He told Liz what was on his mind. “When you leave for your other job, I’ll just tag along.”
Liz frowned. “Ethan, as much as I like your company, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He thought he knew why she might be hesitant about the arrangement, and he was quick to reassure her. “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to monopolize you. As a matter of fact, I’m not even planning on having a drink while I’m there. What I’m interested in—besides the bartender,” he couldn’t help qualifying with a wink, “is sampling the food. It’s been forever since I had any really good Chinese food.”
“Too busy?” she guessed.
That would have been the simpler answer to go with, but he didn’t want even a hint of a lie marring their budding relationship.
“No,” he admitted, “the truth of the matter was that Catherine didn’t like Chinese food, or any kind of Asian food, for that matter. She had very specific tastes and required that I have the same ones.”
Saying that out loud had him wondering why he had gone along with all her idiosyncrasies for as long as he had.
“Catherine sounds like a dictator,” Liz told him honestly.
“Actually, now that I think about it, she was,” he admitted. “All she needed to complete the picture was her own country to rule over. I think her father was planning on buying her one for her thirtieth birthday,” he relayed with a straight face. “No danger of that.”
“Why’s that?” she asked.
“Because Catherine would have never admitted to turning thirty,” he told her simply. “She was far too vain for that.”
Liz couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer. “If you don’t mind my asking, how did you manage to put up with her?”
“That was relatively easy,” Ethan told her. “As long as we interacted for only short intervals at a time, I could handle it. The important thing is that I’ve come to realize that that part of my life was a huge mistake and I’ve moved on from it.”
And on to something far, far better, he thought.
“Now, speaking of moving, shouldn’t we be getting a move on if you want to be able to get to work on time?” he asked Liz.
He was right, Liz thought, glancing at her watch. “Are you sure you want to get something to eat there?” she asked him.
“Why? Have you decided to rescind your endorsement?”
“No, definitely not,” she said with feeling. “But Chinese food isn’t for everyone.”
“Well, rest easy,” he said. “Because I happen to really love Chinese food. And I plan to make up for lost time now that the opportunity has come up.”
“Well, then, I can tell you that you’ve really got a treat ahead of you,” she promised Ethan.
His eyes swept over her and lingered just for a moment, drinking in the very sight of her.
They were going to the Chinese restaurant in a few minutes, but there would be other times, he promised himself. Other times when neither one of them had to be anywhere—except with each other.
“Yes,” Ethan responded. “I know.”
Chapter Sixteen
Although it had begun to feel as if the day would never end, eventually it did. Eleven o’clock came, and Young Lee’s staff slowly began to close the restaurant up. By 11:20, Liz was walking into the parking lot with Ethan at her side.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anyone eat as slowly as you did this evening,” Liz confessed to Ethan in amusement as they approached her car.
“I had to eat slowly,” he insisted. “Otherwise, the server would have been within his rights to ask me to leave in order to free up my table. People were beginning to line up at the reservations desk.”
She laughed. “You were at the restaurant for so long, I thought Mrs. Lee was going to make you part of the staff. Why did you stay so long?”
“Well,” he answered, “I wanted to be able to walk you to your car. And then make sure you got home.”
Liz wasn’t quite sure she understood what he was telling her. “You’re going to follow me home?”
“I’d like to,” Ethan answered honestly. But he didn’t want her to get the wrong impression or feel as if he was trying to crowd her. “But I won’t if you don’t want me to.”
She liked the fact that Ethan was leaving the decision up to her. She also liked the fact that he wanted to make sure she got home safely, even though this was Bedford—considered to be one of the safest cities of its size in the country. There was something comforting about having someone care about her well-being who didn’t respond to the name Mom.
This was all brand-new territory for her.
“I have no objections,” she told him, doing her best not to sound as pleased as she felt. Her grandmother had once told her that men liked a woman who was hard to get. Although, Liz reminded herself, the only man her grandmother had ever had in her life was Grandpa, so her range of experience wasn’t exactly extensive.
“Good, then I’ll follow you home,” Ethan told her. And once he got there, he told himself, he’d play it by ear.
* * *
Because it was after eleven o’clock on a Sunday, traffic was practically nonexistent once they had traveled a short distance on the freeway. For all intents and purposes, the weekend was over, and people were preparing themselves to face Monday morning. Consequently, Ethan and Liz had arrived at her apartment complex in what felt like record time.
Entering the complex right behind her, Ethan parked in the first available space in guest parking. Once there, he got out and made his way over to her carport. He managed to reach the carport just as she was getting out of her vehicle.
He closed her door for her. “You look tired,” he observed.
Liz wanted to tell him that he was mistaken. That she had gotten her second wind and could keep going indefinitely. But that would have been lying.
The truth was always her first choice. “That’s probably because I am,” she confessed. Taking a deep breath, she added, “To tell the truth, I feel like I’m operating on fumes.”
