Page 23 of Harbinger of Destiny

Joshua waited another three minutes, before he got out of the car, locked it, and walked across the street. At the coffee shop, he tested the door, but it was locked. He pressed his face to the glass to look inside, but he couldn’t see Amy from his vantage point. Worried now, he knocked on the glass door.

Finally, he saw a sliver of light inside the shop. It looked like a door to a back room was being opened slightly. Moments later, he recognized Amy. He knocked on the glass again.

“Amy, it’s me, Joshua!” he called out, hoping she recognized him despite the burned-out streetlight behind him.

Amy came out from behind the counter and walked to the door, unlocking it. He pulled it open and took a step toward her.

“Joshua,” she said, her voice low.

“Hey, Amy, what are you still doing here? Sorry I didn’t call or come by earlier,” he started, when he ran his eyes over her. His gaze caught on her clothing. She wore a long T-shirt and loose-fitting jogging pants, but only socks, no shoes.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Looking for you, what else?” Then he took a step into the shop and let the door fall shut behind him.

“Oh, ahem,” she said, looking embarrassed. “I still have to tidy up here. Why don’t you come by tomorrow? I work the afternoon shift from one till five.”

Something wasn’t right. He could sense it. Amy was trying to get rid of him—as if she was trying to hide something from him. Or didn’t she want to see him anymore after their night of sex? Was he just a one-night-stand for her?

“Hmm.” Joshua glanced past her to the door she’d opened. The room was a storeroom, and now, as he focused his eyes on it, he noticed that on the floor lay several of the seat cushions that normally graced the chairs in the coffee shop. It looked like a make-shift bed.

“Ahem, yeah, so, does tomorrow work?” Amy asked, trying to get his attention as she shifted in an obvious attempt to block his view toward the storeroom. But she wasn’t tall enough for this. Besides, he already knew what was going on.

“Are you sleeping here?” He hadn’t wanted to sound like he was accusing her, but the words just spilled out.

“Please, Joshua, just go. We can talk tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “Tell me what’s going on here.”

Tears welled up in Amy’s eyes. “I lost my room.”

Immediately, Joshua pulled her into his arms, feeling the need to comfort her. “How?”

She sniffled. “I was late with my rent. They locked me out.”

He stroked his hand over her back. “They can’t just do that.”

“They can. I’m not on the lease. They gave me five extra days to come up with the money, and I was able to scrape it together.” A sob tore from her now. “I was supposed to pay last night, but I didn’t get home till this morning, and they’d already given my room to somebody else.”

Fuck! In the historical records he’d studied about Amy, there’d been no note that she’d been thrown out of her shared apartment—because in that timeline she’d never met him. It was clear to him in an instant that it was his fault that she’d been locked out. Had he not made love to her last night, she would have gotten home in time to pay her overdue rent. Instead, she now had to sleep in the storeroom of the coffee shop.

“You can’t stay here.”

She lifted her head from his chest and stepped out of his embrace. “I have nowhere else to go. Please, don’t tell anybody. My boss can’t find out, or I’ll lose my job too.”

Her face was a mask of panic and fear. And desperation. Seeing her like this broke his heart.

“Get your things,” he said firmly. “You’re staying with me.”

After all, he was responsible for her. Not just because he was the reason why she was homeless in the first place, but also because the Institute for Time Travel had made him responsible for Amy by sending him to the past to meet her and convince her to come to 2085 with him. All he was doing was his duty.

“Staying with you?” She stared at him in disbelief. “But you barely know me. You can’t just offer me a place to stay.”

He had to shake his head at her protest. Amy wasn’t used to being given anything she didn’t have to work for. That was evident. She took nothing for granted, and he had to admire her for that. Any other woman would have already blamed him for her predicament. Yet Amy was too polite to even mention it, too decent to ask him to make it up to her. And now she didn’t even want to accept his offer. Or was she worried, because she didn’t really know him? After all, he was practically a stranger to her.

“I know you don’t really know me. But I promise I’m not gonna hurt you, Amy. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. This is not a quid pro quo. I don’t expect sex in return for this, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He dropped his gaze to his shoes. What the fuck was he saying? When had he turned into a Good Samaritan? All day he’d thought about having Amy back in his bed, and now he was telling her he didn’t expect sex?