Whatever Comes Our Way (Everyday Love Book 2)

by Jaycee Weaver

  “Okay, look. I’m going to go inside the café. They’re open for…” he checked his watch, “about thirty more minutes. I’m going to buy a hot cocoa and a cookie to go. I might even sit at one of the chairs in the back and set the treats on the table. If someone happened to sit in the big, comfy chair next to me and just happened to grab the food off the table before I had a chance to eat it? I’d probably get over it.” Jaydon stuffed his hands in his pockets and took another step backward.

  “All right, so I’m gonna go in there now. See you around, Hailee.”

  He turned around and started toward the café.

  “Their cheesecake is way better than their cookies.”

  He couldn’t help the grin that broke out on his face. He didn’t turn around or make any acknowledgement that he’d heard her, other than a quick single nod.

  Minutes later, he sat down in the same chair he’d vacated not long before. He set the cocoa and Styrofoam container of cheesecake on the painter’s palette shaped coffee table in the center of the cluster of high backed, fabric covered chairs. He settled in and sipped his decaf, eyes closed in silent prayer.

  He barely heard the soft footfalls approaching but didn’t open his eyes until he heard the creak of the chair next to him and the scrape of the paper cup on the nearby table. When he risked opening one eye, she was already setting the empty, crumb dotted plastic fork back in the to-go box and silently chewing a bite. She savored the bite, eyelids fluttering like hummingbird wings. He thought she might fly away like one.

  Jaydon closed his eyes again, continuing to pray for the right words, the right timing, and the right outcome for God’s plans.

  “He’s my mom’s dealer. Caught me as I was leaving work.” The words were hardly a murmur.

  Jaydon kept his expression neutral. It’s pretty much what he’d figured.

  “I thought my mom was better after the last time, but when I got home from school I found her in bed with the lights off. Usually I can tell when it’s bad, but I guess I missed the signs, I don’t know. I called her work and they said she quit. I don’t know how she thought she would pay for drugs when she doesn’t have any money.”

  He could hear the bitterness in her tone, laced with sorrow.

  “You’re not going to tell Harrison, are you?” Her voice went soft when she said his name.

  Jaydon looked at her carefully, hoping she could see the truth in his eyes when he answered.

  “Hailee, anything you tell me will stay right here, unless it involves risking someone’s life or having me break the law.”

  “No, I get that. It’s just…” she took a deep breath to rally herself. “It’s just…if Harrison knew about my life at home, he’d never want to keep seeing me. I don’t even want to see me, honestly. I don’t even get why he likes me. I shouldn’t be talking to you. I should go.” She started to lean forward in her chair.

  “Hailee, wait. Give me a few minutes, okay?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I believe God made sure I was there tonight and heard that kid in the alley for a reason. God has a plan for you, and he cares for you. And I think tonight He knew you needed to hear more about Him.”

  She fumbled with the napkin before tucking it under her leg and reaching for the cheesecake. While she was occupied chewing, he went on.

  “Before, when we met, you said you and your mom went to church when you were little?” He asked gently, his voice barely audible above the sounds in the place.

  Her sad eyes connected with his, and his heart went out to her with the pain he saw. He wanted to help her, to show her the Father’s love so she’d know there was something better out there.

  “Yeah, my dad always made sure we did. After he died….” Her voice trailed off, full of sorrow. She unfurled the napkin and refolded it several times.

  “My mom kind of lost herself after that, and…,” she seemed to gather strength from somewhere deep within, like she wanted to share her burden with somebody but wasn’t sure how. He could sense she possessed courage, probably a result of whatever pain she had gone through.

  “And she basically left you on your own?”

  She looked up sharply at him.

  “How did you know?”

  “I’ve been told I’m perceptive. I’ve heard a lot of things from people over the years. And I’ve seen my fair share of hurts and ugly things.”

  She nodded silently, still playing with the napkin. She finally set it aside and took another sip of cocoa. Her brows dipped into a hard frown and he knew she had more to say so he waited.

