“And I’m very thankful.”
“Everything working okay for you there?”
Andrew nodded. “Yes. It’s perfect. And thank you for letting me keep my niece’s dog there. I’d worried initially that I wouldn’t find a place where I could have her.”
“No problem. I had an inside dog at that house, too. I’ll bet she loves the backyard.”
“Yep. And I love that I’ll be close enough to run home for lunch to let her out.”
Jared smiled. “I’m so glad. Anything else we can do to help, just let me know.”
Andrew thanked him and headed back to his classroom. He’d introduced his parents to Jared and his wife at church on Sunday. Mom and Dad were happy that he had made friends he could call on if he needed anything. But that hadn’t compared to their delight when they found out he’d gone to a baseball game with Emily.
There’d been no hiding the news because as soon as they got to the hospital, Mary Kate demanded her new baseball cap and Sarah teased him about being sad Emily wasn’t on duty. Mom, especially, had leapt on the information. She’d tried to talk Dad into staying one more day so they could meet “that nice nurse Emily” but thankfully he’d had a meeting to get back to.
Andrew looked around his classroom. Not too shabby. He’d spent the better part of yesterday getting organized. Which meant he had the rest of the day free.
He eyed his cell phone. Emily had given him her number the other night, but he hadn’t called her yet. Maybe it was time to ask her on a real date.
Panic seized him as he picked up the phone. Was he ready? After four years, was it finally time to move on?
Only one way to find out.
He chose her name from the contact list and touched the screen.
Learning to live again might be the hardest thing he’d ever done.
***
Emily glanced around her condo to make sure everything looked okay. She’d been pleasantly surprised when Andrew had called her earlier in the week to see if she wanted to have dinner.
So even if their last outing hadn’t been a date, tonight definitely was. She pulled the guest door closed and slid a chair in front of the door. Not that he was likely to go around opening doors, but maybe that would deter him just in case. She was in no mood to explain what was hidden behind the door.
The doorbell rang and Emily paused at a mirror hanging on the wall. The beauty of a Saturday night date was that she’d gotten plenty of sleep the night before and wasn’t harried from a long day at work. Her makeup and hair were perfect and she’d chosen dark jeans, a yellow top, and brown wedge heels. Definitely an improvement from hurrying to get ready in her office like last time.
She swung the door open to see a smiling Andrew, a bouquet of flowers in hand.
“Hey there,” he said. “I hope this isn’t overkill.” He handed the flowers to her.
Emily couldn’t hide her grin. “Not at all. I happen to love gerbera daisies. And I can’t remember the last time anyone brought me flowers.” She ushered him inside.
“This is a great place,” he said. “You’re really close to everything downtown.”
She nodded. “The trolley goes right by the front of my building. It used to be a warehouse, but they converted it into condos a few years ago.” She pointed at the exposed beams and brickwork walls. “Don’t you love that?”
Andrew looked around. “It’s nice. Very urban.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Not at all. Just an observation.”
Emily plucked a vase from the bottom shelf of a bookcase. “Have a seat while I put these flowers in water.” The open floor plan let her keep an eye on him while she put water in the vase. Not that she didn’t trust him, but she wasn’t quite ready to give him free reign in her space.
He sat down on her brown leather couch. “How long have you lived here?”
“Going on three years. I bought it right after my wedding got called off.” Her friends had tried to get her to shop around, maybe look at other areas of town, but she’d insisted on buying in the downtown district. It was close to work, after all.
“I guess you probably needed a project.”
She put the vase in the center of an end table. “Maybe. Mostly I just wanted some stability at that point. I thought everything was all set and then the rug got pulled out from under me. Getting a place of my own gave me a sense of belonging, I think.” She shrugged. “I needed something that no one could take away from me.”
“Peace.” He met her gaze. “Comfort.”
She grinned. “Exactly.” He understood, she could tell.
“You ready?” he asked. “And are you okay leaving your fancy BMW and taking my old truck?”
Emily laughed. “Old trucks are okay. You forget where I come from.”
He looked around the condo. “Between this place and the BMW, you sure don’t seem like the kind of girl who’d be okay with an old clunker.”
“Maybe there are many sides to me,” she said with a grin.
Andrew laughed. “I look forward to finding out.” He followed her out the door. “Don’t you need to set the alarm?”
She shook her head. “It’ll be fine. We won’t be gone long. I mostly only arm it when I’m sleeping or out of town.”
A shadow crossed his face. “If you’re sure.”
She pushed the button for the elevator. “Don’t worry.”
He followed her into the small elevator.
Emily watched him out of the corner of her eye. Even though his khakis, red polo shirt, and brown loafers were standard first date uniform for most guys, he managed to look fresh. Suzanne and Jade would definitely be impressed. “What are you in the mood for tonight?” she asked.
“I was actually wondering about that burger place you mentioned last week. Huey’s? A couple of people at school told me to put that on my Memphis must-eat list.” He grinned. “So if that’s okay with you, how about we give it a try?”
The elevator dinged as they reached the bottom floor.
