What if it’s formal attire only? No, Seth wouldn’t like a place where he had to wear a coat and tie. I was surprised he even owned a coat and tie to wear to the memorial service. I wonder if he bought them just for the funeral?
Leah looked in her closet and decided it wouldn’t hurt her to do a little shopping one of these days, too. She couldn’t remember the last time she had bought herself anything other than work apparel or new tennis shoes.
She finally decided on a white cotton shirt, which she ironed vigorously so the collar would stay in place. The final vote on the pants was the jeans because the chinos looked wrinkled to her, and she didn’t want to take the time to iron them. When she slipped on her black linen blazer, she thought it looked pretty good. Some sort of jewelry would improve the outfit, but her selection was limited and none of it seemed right.
While brushing her hair, which had air-dried after her bath, Leah decided to pull the top part back in a single clip. She didn’t usually do anything with her hair so this seemed like a fancy change. She wondered if Seth would like it.
Her makeup routine was simple and the same every day. Tonight she experimented with some blush, which she rarely used since, in her opinion, her cheeks blushed enough on their own. The extra minutes with the mascara wand and the extra detailed flossing and brushing of her teeth all seemed to have a good effect. She felt pretty, and that was as important as anything else.
With a squirt of her only fragrance, which was a gift-sized bottle of Fresh Ocean Breeze, Leah called her good-byes to Hula and opened her front door.
There stood Collin Radcliffe, just about to ring her doorbell.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Collin, you startled me,” Leah said, catching her balance.
“Good evening, Leah. My, don’t you look nice. Are you going out?”
“As a matter of fact, I was just leaving,” she said, checking her watch. It was five minutes before six.
“That’s a pity.” Collin had on one of his expensive business suits and looked as if he had just come from the office.
“Is there something wrong?” Leah asked.
“I was hoping I might have a word with you before you met with my father Monday for the reading of Mr. Madison’s will. Did you get my message?”
“No, I haven’t listened to my machine yet.”
“Would there be a convenient time for me to stop by tomorrow?” Collin asked.
“Tomorrow? I guess so.”
“I don’t want to hold you up,” he said smoothly. “Here’s my card. Would you call me in the morning after nine and let me know a time that would work for you?”
“Sure.” Leah took the embossed business card from him. “I’ll call you.”
“Good. May I walk you to your car?”
Leah found his superb manners once again put her on the defensive. This time, instead of resisting his assistance, she held her tongue and let Collin reach over and open the car door for her. She thought again of Shelly’s observation that Leah only was comfortable when she was the one in control. This seemed as good a time as any for her to practice relinquishing control. Collin seemed as determined to do things for her as she was determined to do things for others.
“You’ll call me tomorrow then?” he asked.
“Yes, I’ll call you.” She smiled at him before she drove off. Not a flirty, inviting smile, but one that expressed her decision not to resist Collin or his sudden involvement in her life. It was her way of saying, “Okay, I’ll stop being the edgy, poor-me girl you knew in high school. This is the new me, the Leah who is learning to like who she is and is accepting her life as it is.”
Her drive to Edgefield seemed to take only ten minutes instead of the actual thirty. She was lost in her thoughts—or more accurately, in her dreams. She saw her response to Collin as a major step in the right direction. She could be free and open in her relationships instead of controlling. It didn’t matter to her at the moment if Collin wanted to talk about business or Franklin or—maybe he was considering running for mayor and wanted her support. She was a strong woman learning to soften up around the edges. And she was on her way to have a date with the most wonderful man in the world who had captured her heart. How could she possibly allow herself to enter this evening as the old, driven, misunderstood Leah?
She found herself praying aloud the last few blocks to Seth’s apartment. She wanted God’s blessing on her life. On this evening. On her relationship with Seth.
Parking in one of the three visitor parking spaces, Leah looked at the sticky note on her dashboard that had the Psalm 37 verses printed on it. She read the last verse aloud, “ ‘Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.’ ”
Trust in him, trust in him, Leah repeated to herself as she headed for Seth’s apartment. I’m trying, God!
The moment she knocked on the door, it swung open, and Seth held out a bouquet of daisies.
Leah laughed. “How pretty! For me?”
“For you,” he said. “I have to admit it would have felt more natural if I were the one ringing your doorbell and you were the one opening the door.”
“We can try it that way,” she said, playfully handing him back the flowers and pulling him outside. She went into his apartment and closed the door on him. Bungee yelped and barked and begged for Leah to come rescue him from the kitchen.
“Just a minute, Bungee Boy. I’m having a little fun with your master.”
The doorbell rang. Leah deliberately waited. The doorbell rang again. “Who is it?” she called out sweetly.
“Open the door and find out,” Seth said. His voice didn’t sound quite as joking as she had intended this exercise to be.
She opened the door, and Seth stood there, looking more embarrassed than jovial. He held out the flowers without saying anything. His eyebrows were raised as if to say, “Are we done with this game?” Leah noticed three of his neighbors standing in the parking area. They had been loading a self-rent moving van when she had pulled up. Now all three men had stopped working and were elbowing each other and watching Seth.
