"Sometime. Not today; she's at work."
Holly grinned mischievously and snatched the cellphone from the table. "Then I can at least text her. Is her number saved in here?"
Cody pretended to try and snatch the phone back but let her get away with it. He knew she wouldn't actually say anything that would hurt his relationship with India. That being said, he'd let Holly find the number herself if she wanted to, so he remained silent as he watched her send a message.
When she handed the phone back, Cody immediately went to read his sent messages to see that she'd typed: “This is Holly, Cody's sister. Have a great day at work and looking forward to meeting you soon.”
India had been having a terrible day. She was still worried about the talk she was going to be having with Cody the next day. He'd texted her a couple of times, but she didn't respond. She didn't want to invest too many of her feelings and emotions into the man if he was going to break up with her the next morning. She wondered vaguely if it was still considered a break up if they'd never been officially dating in the first place. To make matters worse, she'd spent too much time crying the night before to finish off the work she'd gotten behind on while drawing Cody's dream house, the house that was possibly going to ruin their relationship, and this morning they'd been keeping her running all day fetching coffee so she still hadn't caught up, and the papers were due before lunch. She knew if she didn't get them done, she'd be suspended without pay for the afternoon and yelled at for a half hour or so, depending on how much she yelled back of course. She was not in a good mood to start with, and this would go on her permanent record.
And then the text from Cody's sister Holly had come through, and India felt like she could cry with relief when she read it. Cody had told his sister about her! He'd apparently said his sister could meet her. He wouldn't have done that if he was going to break up with her, right? Suddenly she felt a bit silly for having assumed something so big when, now that she thought about it, Cody had not given her any indication that was the case. She'd just let her Dad get to her with all his talk.
She quickly texted back with a smile on her face. “Cody, thanks for the texts and tell Holly to have a good moving day. Work sucks but what else is new? I'm way behind at the moment, though, so I've gotta get off the phone and catch up.”
She hesitated before sending it and then took a chance and added “Love, Indie”, hitting send before she could change her mind. She turned her attention to the pile of paperwork in front of her and started to work.
She'd barely made a dent in the pile when Leann came and dropped another load on top of it and told her the deadline had been moved up to 11:00 to have it all done. India snapped. "And how in the hell am I supposed to do that?"
"Not my fault you got behind yesterday."
"It's your fault you just added a bunch more to my pile! Do some of this yourself and stop being so lazy! I haven't seen you do an ounce of work all day!"
India knew she was in huge trouble when Leann simply smiled cruelly at her and walked away. Five minutes later, she was being called to fetch coffee for three more people, whose desks Leann had just stopped at, so she knew it wasn't coincidence. She sighed and did so without speaking until one of the girls complained that there was too much cream in hers and demanded India fix it.
India glanced at the stack of papers on her desk and then suddenly she had really had enough. She picked them up and plopped them down on top of Leann's desk, purposely placing them in front of the fan so that they'd scatter, and said coldly, "I quit," before storming out and pretending she didn't hear the cheers.
Cody's face lit up when he read the text from India. She's signed it "Love."
"What are you grinning about?" Holly asked.
"Nothing," he replied, trying unsuccessfully to stop from smiling. "But India says to tell you to have a good moving day."
"Tell her thanks."
"I will," Cody said, "but not right now. She's awfully busy at work, and I don't want to distract her."
"What does she do?"
"She works in an advertising firm, but she's just an assistant. She signs some papers and gets people coffee. She hates it. I wish they'd let her design things; she'd be better at that. She's got so much talent when it comes to art."
"Then why wouldn't they let her?"
Cody shrugged. "It's not a very good job for her, actually. I wish she'd quit."
His phone went off, and Cody stared in disbelief as the message flashed across the screen reading, "I quit my job."
Holly's eyes widened when he showed it her. "Quick!" she said. "Wish for World Peace and a million dollars while you're on a roll!"
Cody laughed. "I wish for World Peace and a million dollars," but nothing happened.
India's phone started ringing a moment later, but she'd just started driving, so she ignored it. She knew it'd be Cody, and she'd phone him back later when she'd had time to think. She just needed to get away from the building right now seeing as she could still hear the cheers through the window where some of the staff had gathered to watch her leave.
She wasn't sure if she felt relieved or terrified at the moment. She wasn't sure she felt either actually. Numb would probably be the better word. She had no idea what she was going to do tomorrow or how she was going to pay her rent but for today, she was going to go grab a fancy coffee to remind her of Cody, drink it out in his field, and not worry about anything.
"She's not answering," Cody said as he stepped back into the living room where Holly was starting to get her shoes on so they could get moving. "She's probably driving, though, so I'll try again later."
Holly nodded, and they began to move the stuff. They spoke of other things and got caught up with each other's lives a bit while they drove the first load across town, but Cody's mind remained on India. She'd pretty much made up his mind about the house for him, but he felt relieved she'd actually finally quit. ‘Anyway’, he told himself, ‘she'd find something else eventually and maybe then they could still build the place together. It wasn't like she would never work again.’
On the third and final trip between cities, Holly suddenly looked at Cody and spoke bluntly as she drove. "You're distracted."