“You know. . .if we go to Huey’s downtown, we could just walk.” She grinned. “And that suggestion has nothing to do with your truck. Just that sometimes walking downtown is easier than driving. It would take about fifteen minutes to get there from here.”
He frowned. “Do you really think that’s safe? Plus you have on those sandals.”
Emily laughed. “I know you’re from Mayberry and all, but the city isn’t really that big and bad. It’s still daylight. And it’s Saturday night. There will be a lot of people out.” He sounded like her dad, who cautioned her about walking downtown whenever he got the chance.
Andrew held the door open for her, and they stepped into the balmy Memphis night. “The sun hasn’t set yet, but it will soon.” He looked around. “Are you sure we’ll be okay walking back after dark?”
“We can take the trolley back. It will practically drop us off at the front door of the building.”
This news seemed to ease his mind. “Great.”
They headed north on Main Street, and Emily pointed out various landmarks as they passed them. “You’ll have to come downtown and do some real sightseeing,” she said. “You can eat at the Arcade, like Elvis used to. And there’s the National Civil Rights Museum. It’s really interesting. The hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot is right around the corner and his room has been preserved. The whole building is part of the museum now.”
“I’ve never been to Memphis as a tourist,” he confessed. “We drove through here on the way to visit my great-aunt when I was a kid, but that’s about it. I guess there is some pretty neat stuff to see.”
“Oh yeah. Sun Studios where Elvis recorded his first song. And Graceland, of course.” She grinned. “That’s a must. And Beale Street if you like live music. And the food. There are so many places to eat here, you could probably go to a different restaurant every day.”
Andrew laughed. “I feel like we’re in
a Chamber of Commerce ad.”
She bumped against him as they walked. “Sorry. I just get the feeling you aren’t sold on living here, even for the short term. I’m just trying to point out some of the fun stuff to do.”
“It isn’t so bad.” He bumped her back. “Especially right now.”
Her face grew hot. “And in December there’s the St. Jude Marathon.” She looked up at him. “I’m training for the half marathon now.” She laughed. “My friend Suzanne and I were going to run it last year, but we ended up only being ready for the 5K. This year, I’m determined to actually be ready for the half marathon.”
“It benefits the hospital?” he asked as they crossed over Beale Street.
She nodded. “A lot of people have teams and run for particular patients. You could run for Mary Kate.” They stopped and waited for a car to go past. “The patients who are healthy enough come out and cheer for the runners. It’s a very unique race.”
He grinned. “I think that sounds awesome. Mary Kate would love it if I had her picture put on a shirt and ran the race in her honor.”
“She sure would.”
They reached Huey’s at the corner of Union and Second Avenue.
Emily pointed across the street. “That’s the Peabody Hotel. You should go there sometime and see the Peabody Ducks march. They march down to the lobby fountain in the morning and march back to their house on the roof in the afternoon. It’s really interesting to see.”
“Maybe when Mary Kate is able, I’ll take her to see them.”
“Definitely.” Emily let him open the door to Huey’s and walked inside. “Suzanne is having her wedding reception there on New Year’s Eve. Should be a fun time.”
Ten minutes later they were seated and had each ordered original Huey burgers.
“So tell me,” Andrew said, “what is your reason for wanting to do a half marathon? Are you just running in honor of all of your patients? Or would you maybe want to run with me for Mary Kate?”
Emily took a sip of her Dr. Pepper, debating how to answer his question. She never talked about her sister. Not even to her best friends. They knew the gist of the story, but she’d never gone into detail. Even with Matt, she’d only given him the minimal information needed. She’d never really opened up.
She looked into Andrew’s kind blue eyes and knew if ever there was anyone who could understand her, it was him.
“Actually, I already have someone to run for,” she began.
Chapter Eight
Andrew leaned forward. Her voice had gotten so quiet, it was hard to hear over the noisy restaurant.
“I had a sister. Her name was Holly.” She grinned. “When we were little girls, we had Holly Hobbie sleeping bags, and I was so jealous because I wanted something named after me.”
He laughed. “Funny.”
“Holly was two years older than me, and I always thought she was the greatest. When we were little, I wanted to be just like her—do everything she did and go everywhere she went.”
“Did y’all look alike?”
Emily shook her head. “No. She had this beautiful, thick blond hair and big blue eyes. I always thought she looked like a princess and I was more like an ugly stepsister.”
Andrew shook his head. “There is no way that can be true.”
“Oh, I’ll show you pictures. I was gangly and awkward and had braces and freckles. And Holly was this beautiful creature. She even did some modeling when we were in elementary school.”
Emily’s obvious devotion to her sister was touching. It didn’t sound competitive, which Andrew knew could be the case a lot of the time. “So you really admired her.”
She nodded. “Yes. And she was always kind to people. I remember this one little girl who didn’t have many friends and was kind of an outcast at school. Holly was always nice to her and always encouraged everyone else to be the same way. She stuck up for people when she saw them being made fun of.” She smiled at the memory. “And people would listen to her because of who she was.”
“So what happened?”
Emily took another sip of Dr. Pepper. “When we were in junior high and high school, we were really close friends. Best friends. We even put our beds in one room and our desks in another and told everyone we were getting ready for when we were older and had an apartment together.”