“Thanks,” Leah said quietly, as Seth entered the apartment and closed the door. “Sorry I sent you out the door like that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Beginning relationship jitters?” Seth suggested.
Leah nodded. “Mind if I leave these here in water? I’ll get them when we come back.”
“Sure.”
Leah felt awful. She had done it again. She had seized the opportunity to be the one who controlled the situation. Why couldn’t I just say thank you and take the flowers while we were both in a happy mood and excited to see each other?
She stepped into the kitchen and greeted Bungee with enthusiasm that matched his excitement.
“Does it matter to you what I use for a vase?” she called out to Seth.
“No,” he said, standing in the living room, watching her. “A bucket is under the sink, glasses are in the cupboard. I don’t know which would work best for you.”
Leah opted for the bucket because it was easy. Then she joined Seth on the couch.
“I don’t know why I did that,” she said. “I’m sorry. It was supposed to be a joke, but it didn’t end up funny.”
“Forget it; it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not really okay,” Leah continued. “I don’t want to be like that.”
“Like what?” Seth leaned back and folded his hands behind his neck, listening to her. He looked open and understanding, not upset, like he did earlier.
Leah decided not to make such a big issue out of apologizing. “I guess God is working on this one area of my life, and I keep noticing ways I need to change. It’s humbling.”
Seth nodded, as if he understood what she was saying.
“Shelly says I’m only comfortable in a relationship if I’m the one in control.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Seth asked.
“I’m sure there’s some truth to it. I could m
ake up all kinds of excuses about how I had to be that way to survive with five older sisters and in the role I played with my parents for so long. Only thing is, I don’t want to go through life apologizing for who I am. I’ve done that far too long.”
Seth’s tender expression invited her to continue.
“You helped me to see that, you know,” Leah said. She hadn’t planned to say any of this. It was all coming up as if an underground cistern had been exposed, and she couldn’t hold back the water from flowing out. “When you told me about the biblical Leah and how she started praising God instead of always trying to prove her value to others, I thought a lot about that. I’ve thought about how her son was the one who received the blessing. I’ve started to esteem my namesake more highly, and I think it’s affecting how I think about myself.”
“Actually,” Seth said, “I think it’s all in the voice inflection when you get to verse 25. You say it as if it’s, ‘Boo, hiss, behold, it’s Leah.’ I prefer to think of it this way.” Seth stood and struck a pose in front of Leah like a regal town crier. He had one arm bent behind him and one bent in the front. With his chin up, he raised his left arm and dramatically announced, “Behold! It’s Leah!”
Leah grinned. “You make it sound as if I’ve been chosen to attend a royal ball.”
“Not a royal ball,” Seth said, offering her his hand. “Just fish fajitas at Del Rey, and our reservation is in five minutes. Shall we?”
Leah took his hand and let him usher her out the door and to his car. She couldn’t believe how easily Seth made her feel relaxed and as if her personality flaws didn’t bother him. It wasn’t that he didn’t notice them nor have a dislike for some of them. It was more as if he had a goal, and nothing else seemed important enough to deter him from it. He was a man on a mission, Leah decided. And if his mission was to win her heart and soul, he had succeeded. She just didn’t know if he realized that yet, or if she would have to find a way to express her heart to him.
As the evening progressed, Leah realized she didn’t need to spell out anything for Seth. They talked and laughed freely over dinner at the Mexican restaurant Seth called his home away from home. He estimated that he had eaten there twelve times in less than a month. It was close to his apartment, inexpensive, and offered plenty of variety for a fish-eating vegetarian.
The movie they had decided on turned out to be a good choice. While they sat in the fifth row—a mutual, spontaneous decision based on both of them liking to feel as if they were part of what was happening on the screen—Seth and Leah held hands and shared a large tub of buttered popcorn.
By the time they arrived back at his apartment, the last thing Leah wanted to do was go home. She wanted to settle in with a fresh pot of coffee and sit up all night talking. However, Seth had other plans.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Lingering in his car in the apartment parking area, Seth nodded at the moving van now parked in front of the complex. “I promised one of my neighbors I’d help him move tomorrow.”
“Did you get your stitches removed already?” Leah asked.
“No, which is why I couldn’t help them load the van. I volunteered to drive instead.”
“Oh.” Leah had been dreaming of fun things they could do together on Saturday. “Where is he moving to?”
“Walnut Creek.”
“Where is that?”
“Near San Francisco.”
Leah looked at him with disbelief. “It’ll take you all day to get there.”
“So I’ve been told. I didn’t know exactly where he was moving until after I volunteered to drive the van. We’re leaving at two in the morning and driving straight through. I don’t imagine I’ll be back until Sunday evening.”
Leah made an exaggerated pout. “I’ll miss you. I was hoping we could spend some more time together this weekend.”
“Me too,” Seth said. “I’m glad we had tonight together. My neighbor wanted to pull out this evening as soon as he had the van loaded, but I told him I had an important meeting I couldn’t cancel.”