"Yeah," he admitted. "Sorry."
"It's alright," she laughed. "You've been pretty good at keeping up with our conversation actually considering your Sorta-Girlfriend just quit her job, and you've gotta be worried about her even if you wished it."
"I am," he said. "I'm glad she quit, though. I really am."
Suddenly he remembered something, and he reached into his wallet pulling out a couple of the carefully folded papers he'd put in there. When they arrived at Holly's new apartment, he handed them to his sister. "She drew these."
Holly took them and studied them carefully. He'd only given her two pages of the house plans, one of the floor plans and another of a detailed drawing of the rooftop patio because he didn't want to show her the ones with India's rooms on them just yet.
"She drew these?" Holly's asked in amazement. "These are stunning! They must have taken her forever."
"Not at all, actually. I told you: she's got talent."
"Cody, can I have these?"
Cody shook his head, "No, why? Don't you have enough pictures to decorate your new apartment? I'm pretty sure I carried four boxes of paintings through on our last trip."
Holly chuckled. "They are good enough to frame actually, but I'll give them back. I just want to show them to Greg."
"Greg?" Greg was their cousin. He was two years older than Holly, and she'd always been a lot closer to him than Cody was. Cody had been closer to Greg's younger brother Greyson growing up, and he'd nearly lost contact with them both now. "What for?"
"Greg's been running his own construction company for years, and he's hiring someone full time to design houses for him to build."
Cody's eyes lit up for a second but then he shook his head. "I guess I should let her know," he said, "but Greg lives so far from here.
I don't want her to move."
"She could work from home, I'm sure," Holly replied. "I've talked to him before about it. He's got someone else working for him in the same way right now. He said that he jots down the size of the building they want, the size of the property, and any specific details his customer wants. Then Freda designs the place from her house and scans him the drawings, and he builds it. Only they've got so much business now that he's hired more construction workers, and Freda can't keep up, so he's looking for a second full time person to do half the work."
"Holly, you are brilliant!"
"So I can borrow the drawings to show him?"
Cody nodded. "Of course."
Holly looked at them again and read across the top, "’Cody's Dream House’. Were you going to build this place?"
Cody shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe someday. I've bought the property for it."
"Greg is family. I bet he'd build it for you for pretty cheap. I mean, you'd have to buy the supplies of course, but he gets those on wholesale, and he'd do the labor for a lot less than anyone else would."
"You think?"
"Sure! Help me get all this stuff inside and then I'll give him a call."
Greg had immediately agreed to help Cody build his dream house should he decide to actually go for it at some point down the road. He also made Holly a promise that he wouldn't hire anyone else until she'd had a chance to scan India's drawings to him, but he couldn't promise to hire her before he saw them. He'd wanted to make sure they were right for this company. Holly's scanner and computer were still in boxes at the moment, so it was going to have to wait.
Cody thought it might be better not to mention the job to India before he knew if it was going to be offered to her or not, as he didn't want to disappoint her again. He helped Holly set up all her furniture where she wanted it and unpack the things she'd need for the next day or two.
While they worked, he told Holly more about India and about her dad, Wayne, as well. He told her how Wayne would have liked to go stargazing with them, and he wished there was some way to get him out there as he thought it might cheer him up.
Holly looked at Cody. "You said it's because he's too hunched over when in the wheelchair, and he can't get down onto the ground?"
Cody nodded "Yeah, any ideas?"
"What if you guys brought a bed out onto the field? It's not so low, and I'm assuming he manages to get into one at night."
Cody's face lit up. "Holly, I love you! That could totally work! But I think I'll wait until tomorrow to bring it up to Indie. She's probably got enough on her plate with the job thing right now."
After that he excused himself to call her again. It was getting on into the evening, and he still hadn't heard from her. He was actually starting to get a bit worried. Her phone rang quite a few times before she suddenly picked up.
"Hi, Cody," she answered.
"How you doing, Indie?" he asked, relieved to hear her voice.
"Tired," she replied. "Sorry I didn't call you back. I decided I wasn't going to worry about the job or what I'm going to do until tomorrow. I was up half the night thinking about my dad and stressed about work and so I ended up falling asleep now and that's why I didn't call."
"Did I wake you?"
He heard her chuckle a bit. "Yeah, but it's alright. I should really be getting home anyway, so it's a good thing you did."
Cody frowned. "You aren't at home?"
"No, I'm in your field. You don't mind do you?"
" 'Course not, Indie."
"Cody, I know I said I didn't want to worry about work just for today, but I did check the newspaper for job listings, you know, just in case someone was hiring."
"Yeah? Did you find anything?"
"No. There's only one job listing in the entire town right now that I'm qualified to do without a teaching degree or dentistry license and trust me, they aren't hiring me."
"How would you know? Did you apply?"
"I don't have to. It's Brad's coffee shop."
Cody burst out laughing. "Oh, well yeah, no they're not hiring you. Besides, you can't ever let them know you aren't working for the firm anymore, or they'll not let you in the place, and that'll be it for our fancy coffee."
