Chapter 8
Lissy lay on her bed, her phone and three different paperbacks discarded around her. Nothing could hold her interest today. Her parents had pulled her out of school when she started to get sick, not wanting to aggravate her condition with any additional stress. Now she took online homeschool classes, but they rarely filled more than a few hours of her day.
Her mother played an integral role in their family business, otherwise, Lissy was sure she would be at home to keep her daughter company. Lissy was kind of glad she wasn’t, even though being alone could be pretty boring. The only thing worse would be to have her mother hovering over her all day, taking her temperature and offering her fruit juice.
Lissy ran her fingers through the satin ruffles of her comforter as her mind drifted back to her visit to the adoption agency. It had been stupid to get her hopes up like that. She should’ve known she couldn’t just walk in there and expect them to hand over private information.
She knew her adoption was closed. Her parents hadn’t even wanted her to know she was adopted. She found out that little nugget of information when the hospital suggested one of her parents donate a kidney. The look on their faces when they had to admit they weren’t her biological parents was like that of a puppy dog, caught in the act of tearing up furniture.
She didn’t really hold it against them. Sure, it was a total shocker, and she felt a little deceived, but she knew they were only trying to protect their family. They were practically perfect parents — she couldn’t ask for better, and she was grateful for the life they’d given her.
It wasn’t their fault she had bum kidneys. In fact, they’d adopted her in spite of it, prepared to do everything in their power to help her live a normal, healthy life.
But she couldn’t help but wonder about the family that rejected her. Was it because of her health problems, or were they just not prepared to raise a kid, even a healthy one? She wondered whether they’d be willing to help her even if she did find them, since they weren’t willing to parent her.
Her parents had offered to help her go through the proper channels to get information about her birth parents, but she hated the thought of waiting months for a hearing when the information she needed was within hand’s reach of the employees at the adoption agency. The look on the intern’s face had made that obvious.
She remembered that face clearly. Besides the fact that it was incredibly handsome, it had lit up with excitement as soon as the other woman typed in her information. The boy had looked genuinely sorry for her when the woman said she couldn’t tell Lissy anything. Lissy wondered if she could’ve persuaded him to help her if his boss hadn’t been around.
Lissy jumped from the bed, suddenly full of energy. Maybe that was the answer! Maybe she needed to keep going back to the agency until she caught the boy when he was alone. Maybe she could persuade him to give her just enough info to get her started.
She grabbed her phone, curious who would answer if she called there. She made a deal with herself: if the boy answered, she’d at least drive down there and peek in the window. He said he was new, so the odds of them leaving him alone in the office were slim, but Lissy had nothing better to do, and she wouldn’t be satisfied until she tried everything in her power to get what she wanted. She wasn’t used to being told no.
“I’m gonna grab some coffee from down the street. You okay for a few minutes?” Sharon tossed her head and her bag over her shoulder as she headed for the front door of The Greatest Gift Adoption Agency.
“Uh, sure. I guess.” Since it was only his second day, Cheydan still felt completely unprepared to man the office alone, but Sharon would be back soon enough if anyone actually did need some kind of help that he was unable to offer.
Sharon didn’t stop to listen to his answer, only nodded and yanked open the door, in a hurry to get her morning dose of caffeine.
A minute after she left, the phone rang and Cheydan just stared at it, nervous about answering. On the fourth ring he finally grabbed it, embarrassed by his own insecurity. He was almost 20 years old; surely he could handle a single phone call. Worst case scenario, he’d take a message and have Sharon call them back when she returned from her coffee run.
“The Greatest Gift Adoption Agency, this is Cheydan. How can I help you?” The words came out a lot more confident than he felt.
“Um, uh, I’m sorry, I have the wrong number.” Click. The stumbling voice belonged to a young woman, and Cheydan immediately thought of Lissy, the girl he’d met on his first day, the one who looked so desperate for answers.
Cheydan hung up the phone slowly, his mind already wandering from the phone call to the girl with the medical emergency. He wondered if that was true or if she was just making that up for sympathy. Her skin had looked a little sallow, and she definitely couldn’t get much thinner. She was still beautiful, though. Cheydan remembered her long, silky hair and her bright smile. She was the girl-next-door type with an all-American beauty.
He sighed. He was definitely due for some female company. Since Risse had started going out with Jake, she’d had a lot less time for her other friends. Cheydan missed having a girl around, even if she was just a friend and not a love interest. Maybe he should try dating. He’d never been too interested in it before, preferring to wait for the person he was meant to be with. But maybe he needed to put himself out there if he was ever going to find her. His brother, Maddock, went out with girls all the time, just for the fun of it. Maybe he could set Cheydan up with somebody.
Lissy’s heart began to race as soon as she heard Cheydan’s voice on the line, and she stuttered as she tried to come up with what to say. There was just no tactful way to say, “Are you working alone today, and would you be willing to break the law to help me?”
She decided knowing he was there was good enough, and she grabbed her purse and keys, taking a quick glance in the mirror before leaving. She swiped on some lipstick and ran a brush through her hair, but otherwise she decided she looked okay. She didn’t want to look too perfect, anyway. Sometimes people weren’t as helpful when they thought you were a spoiled, little, rich girl.