Leah thought back on how she had sent Seth out the door with his daisies in hand. The movers must have surmised quickly that his “important meeting” was with a woman who had a strange sense of humor. She wished she hadn’t done that.
“I hope you understand,” Seth said. “I’d invite you in for some really superb coffee, but I think I need a little sleep before I start driving.”
“Definitely,” Leah agreed. “I’ll just run in, grab my flowers, and be on my way.”
“Oh, that’s right, your daisies.”
“And my good-night kiss,” Leah added.
Seth looked surprised. “Your good-night kiss, huh? What makes you think we were going to share a good-night kiss?”
“Just a prediction.”
“Wow,” Seth teased as he got out of the car, “you must be psychic.”
Psychotic is more like it! she thought as he came around to open her door. Why did I say that? My knowledge of dating etiquette is atrocious!
They walked to his front door with an arm around each other’s waist. Seth leaned his chin against her hair and said, “I suppose I’m going to have to kiss you twice tonight. Once for good night and once to soften you up extra for the huge favor I’m going to ask of you.”
Leah smiled. She wouldn’t mind two kisses. Not one bit.
Seth unlocked the door to his apartment, and Leah asked, “What’s the favor? Or do you think you should kiss me first before you lay the tough request on me?”
Seth leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before she realized he was going to do it. She immediately felt disappointed. The first of her two kisses had been used up just like that.
“I better ask you now, and then you can decide if you still want to kiss me good night.” Seth flipped on the light, and they immediately heard Bungee scampering across the linoleum floor and letting out a happy bark.
“Wait. Let me guess. You want me to baby-sit Bungee while you’re gone.”
Seth looked at her sheepishly. “Would you mind? I know he was a problem last time, but I bought him a long leash. I thought maybe you could anchor him in the backyard, and he could get a little exercise.”
“Sure,” Leah said.
“Are you positive?”
“Yes. I’ll check that the barricade is strong enough to keep him in the mudroom this time, and I’ll even take him for a walk or two. I’d be glad to take him for the weekend.”
Seth took Leah by the elbows and pulled her close, showing her his appreciation in his kiss, which was considerably longer than the first and not on her cheek. They drew apart slowly, and Seth said, “You know, I think we’re getting better at this each time.”
Leah let out a nervous chuckle. “You have to consider that when you kiss someone who has as little experience as I have, there’s plenty of room for improvement.”
“As little experience as both of us,” Seth corrected her. “I may have had two and a half girlfriends before you, but there’s plenty of room for improvement in my kisses.”
“That’s not my opinion. I like your kisses just the way they are.” She wrapped her arms around Seth in a warm hug. He held her for a minute before giving her a kiss on the side of her forehead, right where her eyebrow met her temple. “And I like yours just the way they are,” he whispered.
They drew apart and smiled at each other. Neither of them initiated another kiss. It seemed to Leah that everything was right and balanced the way it was. She didn’t want to do anything to disrupt the wonderful, overwhelming sense of falling in love.
“Your flowers,” Seth said after a moment.
“My flowers.” Leah stepped into the kitchen. “I’ll take them home in the bucket, if you won’t miss it.”
“No, I definitely won’t miss my bucket this weekend,” Seth said with a laugh. He scooped up Bungee and added, “Your lasagna pan is in the cupboard there. I’ll get Bungee’s leash.”
Leah opened the first cupboard an
d saw only bowls, plates, and cups. The next cupboard held papers and file folders. She was impressed Seth was so organized. For fun, she flipped through the files to see if they were alphabetized. They weren’t. A file labeled Madison Property was the first file, and it came before the one labeled Car Insurance.
At least I know he’s not perfect, Leah thought. She checked the lower cupboard and found her spinach casserole dish just as Seth returned with Bungee on his leash.
“You don’t know how much I appreciate this,” Seth said.
“I think Bungee is going to appreciate it more than you.” Leah bent to greet the happy-to-be-going-anywhere puppy. “And you can show me your appreciation, Mr. B., by following the house rules this time.”
“He will,” Seth said. “At least I hope he will. I see you found the pan. Would you like me to carry the flowers?”
“No, I can get them if you have the hyper-hound there.”
Seth walked Leah to her car with Bungee leading the way. They settled him on the floor in front and gave each other a quick hug.
“I’ll see you Monday,” Seth said. “Monday morning at the reading of the will.”
“Oh, that’s right. Do you want to come to my house for dinner Monday night?”
“That would be great. And if you don’t mind having Bungee that long, I’ll pick him up then.”
“That’s fine. Have a safe trip.” She waved good-bye, and all the way back to Glenbrooke, she planned what she would make for dinner Monday night.
When she arrived home with Bungee under her arm, sleepy Hula woke and gave Leah a look as if to say, “Oh, no, please, anything but that troublemaker again. Don’t do this to me!”
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Hula! You and Bungee need to work out your differences and become good friends. You two will most likely be seeing a lot of each other in the weeks ahead. Work it out, okay? And you,” she said, pulling Bungee close, “you behave!”
Bungee licked her chin. Leah closed off the doggy door and closed the door to the mudroom. “Now good night and not a peep out of either of you.”
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