A Reason To Believe: An Inspirational Romance (A Reason To Love Book 2)

by T. K. Chapin

  “It’s not just a kiss. It’s a commitment for me. But you’re right, I do want to kiss you. But I won’t, not yet, not right now. When the time is right, I will.” He turned and started for the door. She walked with him. Turning around as he stepped outside, he smiled. “I had a wonderful time tonight, and earlier today at lunch.”

  “I did too.” Her lips curved into a smile. “When can I see you again?”

  “I’m going out of town tomorrow after Chet’s funeral service in the morning. I’ll be gone for about a week on business. How about next Saturday?”

  “It’s a date, and this time, I’ll have my parents watch Molly so we can go out.”

  “All right. Have a good night.”

  Walking away as she closed her apartment door, Tyler thanked God and gave Him all the praise for the power He had supplied in self-control not to kiss that beautiful woman. It was God’s goodness and God’s strength alone that enabled Tyler to resist the urges that fought for control inside his body. He wasn’t sure where Olivia and he would go from here, but he had hope above all else to show her God’s love, even if that meant they would never be together in the way his heart was already hoping.

  Chapter 15

  THE ACUPUNCTURIST WAS ABLE TO fit her in five days later, on Monday, and Olivia took the morning off from work to go be poked. While she hadn’t been in pain when she went in, she did feel less stressed when she left Dr. Hall’s office. Walking through the parking lot toward her car, Tyler pressed against her mind. She had been thinking about him ever since that almost-kiss they’d shared last week. He was still out of town, and it took everything in her not to pick up the phone and text him. She wondered if he thought about her the same way she was thinking of him. She wasn’t sure if he was, but her longing to see him again was ever-present in her heart.

  She got in her car and drove to work. When she entered through the back door of the dealership, she was surprised to see Jasper standing there to greet her with his arms crossed and a silly grin on his face.

  “What’s going on?” Olivia tried to look past him into the showroom to see if he and Paul were playing another one of their tricks on her, but Paul was busy speaking with a customer on the sales floor.

  Jasper raised an eyebrow. “Who’s your secret admirer who sent you a bazillion flowers? You have a new guy in your life you haven’t told us about?”

  Her heart fluttered as she hurried her steps past him and around the corner to the receptionist desk. There, right beside her monitor, was an oversized crystal vase with what had to be a hundred red roses. Her heart melted at the sight and she hurried over to them. Tucked between the brightly colored petals was a note. Plucking the note out of its plastic holder, she hid it as she twisted her body away from Jasper. She liked to keep her private life private, knowing that Jasper and the rest were all close with her boss, Gus, one of her father’s close friends. She read the note.

  Each rose is a moment in which I thought of you. I can’t wait to see you again.

  ~ Tyler

  “So, who’s the stalker sending you roses?” Jasper laughed.

  Olivia held her chin up, prideful to have received such a gift. “He’s not a stalker. He’s sweet, and we’re just friends.”

  “Red roses don’t communicate friendship. Just so you know.” A moment passed, and Jasper caught sight of a person wandering around looking into cars in the car lot. Olivia turned and saw it was a woman with a fur coat and a nice big black purse. Jasper smiled as his gaze fixed on the woman outside. “I’d better go earn that commission check.”

  He ran outside as she sat down at her computer. Olivia paused as she set the note down beside her keyboard. She had to fight back tears. She was so happy. Nobody had ever bought her flowers before. As she worked the rest of the day, she not only had less stress from the acupuncture but a warm feeling in her chest as she stole glances at her flowers all throughout the day. Every time a customer commented on them, it made her glow even more.

  On her break that afternoon, she sent a text to Tyler thanking him and then called Rachel to tell her about the flowers.

  “Why do you get all the guys? I can’t seem to find even one! Here you are, out of marriage not even a full year, and you have another one lined up and ready!”

  Her insides shifted from joyful to concerned. “Yeah, sure, I can find them all right, but they all turn out to be lame in the end. Look at the bright side, Rachel. You don’t have to go through relationship after relationship and heartbreak after heartbreak. You’re lucky.”