“Then we need to get you to bed as soon as possible.” The second the words were out of his mouth, Ethan realized how that must have sounded. “I mean by yourself. Not that I wouldn’t like to join you,” he added in case she thought he was rejecting her. Nothing could have been further from the truth. However, he was putting her needs above his own.
“I’m trying to be thoughtful here. But the words just seem to be coming out all wrong,” he confessed as he walked Liz to her door.
She smiled, placing her hand on Ethan’s arm. “I appreciate it. The thoughtfulness, not the part about it coming out all wrong,” she qualified with a grin. Liz paused as she unlocked her door, then turned toward Ethan. “Would you like to come in for a few minutes?”
“I would,” he told her honestly. “But I won’t. Like I said, you need your rest.”
The fact that he wasn’t thinking about himself, but about her, really touched Liz. So much so that from somewhere deep within the recesses of her soul, she felt a surge of untapped energy rising up and coming to the foreground.
Before she could stop herself, Liz wove her arms around his neck, rose up on her toes and kissed Ethan. Hard.
Caught off guard, he kissed her back before he was able to put the skids on his response. Consequently, he came perilously close to losing himself in that kiss. Just as he had the night before.
But somehow, he managed to pull back, putting enough space between them to be able to tell her in all sincerity, “You’re making it very hard for me to walk away.”
Her eyes held him prisoner as she whispered, “Then don’t.”
And that was that.
All of Ethan’s good intentions seemed to go up in smoke, a casualty of the heat generated between them. Ethan held himself in check only long enough to be able to move farther inside her ap
artment. Once he did, he pushed her door closed behind him.
After that, passion, fueled equally by desire and the memory of last night, consumed them both, taking them from the door into her bedroom.
Giving in, they continued enjoying one another until they were spent—but very, very content.
Yet even while she was in the throes of lovemaking, adoring every single delicious moment, a little voice in Liz’s head warned her that this was all just a wonderful, fleeting occurrence. It cautioned her that she couldn’t allow herself to get used to it—used to him—because all she could logically count on was right now, this minute.
Tomorrow was an unknown entity with its own set of ramifications that had nothing to do with what was happening now.
It was an eternity away.
Keeping that in mind, Liz was determined to enjoy what was happening now. Because what was happening between them was totally unexpected and absolutely wonderful. And that was all she could count on.
* * *
Some time later, Ethan cradled her in his arms. “You know, for an exhausted woman, you displayed an amazing amount of energy,” he told Liz with an amused laugh as they lay in her bed.
She smiled, pleased at his compliment. Pleased, too, to be here like this with him. Feeling like this was all so wondrously new to her. Liz knew better than to take anything for granted.
Her eyes crinkled as she said, “I guess you never know what you’re capable of until that moment comes.”
Charmed, Ethan pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I guess not,” he agreed.
He couldn’t get over how completely different she was from Catherine. It amazed him that he had been willing to settle for so much less for so long. It was as if he hadn’t even been thinking back then, just going through the motions of living.
Ethan drew in a deep breath, trying to fortify himself. “I’m going to have to go home,” he told her.
“I know.” There was a note of resigned sadness in her voice.
“I’ve got to be at the clinic by seven thirty,” he added, then said by way of an explanation, “I never know what I’ll find when I get there after my day off.”
Her mouth curved just a little. “You make it sound ominous.”
“Sometimes it is,” he said honestly. “But it’s not all bad,” Ethan added quickly. “And I do like making a difference.”
“I’m sure you do make a difference,” she said with conviction. “In a lot of people’s lives.” It went without saying that in the short time they had known each other, Ethan had made a difference in hers. “I understand perfectly,” she assured him. “As a matter of fact, that’s why I want to go into medical research once I get my degree. To make a difference.”
He hadn’t known that about her, and it surprised him. If she hadn’t already had his complete attention before, she had it now.
“Any particular focus?” he asked.
Liz didn’t even have to think about her answer. She had known it ever since she had made up her mind to go back to college.
“ALS,” Liz answered. “It’s the disease that killed my stepfather. He managed to last longer than most people, but it wasn’t nearly long enough. I want to help find a way to eliminate it altogether.”
“You do know that’s a very tall, very frustrating order,” Ethan felt obligated to point out.
“I know,” she answered. “But if no one undertakes the battle, then the disease will be around forever.”
Her reasoning blew him away. It amazed Ethan just how alike they were, how much he agreed with the way she thought. And he really liked the fact that she gave voice to things he had been feeling himself for a long time.
It was like he had found his soul mate. But even so, he knew he couldn't let himself get carried away. This sort of journey was one that was best undertaken slowly.
Even so, his arms tightened around her.
She raised her head in order to get a better look at his face. “I thought you said you had to go.”
“I did, but I can spare a few more minutes,” he told her.