  “Do you really believe God loves everyone?”

  “You mean, do I believe He loves you? Yes.”

  “Why would he love me?” She whispered. Something in her voice tore at his heart.

  “Because He made you. The Bible is God’s love letter to us. People from the past wrote down his words so we could read and understand just how much He cares for us. It says we love because He first loved us. It also says that God is love. He can’t help it, He just loves. It’s who He is.”

  Jaydon pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly found the scripture in his Bible app. He handed her the phone so she could read the verses in 1 John 4. She scanned them with indiscernible emotion in her face before handing it back.

  “What does it mean when it says God lives in us? Is that like what you were talking about last week? That our bodies are a temple? No offense or anything, but that sounds kinda weird. Like that movie I saw where that kid was possessed. I don’t think I want some spirit living inside me.”

  He laughed softly. “Yeah, at first it does sound weird. But it’s not like that. There is no darkness or evil in God—He is all good, all love, all light, all the time. What you just read is more like becoming best friends with Him. We walk with Him, in His presence, when we know Him. His spirit speaks to our spirit, and He never leaves us. He brings us comfort and peace and hope.”

  “If God does all that, then why is there so much darkness? How come he lets good people die and leaves innocent kids all alone with selfish people and lets them get hurt?”

  “Like any battle, sometimes evil fights back. The Bible doesn’t promise life will be good all the time. It does promise that He’ll never leave us and He will fight for us. It says in Romans 8:31, ‘If God is for us, then who can be against us?’ That gives us hope; having someone on our side. You know?”

  “I like that idea. I’d like to have that kind of hope.”

  “Hailee, you can have that kind of hope. It’s a free gift.”

  He could tell she was thinking about it. But as soon as he’d seen the spark of hope lighting her eyes, it was extinguished and her face fell.

  “That sounds nice and all, but it doesn’t help me. I still have to pay off my mom’s debt before Friday. No amount of hope is going to put enough money in my wallet for everything I need to pay for. And if I don’t come up with that kind of money before he finds me again?” Her whole body shivered violently. Jaydon could feel the fear and disgust rolling off of her in waves.

  She didn’t finish answering her own question. She didn’t have to. Jaydon knew a thing or two about the types of payments people like that back-alley punk would take in place of cash.

  Before he could offer her any words of understanding, money, or help, she was gone.

  Chapter 9

  Gina

  Certain smells have the power to turn back the clock and transport you to another time and place entirely. Opening the door to her mother’s half of a 1960’s duplex and stepping over the threshold, fragrant aromas filled her nose. Chicken, chile, cheese, onions, beans, homemade tortillas, and…sniff…was that Abuelita’s special rice?

  Her vision swirled with blurs of color and she could almost see a gap-toothed version of herself sitting at Abuelita’s little old scuffed dinette.

  Her brown pigtails bounced in time with her little legs swinging, ankles crossed, as she snacked on a plate of cookies. Tiny Regina’s eyes nev
er left her grandmother’s back. Without a word, Abuelita smiled lovingly at Regina and flicked her head in a quick nod toward the sink. Reggie scrambled to the sink to wash her hands while her grandmother toed a small wooden stool with peeling red paint over to an empty counter top.

  Abuelita silently placed a block of longhorn style cheddar cheese on the immaculate counter along with a cowbell looking cheese grater. Reggie began shredding, occasionally looking up to watch her grandmother stir the various pots simmering on the stove top, a cloud of steam wafting up with a different, distinct fragrance each time Abuelita raised a lid.

  The memory swirled before her like wet watercolors and cleared on a slightly different scene. She recalled brightly colored Saltillo tiles set into a once bright turquoise wooden table top. Every chair was a different color, but all matched hues within the tiles. Abuelita was reassuring her precious mija linda after another unsatisfying visit from her mother.