  In an accent, she replied, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all!” A laugh followed from the two of them, then Rachel continued. “I don’t know if I’ll ever find a man in this lifetime, but I know if I do, I’ll hold onto him.”

  “Yeah, part of my problem was holding on too long with Bruce. I should’ve learned after the first time he cheated that he wasn’t going to change.”

  “Or when he made you cut off communication with me!”

  “He did have reasons for that, though . . .” Olivia’s words trailed off.

  Rachel was quiet for a moment before she replied. “I was a bad influence. Yes, I get it. Guess what, chica? I still do those same drugs, and I’m not influencing you.”

  Olivia didn’t like the tension that was building on the phone call. She grew more uncomfortable. She could’ve mentioned the fact that Rachel had helped her get in touch with Alex out in Diamond Lake and all that for her pills, but she didn’t. “I have to get back to work. We’ll chat later, okay?”

  “All right. I guess I should go out to the sales floor and pretend to do something for a while.” She laughed. “I mean, I need to manage the employees. Chat with you later.”

  As Olivia hung up the call with Rachel, a strange sensation came over her. She suddenly saw Rachel in a very raw and unfiltered way. She saw her as someone who always had something to say and seemed to have a way to relate every conversation to herself. She was always worse off, always at a disadvantage, and always not to blame. Olivia didn’t like feeling this way about her cousin who had been there for her through the thick of it back in the day, and even more recently, when she had left Bruce. She pushed the unsavory feelings aside and returned to her receptionist desk to finish out the work day.

  When Olivia arrived at her parents’ house later that day, her father immediately came up to her while she and her mother were in the kitchen feeding Molly.

  “Who sent the flowers, Olive?” His tone was soft enough not to alarm her, but she knew it was serious because he had cared so much that he set down his paper in the living room to come in and talk about it shortly after she had arrived at the house. He stood near the counter while she faced him opposite on the other side. Reaching her hands behind her, she gripped the counter as her pulse climbed. She didn’t tell Jasper because she didn’t want it reaching Gus and her dad, but it had managed to do that even without a name.

  “It was the man who saved my life last summer.”

  “The boy from the inn? Tyson?”

  Olivia’s mother interjected. Her tone was gentle but firm, and Olivia felt as if her mother was trying to redirect his attention to her. “Tyler. It was Tyler, Dan.”

  “Whatever his name was, it doesn’t matter. What’s he doing sending you flowers?”

  “Dan.”

  He held up a hand.

  “No, Kora. I want to know.” He came away from the counter and got closer to Olivia, only sending her worry soaring. “You have more than yourself to think about now. You can’t just bring strange men around my granddaughter. I won’t have it.”

  Olivia was fine until he brought Molly into the conversation. Her anger waxed hot and she shook her head. “First off, she’s my daughter before she’s your granddaughter. Second off, I’m not as dumb as you think I am. I’m taking precautions and haven’t had Molly around him at all. Third, Dad, we’re just friends. It’s just roses.”

  “I know how much a hundred roses
cost. It’s not cheap. This guy is obviously trying to get something.”

  She couldn’t stand by and let Tyler be talked about in a negative light, especially not after he wouldn’t even so much as kiss her. “You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  “I don’t, do I?” Her father’s face reddened and he shook his head. “I know what men are after!”

  This madness and sudden anger from her father reminded her so much of her childhood. It hurt. She had to put an end to it, and she knew exactly what would calm him down. Olivia didn’t want her parents, more specifically, her dad, to have the satisfaction of knowing it, but she couldn’t take another moment of the foolish talk. “He’s a Christian, Dad!”

  Her father stopped immediately, the tension in his shoulders loosened, and the redness in his cheeks subsided. Both of her parents looked relieved, her mother almost teary-eyed over it.

  “Oh, honey!” her mother said as she crossed the kitchen floor over to her, embracing her in a hug. “That’s so wonderful to hear.”

