freshly brewing coffee
seeped through the door. Strangely, it seemed to soothe and fortify him at the
same time. He felt as though the scent wrapped him in warm fleece blanket,
bringing him comfort.

Okay, okay! Message received.
Thank You, Lord
, he thought.

He lifted his hand, and gave the
door three quick, sharp raps. Only afterward did he see the button for the
doorbell. When he heard no response from within, he pressed the button. A
strident
ding dong
sounded, and he felt sure there was no way she could
ignore it.

This time, there was movement on
the other side. Why did he decide at the last second to hold the bouquet of
roses in front of his face? Because he was still nervous, and if she looked
through the peephole, that’s all she’d see. She couldn’t tell him to go away if
she didn’t see him.

“Who’s there?” The sound was as
sweet as he remembered.

He disguised his voice. “Delivery
for a Miss Allison Benton.”

Why did he do that? What was the
point? But he knew the answer. He wanted to be sure she’d open the door.

“Delivery?” He could barely hear
her, though she sounded confused.

Seconds ticked by, but it may as
well have been hours. Then he heard it, like music to his ears. The sound of
multiple locks being undone. He’d have to think, and talk, fast the first
instant he saw her standing there, framed in the door.

~~*~~

Allison wasn’t expecting any
deliveries. What was it, anyway? A swift glance through the door told her what
she wanted to know.

Roses! So many she was unable to
see anything else!

Wait. Who was sending her roses?
And why? But then, did it really matter? No. She didn’t care one bit about any
of that. Besides, her acceptance of the bouquet didn’t necessarily mean
anything. Well, it meant she liked roses, but that’s all.