She shifted around so that her body now faced his. The gesture was an unspoken invitation.
“Then let’s not waste those minutes,” she said.
The sound of her voice, sexy and low, suddenly rejuvenated him. And just like that, his body was ready to go again.
“Let’s not,” he agreed.
* * *
That evening was the beginning, laying the groundwork that in turn led to sporadic stolen minutes—sometimes even a stolen hour or two. It was time that was wedged in between her already overburdened, hectic schedule and his equally frantic one. Liz’s schedule took her all over the city as well as to the local college and the Chinese restaurant, while his was completely stationary, taking place within the confines of the Well Being Clinic.
Because it turned out to be a lot easier for her to come by to see Ethan if she had several minutes to rub together, Liz did just that. And whenever she did stop by to visit him for a few minutes, she always brought food with her, something she had prepared in her kitchen so that he had a lunch to eat.
The first time she did stop by, Ethan’s militant nurse, Edna, insisted that she had to sign in on the ledger first before she could see the doctor.
Thinking that the woman had mistaken her for a patient, Liz tried to explain to the nurse. “You don’t understand. I just want to see him for a couple of minutes.”
Edna’s face transformed into a formidable scowl. “I understand, all right. That’s what they all say, and I’m telling you that you need to wait your turn. The doctor will see you when he’s ready to see you. Now sign your name,” she ordered.
Liz glanced at her watch. She didn’t have time for this. She’d only had a few minutes to spare, and they were presently ticking away. She could tell that the dour-faced nurse standing before her like the guardian of the gates of Hades was not about to move.
“Tell you what,” Liz proposed. “Why don’t you give this to the doctor?” She placed the brown bag on the reception desk.
Edna’s brows narrowed even further into her perpetual frown. “The doctor doesn’t accept bribes.”
“It’s not a bribe,” Liz told the nurse. “It’s lunch.”
“Lunch?” Edna echoed. It wasn’t obvious whether she believed her or not. “You brought him food?”
Rather than say something flippant, Liz explained the matter simply. “I had a feeling he wouldn’t bring any himself, and given how pressed for time he usually is, I was afraid that he wouldn’t just go out to get any on his own.”
Edna studied the young woman before her at length before she finally concluded, “You’re not a patient, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” Liz answered. “I’m a friend of his.”
“Huh” was the nurse’s only response, delivered after another couple of seconds of close scrutiny.
Liz really began to feel for Ethan. If this was his help, he certainly had an uphill battle. “Anyway, I have to go. So if you’ll just see that he gets this—” she nodded at the paper bag “—I’d appreciate it.”
The nurse pursed her lips, looking at the paper bag, then at the young woman before her. “Sure, I can do that.”
Liz inclined her head. “Thank you.” Turning on her heel, she was about to leave the clinic when the nurse called after her.
“What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t,” Liz answered politely, then told her, “It’s Liz Bellamy.”
“And he’ll know who Liz Bellamy is?” Edna asked, not looking all that convinced.
“I certainly hope so,” Liz replied.
She turned to leave as another patient approached the reception desk, looking lost.
“Okay, I’ll tell him,” Edna responded, raising her voice just a tad, before she turned toward the patient. E
dna had a new person to browbeat. “So, what’s your problem?” she asked the woman point-blank.
A barrage of words, only some of which were intelligible, quickly came out of the small woman in response to the nurse’s question.
It wasn’t until ten minutes later that Edna was finally able to find the time to confront Ethan as he came out of one of the two exam rooms.
“Here,” she declared, shoving the paper bag at him. “This is for you.”
Stunned, Ethan looked at the bag. Since it came from Edna, he thought it safer if he just asked instead of looking into the bag. “What is it?”
Edna lifted her thin shoulders in a disinterested shrug. “I was told it was lunch,” she said. “So it’s probably lunch.”
He didn’t understand. This wasn’t like the grumpy woman. “You brought me lunch?”
“Well, it wasn’t going to come to you by itself,” she informed him.
Maybe she was softening, he thought. “Edna, I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, that’s a first,” the nurse commented. “But before you get all mushy on me, I’m not the one responsible for this,” she told him, waving a hand at the paper bag in his hands.
Okay, he was officially confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” Edna said dismissively. “But this woman came in and asked me to give this to you.”
Ethan was instantly alert. “A woman? What woman? When?”
“Some blonde woman,” Edna said, annoyed by the questions. “Said her name was Liz Bellamy.”
“Liz? Liz was here?” he questioned, immediately looking out into the small reception area. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“Don’t hand my head to me, young man,” Edna snapped. “You were with a patient. You said never to interrupt you when you were with a patient unless it was an emergency.”
As she walked away, she paused to look over her extremely thin shoulder. “You ask me, your taste is finally improving,” she declared, and with that, she went back out into the reception area to terrorize the new patients who had just walked in.
Coming to a Crossroads Page 15