  She pushed around the piles of comfort food on her plate, tears just barely at bay, as the larger woman slowly turned her golden yellow chair to face her and pulled a limp girl into her soft lap. Regina could still smell the familiar scent of her beloved grandmother. Her generous bosom and fleshy arms provided a sense of peace and stability in the cocoon of her embrace.

  “Honey? Is that you?”

  The cheerful voice jolted her from the fog. She wished she could re-enter that moment and savor the feeling just a bit longer. Instead, she inhaled a deep lungful and straightened her posture.

  For reals—was that Abuelita’s special rice? Impossible.

  “Yeah, mamá. It’s me.”

  “Well, come in, hija, come in! Dinner’s almost ready. I half expected you to find a reason not to come, but I am so glad that you did.” Eva’s voice sounded strangely clear, and warm.

  Gina searched her mother’s face and saw the same in the woman’s eyes. No fog, no telltale bloodshot lines. No sores or fried, bleached hair. The woman looked good. Healthy. Normal. Which wasn’t actually normal at all, for her.

  Something was most definitely going on.

  “Why does it smell so much like Abuelita’s in here? Is that her rice I smell?”

  Eva laughed. “Actually, it is. Though, I haven’t made it since I was a teenager, so it might not taste exactly the same.”

  “You cooked? All of this?” Gina motioned her hand to the stove, crowded with pots, and the counter covered with small bowls piled high with chopped onions, lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese. And was that a basket of tortillas covered in that cotton towel?

  “I did.”

  “What’s going on, Ma? You’re kind of freaking me out here. I mean, sorry to be a little skeptical of all this, but you have to admit this is weird.”

  “I know, honey,” her mother patted her arm gently. “I have a lot to tell you, and I’m excited to share it all with you. Let’s make plates and sit.”

  Gina approached the stove nervously. She didn’t even realize her mother owned pots and pans, let alone knew how to use them anymore. And yet…a quick look revealed some familiar serving dishes.

  She whirled around, a look of confusion clouding her face, she was certain. “You still have Abuelita’s serving dishes? Is that her big pot she always used for making chile? How do you still have all of these things? Why haven’t I seen them in the last fifteen years?”

  The two women made their way to her mother’s table.

  “Yes, those are my mother’s things, Gina. Even in the middle of all my foolish lifestyle choices, there are a few things I managed to hang on to. It was too hard for me to look at a lot of them for a long time. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and healing, and I was finally ready to open the boxes again.”

  “Thinking and healing?” Disbelief and tension rolled through her system. Did aliens come and abduct her mother or something? Those were two words she would never have thought she’d hear from the woman’s mouth.

  “I’m clean, baby. Going on six months now,” Eva said quietly, a look of anguish mixed with pride on her face. She fingered a coin of some kind and gave it a little spin on the tabletop. It wobbled to a stop and finally landed on the surface of the table with hardly a sound. When Gina picked it up, she noticed a large numeral 6 embossed in the surface. She’d heard enough about Alcoholics Anonymous to know a sobriety token when she saw one.

  Years of thinking her prayers were going to go forever unanswered, Gina was fairly skeptical. Her mother must have been able to read her face a little too well.

  “Baby, I know I have never been very good at staying sober. But I’m going to prove to you that this time, it’s actually real. I’ve been going to AA and NA meetings at the community center around the corner. I’ve had my job now for almost these whole six months, and my boss told me on Monday that she might promote me to lead cashier. And, there’s something else.”

  Gina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. And there was more? She was tempted to get up and stomp out. She’d lost track of the number of times her mother had been “clean.” She’d heard so much of this all before…well, sort of. Had her mother ever been sober for six whole months? Or kept a job that long? She searched her memory for the answer to one more question. Nope, her mother had never gone to Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous, let alone both. For six months.

  “I gave my life to Jesus. I’m a Christian, mija.”

  Say what, now? Gina’s brow tightened as her eyes bugged out with incredulity.

  Eva laughed at her daughter’s expression. “Don’t look so happy about it, okay?”