  Pleasing her parents should’ve felt good, but it didn’t. In fact, it made her mad, madder than she’d been in a long time. She had spent years watching her parents hate and disregard every boy or man she brought around the house, and at the mere mention of Tyler’s faith, they gushed over him like he’s the second coming of their Jesus Christ. They haven’t even met him, and boom! They’re in love. Hot tears welled in Olivia’s eyes and she shook her head.

  “What’s wrong?” Her father’s voice was soft, gentle, and suddenly full of love.

  “You two—mostly you, Dad—are the most hypocritical and judgmental people on this planet! You sit there and say you’re no different from anyone else and that everyone is a sinner, but you do treat people differently all the time! You hated every guy I brought around you two and it was because they didn’t believe in God. At the mere mention of this guy being a Christian, you two are loving, supportive, and happy about it. He could be a serial killer, and just the fact that he is a Christian makes it all okay! It’s psychotic!”

  Her father was quiet for a long moment, her mother too. Then her dad, with tears in his eyes, said, “I’m sorry.” He paused, obviously attempting to control his emotions by the way his face grimaced. “You’re right, Olive. We do judge, and we have been harsh in the past with people you brought around. The truth is this, though. The fact that Tyler is a Christian says a whole lot about the man. It means, if he’s a Biblical Christian, that he acknowledges and loves God above all—which is a big deal in our eyes. That means there’s someone above himself whom he is accountable to. Those other men in your life never had that. It also tells your mother and me that he values women, he values life, he values children, and he values family. These are only a few of the facts that being a Christian communicates. So, when you see a big reaction, it’s because it is a big deal. Those other people you brought around who didn’t believe in God? You know what that communicates? They are their own god and go by their own rules. That’s the only thing we knew about them up front was they didn’t have God. We know a whole lot more about this guy right away. We don’t think he’s perfect, but it gives us insight into some of his character.”

  Olivia blinked the tears from her eyes. Everything her father said made sense. When she was younger, before all the life experience she’d had with rotten men who only worshiped themselves, she would’ve blown him off. But not now. She knew it was true. People often know when they hear the truth, and she had just heard it firsthand. Walking up to her father, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

  “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been. I know this should’ve come a long time ago, but thank you. Thank you for taking care of me after the wreck. Thank you for raising me even when I didn’t want you to, and thank you most of all for loving me no matter what and no matter how I felt about it.”

  Her mother came closer and Olivia hugged the both of them. She was overwhelmed with happiness and sadness in that moment. She had been brought a new perspective about her parents, a deeper one and one that she could understand. Her heart swelled knowing that she was loved. Then, suddenly, Molly let out a squeal from the baby swing a few feet away. Everyone released from the embrace and laughed.

  At her apartment that night, after she had put Molly to bed and finished up an assignment, she sat on the couch in her living room and worked on a crossword puzzle. She glanced at her phone on the coffee table, wondering if Tyler would reply to her text she had sneaked in at work hours ago, then went back to filling out fourteen across. A moment later, the phone buzzed and she tossed the folded newspaper and pencil onto the couch cushion beside her. She felt like a kid on Christmas opening a present as she opened the text from Tyler.

  Tyler: I’m glad you were happy to get them. I can’t wait to see you again. The anticipation alone might kill me.

  Olivia: Ha-ha! I’m sure you’ll survive. I went to Dr. Hall today. I’m feeling pretty good, though I wasn’t in pain when I went.

  Tyler: Oh, good! That’s great to hear about not being in pain. Listen, I might be flying in a little earlier, like tomorrow, instead of two days from now. Mind if I come see you at work if I get in early? I don’t want to intrude if you don’t want me to.

  Olivia: I insist! The owner and others are lax about visitors coming in unless we have a sale going on because then we get slammed. I might even be able to leave early if you show up early.

  Tyler: All the more motivation for me to make it happen!

  Sprawling out on the couch with a soft plaid blanket over her lap and a couch pillow behind her neck, Olivia went on texting with Tyler for the next hour or so. They texted about their days apart and the mundane activities that filled them. As the time got later into the evening, Olivia felt her eyelids growing heavier between each response from Tyler. With her phone resting on her chest, she fell asleep.

