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“I like Chinese food.”
“Honey, no one likesthat– nor the slip-n-slide it does to your intestines.”
“That’s disgusting, Jake,” Lena uttered, crinkling her pretty little nose.
“Yeah, it really is.”
“Not the food – the description.”
“Both, I promise you,” he said and rose to his feet, holding out his hand toward her. “C’mon. Let’s see if we can find you some cheesecake. Maybe they have pudding or some other special kind of powdered torture.”
“I like pudding probably more than you imagine…pudding,” she whispered, putting her hand in his – and he swallowed in awareness.
“I really hope so, Lena. I really do hope so.”
12
LENA
Jake looked so devastated, so sad, that she wanted to ‘take over’ a bit of his time and attention in the hopes of making him smile. As they entered the hospital cafeteria, it looked like something dated out of a bad horror movie or an old school lunchroom – weathered and worn. One of the fluorescent lights flickered ghoulishly as if to say ‘hello’ to them. She smiled, undaunted in her mission, as he groaned in awareness.
Picking up a plastic tray, she grabbed two spoons and slid the tray along the counter made of metal tubes toward the series of Saran Wrap covered plates behind the plexiglass sneeze guards.
“Are you hungry?”
“For this? No, I’m good,” he retorted. “Who knew that MREs would ever sound appetizing someday? Yeah, hard pass, Lena, hard pass.”
Sliding further down the counter, she smiled and picked up a cellophane tray of green Jell-O with tiny marshmallows hidden inside and heard his groan again. Then she grabbed another dish of chocolate pudding sprinkled with crushed Oreos.
“Oh mercy, they are really trying to liven up this garbage, aren’t they?”
“Hush,” she ordered – and made a beeline for the cherry-covered cheesecake toward the end. It was cut into squares, obviously slathered in cheap cherry pie filling, with the most basic graham cracker crust, but it was cheesecake.
“Yay?” he said sarcastically, looking at her.
“Yay, indeed. Coffee?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure,” he uttered skeptically, looking at the carafe. “And I’ve drank some stuff that should probably be tested in a lab somewhere and this is almost as appealing.”
Ignoring him, she smiled at the clerk who did not look thrilled in the slightest at Jake’s comments.
“Hello. I’m so glad you are still open for the evening. Can you ring us up for two coffees and this?” she beamed, pointing at the tray while she grabbed two spoons and several napkins before reaching for her purse… only to feel Jake leaning over her as he handed the cashier his card. His face was so close to hers, and she heard his intake of breath as he leaned over her, not just tiptoeing in her personal space but invading it as he nearly pressed himself against her back.
“I’ll get this,” he whispered to her, and she shivered as his words tickled her ear, nodding.
Words failed her as she felt him so close to her, keenly aware of the differences between them and her growing attraction to the ornery man. Putting his card back into his wallet, he stepped back slightly and took the tray from her.
“Grab the…coffee…cups,” he ordered mockingly and hesitated. “Please.”
Lena wasn’t about to let anything bother her right now, nor was she going to lose focus. This was about distracting Jake and taking him from whatever mental torture he was doing to himself right now as his friend was introduced to Houghton’s plan that was told to them on the way by his wife, Jill.
At first, she was stunned, and Daphne,oh poor Daphne!Her expression was resigned, curious, and scared all at once – but she bravely agreed. She couldn’t imagine being given that condition, that order, without knowing the other person involved.
… And that was when it hit her.
As she turned with the two cups of lukewarm coffee, she saw Jake putting down the tray on a small table, setting the napkins down, and placing her fork and spoon on there like this was the Ritz-Carlton instead of some Podunk tiny hospital in the middle of nowhere.
He treated her so well despite his grumpiness. When he was sweet to her, it shone and radiated from him and when he was romantic?