“So those must’ve been some fun times.”
She nodded. “Holly was the captain of the cheerleading squad. She was so good, too. The squad made it all the way to the state championships. Mom, Dad, and I went to all of their competitions. Holly planned on spending the summer before my sophomore year training me so that we could cheer together for one year before she went off to college.” She shook her head. “I was kind of a lost cause. I played basketball instead of cheering, but it meant so much to Holly, I’d promised to try and learn.”
“You seem pretty graceful to me.”
Emily shook her head. “Maybe now. But back then I was all arms and legs. And super clumsy.” She smiled. “Anyway, a couple of weeks into the summer, we noticed that Holly had these weird bruises that just wouldn’t go away. Mom and Dad thought it was just because we were working on tumbling and jumps and stuff.”
Andrew could see where this was going. He debated whether to stop her, but something about the expression on her face told him this was a story she needed to get out. “But it wasn’t?”
“She was so tired all the time, too. Mom finally took her to the doctor, thinking it was some kind of flu.” She closed her eyes. “It was cancer.” Emily opened her eyes again and blinked back tears. “We were all stunned.”
“I’m sorry. That must be why you opted to work at St. Jude. So you could be there for families in similar situations.”
She nodded. “Exactly. I watched her wither away. They did chemo and her beautiful hair fell out right before her senior year. Mom got a wig for her senior pictures, but they turned out so bad Holly didn’t even want anyone to see them.”
“Did she go back to school?”
Emily shook her head. “She was going for treatments and in and out of the hospital. There was a lady who came to the house for homeschooling so that she would still be able to graduate with her class.”
“That’s good.”
“I made the squad that year and hated every minute of it. But I felt like I had to stay on for Holly’s sake.” Emily sighed. “She told me I had to be her eyes and ears, so every day I’d go to her room and tell her every detail of the day. What people wore, what they said, who got in trouble, who was dating whom that day.” She smiled. “Just normal high school stuff.”
“So did she graduate with her class?”
Emily nodded. “She did. And she walked with the class and everything. She was relieved because the graduation gown hid how thin she’d become and the hat hid her bald head.”
“That’s wonderful that she was able to graduate.”
Emily cleared her throat. “The cancer came back a month before she was supposed to start college. She was devastated. We all were. She passed away the last week of July. The anniversary was actually last week, the night of the Redbirds game.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Some of the things Emily had mentioned last week made more sense now. Her aversion to her hometown must be related to her sister’s death. And her devotion to the kids at St. Jude was more personal than he’d known. “I guess relying on God is the only way to get through something like that.”
The waitress put two platters of burgers and fries on the table. “Anything else I can get y’all?”
Andrew raised his eyebrows at Emily.
She shook her head.
“We’re good. Thanks.”
The waitress smiled and walked off.
“I’ll say a quick prayer,” Andrew said.
Emily didn’t say anything, just bowed her head.
“Lord, bless this food and the hands that prepared it. Be with Sarah and Mary Kate and give them strength as they face challeng
es. Please watch over Emily and her family as they continue to grieve the loss of Holly. Thank you for this chance for us to come together and get to know one another. Watch over us as we return to our homes tonight. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
He looked up and met Emily’s teary eyes over the table. He hoped she was okay and that he hadn’t overstepped his bounds.
She quickly wiped her eyes and reached for a french fry.
***
Emily had to admit, over the years she’d started to think of prayer as a way to placate people when you didn’t have a real solution to their problems. She and Suzanne had never seen eye to eye on prayer. Suzanne’s immediate reaction to just about anything was to pray about it. Emily, on the other hand, always relied on facts.
If she had a decision to make, she made lists of pros and cons. She paced the floor, worrying about making the right choice. But she didn’t pray about it. She’d stopped praying twelve years ago.
But listening to Andrew offer up an honest, heartfelt prayer on her behalf gave her pause. The fact that he acknowledge that she still grieved, even after all of these years, made her feel better somehow.
“Thanks,” she said finally. “I don’t talk about Holly’s death much. It seems like most people seem to think that after twelve years I should be over it.” She shook her head. “But it’s not that simple.”
“It never is.” Andrew took a bite of his burger.
Emily gave him a tiny smile. “Thanks for listening to me. But at least now you know.”
“I think that probably explains a lot about you.” He swirled a french fry into the ketchup. “I can’t imagine how I would’ve dealt with losing Sarah. And it sounds like you and Holly were even closer.”
“She was my best friend.” Emily took a sip of Dr. Pepper. “And it’s never made sense to me. Holly was good. She tried to make everyone happy—at home, at school, at church. And I. . .I was the one who struggled.”
Andrew furrowed his brow. “What are you saying?”
She shrugged. “Just that it never made sense. Why God would take her and not me. Every day since then, I’ve wondered why not me, you know? It just seems like there’s no rhyme or reason.” She narrowed her eyes. “And don’t give me that line about God having a plan. I’ve heard that plenty.”
Can't Help Falling in Love (Memphis Moments Book 2) Page 5