"Yeah, I think you would die without it. It's probably flowing through your veins by now."
"You like it, too."
"It is good," she admitted.
Cody glanced around the corner into the living room just in time to catch his sister letting out a huge yawn. "Indie, listen. I'd better get off the phone now, so I can say goodbye to Holly. I think she wants to get to bed, and I've gotta get home too, but I'm gonna see you in the morning okay? And I don't want you to worry about the job until then. I'll help you find something new, I promise."
"Okay. Cody, before you go, just one question. Do you think I did the right thing?"
"I know you did, Indie. I'm really proud of you."
"Alright. Thanks Code. Have a goodnight."
" 'Night, Indie."
He hung up and returned to the living room to say goodbye and goodnight to Holly. He also promised to visit her more often now that she was living close. He then headed home to go to bed himself.
India stared at her alarm clock that hadn't gone off yet. 4:25 in the morning on a Saturday. She struggled to place what had woken her up. And then she heard the persistent knocking on her front door. Who on earth? She climbed out of bed and wrapped a robe around her pajamas before tiptoeing downstairs to peek through the front window. Cody was standing there fully dressed with a grin on his face.
"Cody!" she cried as she swung the door open. "What the hell are you doing here at this time?!"
"Told you I'd see you in the morning, didn't I?"
"Your definition of morning and mine are apparently very different," she replied as she stepped aside to let him in. "Do you have the foggiest idea what time it is?"
"I know," he said sheepishly, "but I couldn't wait to see you. I missed you all day yesterday."
She smiled at him, "I missed you, too."
Cody gave her a quick hug and kissed the top of her head before letting go again. "You're probably tired still…"
"Probably," India agreed.
"But I happen to know that the view of the sunrise is as spectacular as the view of the stars from my lot," Cody continued.
She grinned. "Fine. But if I'm coming with you, you're gonna buy me breakfast on the way. I'm cranky if I don't eat in the morning and since I don't have a job, it's on you."
"Deal," Cody agreed.
‘Cody was right’, India mused to herself silently. The sunrise here was as spectacular as the stars. With it, though, came the dawn of a new day in which she was jobless and the thought terrified her. She couldn't spend every day pretending it was a vacation like she'd done yesterday and the sooner she found a new job, the better.
"I have half a mind to go begging for my old job back," she admitted to Cody sheepishly, breaking the silence between them.
"Don't you dare," he said, sitting up and looking at her where she lay on her blanket. "I told you, I'll help you get a new one."
"They probably wouldn't give it to me anyway. They cheered when I left."
"Ouch."
"Yeah. If they did give it back they'd hold it over my head, and it'd be even more miserable there."
"Exactly. Forget about it, Indie."
India sat up and leaned against him. "I'm trying. I'm just worried about the bills, Cody. I don't want to end up having to live on the street."
Cody scoffed. "Oh, yeah, because I'm really gonna go home at night and sleep in my cozy bed while I know my girlfriend is sleeping on a street somewhere. You don't think I'd help you out?"
It took her curious gaze for him to realize he'd used the girlfriend word, but he didn't try to explain it or take it back, opting rather to put his arm around her and pull her closer to him. "Look Indie, I'm gonna look after you, alright? Trust me?"
"Okay," she replied with a smile, and
Cody saw the shyness in the expression as she looked down at the blanket again, and he knew that her agreement was not only to trusting him but to allowing him to call her his girlfriend, though neither of them mentioned it further. They didn't need to, Cody suddenly realized. They'd both known where their relationship had stood for a while.
With his free hand he tenderly traced her cheekbone with the back of his thumb until she looked back up at him. Then he leaned in to kiss her tentatively and gently. She responded; her own kiss as light and hesitant as his, but they were both grinning at each other when they pulled away, unable to hide their happiness from each other.
"I love you, India," he told her firmly.
"I love you, too." Her reply came quickly and easily, and he smiled at that fact. She'd meant the word then when she'd texted him yesterday.
"C'mon," he said suddenly, standing and reaching for her hand. "I need your help with some heavy lifting."
She looked startled at the sudden change in their conversation, but she let him help her to her feet as she grabbed the blanket with her free hand. "Heavy lifting?"
"I'm gonna bring the spare bed from my guest room out here."
"You want us to carry a bed out here?!" India asked in amazement. "Cody, you couldn't even carry me out here."
Cody winced. "That's gonna come up a lot over the years, isn't it. It's why I need your help, silly. It's actually not that heavy, just really awkward, and we'll go slow with plenty of rest breaks. I thought maybe if we got the bed out here, your dad could come see the stars."
India dropped the blanket, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him again; a short excited peck. "You're a genius!"
Cody laughed. "If that's the reward, I wish I could take credit, but it was my sister's idea."
"Well, I'm not going to kiss her," India laughed. "Seriously though, he's going to love it. I haven't told him I quit yet, you know."
"He'll probably be as happy about the fact as I am," Cody responded as they began walking back across the field.
"Maybe. He was more concerned with me finding a boyfriend than my career choice, you know."
Spicy Coffee, Sweet Love (A Contemporary Young Adult Romance) Page 7