  Chapter 16

  AS THE WHEELS TOUCHED DOWN at Spokane International Airport at 2:34 PM the next day, Tyler’s heart bumped along with the plane as it slowed on the runway. He stared out the window as he anticipated seeing Olivia once again. He hadn’t been able to get her off his mind his entire business trip. Even when he was sitting in business meetings and there was nothing but a few empty glasses and a pitcher of water, he was somehow reminded of her beauty by the simple liquid on the table. The crystal clarity of the water reminded him of how he felt he could see right through Olivia to her vulnerabilities. He didn’t take pleasure in the fact that he could see through her, but instead, he felt he was entrusted by God to care for those delicate needs and pains she carried. God was calling Olivia, and Tyler knew he was being used as a tool to help her.

  “Sir? The plane is emptying out. Do you mind standing up so we can exit? Or you can just let me by so I can go?” The man next to him was kind in the way he spoke, but it was apparent he was a bit impatient, and for good reason. On the flight, he had told Tyler about how he was being reunited with his long-lost mother he hadn’t seen since he was three years old, sixty-four years ago now. The man was in tears as he recounted the years he spent looking for his biological mom so he could not only meet her but thank her for giving him up like she had done. He was grateful for the family he now had because of his mother’s selfless choice.

  Tyler stood up and placed his hand on the gentleman’s shoulder, then shook his hand. “It was nice getting to know you, Ned. I’ll keep you and your family in my prayers.”

  “Thank you.”

  Exiting the security gates and making his way down the escalator, Tyler was surprised to see Jonathan had come to meet him at the airport. Tyler opened his arms and heart wide to embrace his brother. Jonathan patted his back and then took a step back.

  “You did good, Brother. The client couldn’t be more pleased with the proposal you pitched them.”

  Tyler smirked and they fell into step together on their way to pick up Tyler’s suitcase at the luggage carousel. “I told you that you didn’t need to come with me on
the trip, didn’t I?”

  Smacking his back with a warm appreciation, his brother nodded. “You were right.”

  He let out a sigh and then grabbed his suitcase. “Hearing that never gets old.”

  “Oh, did you want to leave that?”

  “What?” Tyler glanced around on the floor.

  “Your pride. Leave it here and don’t let the successful visit go to your head.”

  “Oh, brother!”

  They both laughed and headed toward the exit of the airport in good spirits. Walking across the street, they entered the parking garage and headed down the row of cars toward Jonathan’s car.

  “Thanks again for watering my plants.”

  “No problem. Your friend Vinny’s mom doing better?”

  “Yep. The triple-bypass went well and she’s resting at home now. How are Kylie and the kiddos?”

  Jonathan nodded. “That’s good about his mom. They’re good. Hey, when’s the bowling alley out of escrow? Like three weeks or less, right?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “You don’t even have a single box packed, Tyler. You’d better get on that.”

  Tyler came close to his brother and put his arm around him, shaking him lightly. “You’re such a good brother, looking out for me and making sure I’m on the right track with boxes.”

  Jonathan laughed and pushed him away. “I am trying to look out for you!”

  He laughed. “No, really, Jonathan. I mean, I’m supposed to pack my house up in boxes and move? Uh, wow. I had no idea that’s how moving works.”

  “Okay, enough.”

  As they slowed their steps and Jonathan popped the trunk of his car, Tyler stopped and looked at him. “I’m just playing with you. I know I need to get stuff moved out, and I also need to make room in Chet’s barn for my furniture.”

  “What about your house?”

  Tyler lifted his suitcase and shoved it into the trunk. He closed the trunk and turned to his brother. “I know it’s lame that the cheap contractor I hired is taking literally forever on my house, but I can’t go backward. It’s up to the contractor to get this done, and he’s behind. He’s going to lose money if he doesn’t get his butt in gear because I’m not paying extra. It won’t be until it’s move-in ready that I can move stuff inside.”