Third Life - Noelle Adams Page 0,79
half hour in the city at this time of night. “You can drive me. No reason for you to have to walk all the way back.”
“Sounds good,” he says. “Let me just turn off the lights and grab my keys.”
While he does that, I sweep up the pile of dust I collected earlier. I don’t care if he doesn’t want me to do it.
It was a job half-done, and I’ve never liked to leave things like that.
I WAKE UP THE NEXT morning excited about seeing Richard again. Jittery. Restless. Pulsing with expectation.
Obviously I know what these feelings are signs of, and I try to give myself a lecture in the shower, reminding myself that things are good between us right now. Things are safe and settled and not exploding my whole world.
No lines have been crossed. No foundations shaken. If I take one more step, everything I’ve built back up for myself could collapse.
I should probably keep my distance. Not a lot. Just a little. Just to play it safe. I shouldn’t go hang out at the coffee shop this morning. Maybe later today I could stop by and get a drink to go so Richard doesn’t think I’m upset. That way I won’t be risking taking a step that could change everything.
This seems like a good plan to me, and I see no reason I shouldn’t carry it out. Which is why it’s so strange and confusing that I end up at the coffee shop at eight thirty that morning with my laptop and no plans to leave anytime soon.
Richard is working in the office, so I get coffee and a muffin from Melanie, who greets me like an old friend. I’m tempted to stick my head in Richard’s office to say good morning, but I do manage to stop myself from doing that.
I’ll see him when he comes out. He always does eventually.
I work for a while, too distracted to accomplish as much as I should. When Richard appears, he goes over to talk to Melanie. She must have mentioned my presence because he turns toward me with a stiffening of surprise.
The smile on his face takes my breath. Literally takes it.
He comes over to chat for a while. Then he helps out behind the counter when the place gets busier. I work, managing to get some stuff done by forcing myself to write a paragraph before I can look over at Richard again.
I get a lot of paragraphs written because I want to look at him so much.
When the morning rush fades, Richard comes over with a bowl of homemade butternut squash soup and a piece of french baguette for me. I hadn’t realized it was lunchtime, but I’m hungry, so I accept the food gratefully.
We talk for a while. I see him watching me a lot when he thinks he can do it unnoticed. Like he’s looking for something in my face. Trying to read my thoughts.
Trying to figure out what I’m feeling.
It’s a worthy pursuit since I have no idea what I’m feeling myself.
After a while, Stella, who buses tables and does odd jobs on the weekends, comes over to the table.
When we both glance up at her, she says, “Sorry to interrupt when you’re with your girlfriend, but there’s a call for you. Mike at Owen Foods.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Richard starts to get up. “But she’s not—”
“I know. I know.” Stella rolls her eyes. “She’s not your girlfriend.” After Richard strides back toward the office to take the call, she turns to me with a conspiratorial smile. “For someone who insists you’re not his girlfriend, he sure does look at you like you’re the only sun in his world.”
My lips part in surprise at the sentiment.
Stella is looking over her shoulder at Richard’s back, which is disappearing into the office. “I sure would like to one day find someone who’ll look at me the way he looks at you.”
It’s then.
Right then.
That’s when I know what to do.
I say something to Stella—I have no idea what—and hurry in the direction Richard went. He’s on the phone when I get to the half-open office door. I hear his voice, having some sort of routine conversation with a distributor.
I lean against the wall of the hallway and wait, a deep shuddering inside me that’s slowly overtaking my body.
When I hear him hang up the phone, I push into the office without warning.
He’s taken by surprise. I see it in his face. In the way a smile awakens in