  That brought Gina out of her shock and she joined her mother’s laugher. “I’m sorry, Mamá. You just threw me completely with that last one. Are you serious?!”

  Her mother beamed with a joy and her eyes shone in a way Gina had never seen before. Maybe there was something to all this.

  “Will you tell me about it?” This time, Gina spoke quietly and her eyes searched her mother’s, hoping this was all real and not just another dream. She’d nearly given up hope she’d ever hear those words from her mama’s mouth. “Start at the beginning.”

  “I’d love to. Okay.” She took in a quick breath and blew it out fast. “So like, six months ago or so, I had an incident.”

  “Incident?” Gina’s stomach dropped.

  “Yeah. I’d been drinking with my girls and we’d met a few guys at this dive. Well, we’d all started pairing off and everyone was leaving for the night. I got in the car with one of the guys to head to his place. I guess he’d had more to drink than I thought. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the emergency room.”

  “What?!” Gina practically shouted, “this was SIX MONTHS AGO?!”

  Eva gave her a practiced motherly stare. Which was especially weird, since Eva hadn’t exactly been maternal, nor much of a disciplinarian growing up.

  “Hita, you have to let me finish. Yes. This was six months ago. I never said anything because health wise, it wasn’t actually that big of a deal. A few sprains and bruises is all. But Tulio, that’s the guy I was with, he was beat up pretty bad and they arrested him. He’d run a red light and hadn’t even tried to stop. Thank Jesus he didn’t hurt anyone else, just busted up a fire hydrant and made a big, wet mess.”

  “Anyway, okay,” she sucked in a deep breath before going on. “Once I woke up, I started to kind of think about things. Wait until you’re older, it hits all of a sudden and you realize how old you are and how much of your life may or may not be ahead of you. I began to think about how hard I’d been living, for how many years.

  “I realized that I am a grandmother. A grandmother! And I hardly know him, because my own daughter can’t stand the sight of me and my mess. I thought about you, my baby girl, and how I want to be around to see you living your life, not stuck bailing me out constantly and cleaning up after me.

  “Here I was, broke and going from man to man, in a cycle of sober and working to drunk and partying, over and over. The same life I’ve been living more on than off for a
lmost thirty years. It hit me that I had to do something, now, and make it stick. How I’ve lived this long, is a testament to Jesus himself, Mija.”

  Out of an old childhood habit, her mother crossed herself and kissed her fingers, eyes to the heavens. She shook her head clear and piercing nutmeg eyes looked back at Gina.

  “One of the nurses who treated me in the hospital was amazing. She went beyond taking care of my body, and somehow, I just started telling her my whole life story right there while she switched out IV bags and took my vitals. Instead of nodding and leaving me after, she squeezed my hand and told me that she’d recently lost her daughter to addiction. I’ll never forget the pain in her eyes. I don’t know how she did it, but she made me promise to get clean and not leave my loved ones to pick up the pieces. The hospital chaplain came and left me a card with the name of the AA group leader closest to my home. Told me I should make a commitment to go. I did.”

  Gina was reeling. She wanted to be hurt that her mother had stayed quiet about all of this for six months, but she was so stunned by everything she simply felt numb.

  “Mija, the guy who runs the meetings was a drunk for decades, and after he got sober he went back to school and became a counselor. I have a sponsor and everything. Her name is Rosie, and she reminds me so much of Mamá. You would love her. I won’t tell you her story, but if you met her you would never believe she’s a recovering alcoholic. Sober for thirty-five years!

  “Anyway, she’s the one who got me my job. She went with me to counseling with Gordon, the AA leader guy. She’d also been trying to tell me about her church and about Jesus. Said there was no way she could have stayed sober all this time without him. A little while back I finally gave in and went with her. This little church had a teacher who said the most amazing things about a man named Jesus. I had to go back and hear more. A couple weeks ago, I prayed to ask Jesus to be my savior. I have never felt so free, hija! It was like, in that moment, all of the things I had done were gone. They told me I am a new creation, and that’s exactly what I feel like!”