Lissy tried to practice what she would say when she got there, but her nerves were too jangled for her to think clearly, so instead she sang along with the radio and tried to let the music settle her.
As she neared the agency, she slowed, wondering if she would be able to see in the window. If she couldn’t see in from her car, she might have to park and walk past the building. The sight of a middle-aged woman sipping a cup of coffee as she pushed open the door to the agency negated her question, though. It was the woman who had denied her information at her last visit, and she was obviously just returning from a coffee run. The odds were good that she would be there for several more hours if she needed a coffee to motivate her.
Lissy’s face sank as she kept driving past the agency. There was no sense going in if the woman was working. She’d have to try another time.
She saw a coffee shop a few blocks ahead and decided to soothe her angst with a latte. She parked in an empty spot at the corner and walked towards the little coffee shop, wishing the info she needed was as readily accessible as overpriced coffee.
Lissy immediately felt comforted by the quaint, little shop with a speckled granite counter and wrought iron tables. A chalkboard hung against the back wall with a hand-written menu. Glass cake domes displayed muffins and scones and croissants, and Lissy’s mouth began to salivate at the smell of freshly-brewed coffee. She ordered a scone and a latte and claimed one of the little tables near the window.
“Shoot! I forgot my muffin!” Sharon moaned as soon as she walked through the door of the agency. It had started drizzling, and her shoulders slumped as she looked out the window.
“I can go get it if you’d like,” Cheydan offered.
“You’d do that for me?” Sharon looked at him with puppy dog eyes.
Cheydan chuckled. “Sure, no big deal. What kind was it?” Normally, Cheydan would
hate messing up his hair and his outfit by walking in a rain shower, but for some reason he felt the urge to offer. Maybe he just wanted to impress his supervisor.
“Blueberry. There might be an umbrella in the closet,” Sharon offered, pointing.
Cheydan rummaged around on the closet shelf till he found one. It was pink and purple and covered with flowers, and Cheydan thought he might prefer looking like a drowned rat over carrying it.
Sharon stifled a chuckle as she handed him ten dollars. “Here, get yourself something while you’re at it.”
Cheydan pocketed the money and opened the umbrella. “Be back in a few minutes.”
Cheydan dashed through the pelting raindrops, but halted when he saw the vehicle parked on the corner. It looked exactly like the one the girl had gotten into when she left the agency on Saturday. He shook his head to clear the nonsense. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about her?
His eyes were on the counter as he entered the coffee shop, so he didn’t notice the girl sitting near the window, but as he waited for the barista to make his order, his gaze drifted around the room and landed on hers, staring back at him.
His mouth curved into a dazzling smile as he recognized her, and she smiled back over the top of her coffee. The misty light filtering through the front window draped her with an angelic aura, and Cheydan couldn’t take his eyes off her. He reached out blindly as the cashier handed him his order.
“Lissy, right? Melissa?” He approached her, his excitement stimulating bravery he didn’t normally have when it came to women.
She nodded, stunned by his presence, and put down her cup, holding out her hand to offer him a seat at her table. “Cheydan?”
He nodded eagerly, impressed that she remembered, and sat down across from her. “I didn’t expect to see you again. Do you live around here?”
Lissy bit her lip and looked at him through her lashes. This was the perfect opportunity to ask for his help, almost like a divine opportunity, so why did she feel so hesitant? His waiting smile melted her insides, and she realized she didn’t want to risk offending him by asking him to break the rules for her. But her quest was more important that any butterflies she felt when he showed her his dimples.
“No, actually. I was going to stop at the agency again… I was hoping maybe you were working alone, but I saw the other lady, so I didn’t bother.” Lissy stared at the swirls of cream in her coffee as she admitted her intentions.
Cheydan hid his nervousness by blowing on his own drink. What did she mean by that? Was she interested in him, or what he could do for her? Either way, he realized it wouldn’t take much to lure him. His heart was already pounding just sitting next to her, and his forehead was sweating. He hoped she would think it was raindrops. “You’re really curious about your birth parents, huh?”
“It’s not just curiosity. It’s really important that I find some family.” Her voice grew loud and her face serious. When she realized how she was acting she slumped back in her chair and her voice softened. “I’m… sick, and I need them to help me.”
Cheydan gazed at her, desperately curious to know her story, but unwilling to press her to share more than she was willing. When he stayed quiet, Lissy finally looked up at him.
“I have kidney disease, and I need a transplant.” She couldn’t stand to see that look in his eyes, the pitiful one everyone got when they heard she was dying, so she turned her head.
Cheydan took her admission as an invitation to learn her story. “I’m sorry. That must be really tough. But isn’t there a transplant list you can get on?”
Lissy didn’t have to fake her emotional reaction to the frequently-asked question. She curled her lip in disgust and pushed away the coffee she was cradling. “Sure, of course; I’m on it. Way at the bottom. It could be years before I make it to the top of it. Meanwhile, I just get sicker, and weaker, and more desperate for another solution.”
Cheydan reached out impulsively and laid a hand on top of hers. The gesture expressed his emotions better than any words he could think of. Lissy stared at his large hand engulfing her small one, and she felt a twinge of guilt that perhaps she was manipulating him. She was just telling the truth, though. Her story was sad enough without any theatrics.
She leaned forward, leaving her hand under his, enjoying the warm weight of it. “That’s why I was hoping to find my birth family. I thought, maybe if they knew I was dying, they would be willing to help me.”
“And you don’t want to wait to go through the court system to find them.” Cheydan finished the story for her.
“I’m not sure I can wait. I’m not sure I have that long.” Lissy’s face was somber as she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. When it fell forward again, Cheydan’s fingers itched to secure it. He wanted to smooth the worry wrinkle from her brow and do whatever it took to bring back the smile that had first intrigued him. His heart swelled with compassion for her, and he ached from the strain on it.
“All I need is a name, just something to get me started.” Lissy took a deep breath and focused her gaze on him. “Cheydan, do you think you could help me?”
Cheydan stared at her, absorbing the details of the moment — the way her long hair tumbled over her shoulder, her sunken cheeks, the tiny freckle above her lip, the expensive, designer shirt that looked deceptively simple, and most of all the pain that make her bright green eyes glassy with tears, threatening to spill over. He wanted to remember exactly what he felt the moment he decided to compromise his integrity.
“Maybe there’s something I can do,” he whispered as he blew out the breath he had been holding.
Lissy’s eyes lit with a flicker of hope as they jumped up to meet his. She bit her lip to keep from saying anything that might make him change his mind.
“I just started my internship, so I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. But maybe I can manage to get a name for you.”
“Oh Cheydan, you don’t know how much this means to me, that you would be willing to help me.” A glimmer of the hopeful girl he first met peeked through her sadness. She placed her free hand on top of his, encasing his hand in a cocoon of soft, feminine warmness.
Cheydan didn’t want the moment to ever end, but he was suddenly aware of how long he had been away from the office. He had to get back, but he would find a way to help her, if only so he could see her again. “I have to go,” he finally admitted after enjoying her touch for another moment, “but I’ll do whatever I can. Will you give me your number?”
Lissy nodded eagerly and the two exchanged numbers. “Thank you, Cheydan. You’re an angel.” Lissy blushed as she smiled up at him, tugging on her shirttail. He really was kind of charming. She’d been so focused on getting healthy she hadn’t had time to think about relationships, but if she was ever healthy enough to have one, she’d want it to be with a guy like Cheydan.
Impulsively, she reached up and kissed him — on the cheek, not the lips, but his face bloomed red as if she had molested him.
Dazed, Cheydan covered his cheek with his palm, holding in the kiss a little longer as he stumbled out of the coffee shop. She was wrong; he was only half-angel, and the human side of him was about to commit a crime to help her.
Chapter 9
Feeling rejuvenated from her gas station sponge bath and a pretty good night’s sleep at the library, Maddy decided now was a good time to revisit the places she’d applied for a job and see if anyone had tried to contact her. She had applied at just about every place within walking distance, and a few that were a little beyond that, but the more she thought about it, the best place for her to work would probably be the supermarket. The employee discount would come in really handy for keeping herself fed while she tried to get established.
She was hesitant to go back there, though, for fear of running into Maddock. Not that he wasn’t, like, the coolest guy ever, with his movie star looks and his no-questions-asked generosity. That was the problem — he would be way too easy to fall for. Maddy didn’t need to h
ave her decision-making skills clouded by any more emotion than necessary, and Maddock definitely made her feel… emotional.
Her fingers tingled as she remembered the feel of her hand in his, the crumpled bill he offered growing soggy from her nervousness. His eyes had been so kind and caring, little puddles of melting chocolate. And when he smiled… that dimple! His tall, firm build made her feel safe and protected under his shadow.
In another world or another lifetime, maybe Maddy could’ve let herself fall for him, but right now she needed to focus on surviving, and she didn’t need any distractions, no matter how well they rocked a grocery store apron.
Probably because it was Sunday, Maddy didn’t have a whole lot of luck on her job inquiries. Most of the managers had the day off and wouldn’t be back in till Monday. Maddy didn’t have anything better to do, though, so she kept trudging down the road, stopping in one place after another, till she finally got to Hinkleman’s Grocery.
The store had been in business for probably 50 years, and it had an old-fashioned charm to it, even though Mr. Hinkleman had modernized it. The farmer’s market-style produce section took center stage, and rustic wood floors and soft, warm lighting deemphasized the industrial shelving full of canned goods and convenience items. It smelled like chives and fresh-baked bread and made Maddy’s stomach growl in appreciation.
Maddy walked through the front door warily, immediately scanning the row of registers for any signs of Maddock. If he was working today, he was either on break or doing something other than running a register. Maddy’s stomach twisted in a confusing knot of relief and disappointment.
There was an office in the front corner and the door was always propped open, even though it had a large glass window in it. Mr. Hinkleman sat at the desk, going over some paperwork. Maddy was hoping to find a manager, not the owner himself, but maybe this would work in her favor. If she could impress Mr. Hinkleman with her determination, maybe he’d offer her the job on the spot.
Date with Destiny Collection: Angel Romance Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 31
