Bring Me Flowers (Garden of Love 5)

by Melanie Wilber

  ***

  Jon woke on Friday morning with a scratchy sore throat. Ever since he had been a little boy, his colds had always begun the same way. He tried to deny it the entire morning, but by one o’clock he had to go home early and lay down. He felt better by that evening and showered and dressed to be ready by the time Katie arrived. He didn’t want to break their date. He’d been waiting for this evening all week. Katie was coming to the apartment rather than having him pick her up at the house, but they planned to drive to the theater together.

  Katie arrived a few minutes late. He had begun to panic, fearing she might not come. The knock on the door relieved his anxiety, and he took a deep breath before opening the door. The cold air blew into the room, and he hurried her inside. She looked flushed, her hair windblown. He shut out the frigid air behind her.

  “I got a flat tire,” she said. “I hope this doesn’t make us late.”

  “No, we have plenty of time,” he said, feeling concerned she’d been out in the cold weather that had swept into the valley yesterday. “Didn’t you have your cell phone with you?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “You should have called me. I would have come to change it for you.”

  “The car’s only about a half-mile down the street. I decided to walk the rest of the way and let you change it later.”

  “You should have called,” he repeated, grasping her ice-cold hands in his own. “That wind is freezing. Didn’t you have your gloves on?”

  She looked up and he saw the pools of tears forming in her green eyes. “I must have left them at home,” she replied, then added, “I thought about calling but figured since I was so close--I didn’t think about the cold air or the busy street until I had already started walking.”

  He drew her close and rested his cheek against her hair. The thought of her walking along the dangerous stretch of road in the dark with the wind howling made him feel sick, and he wanted to make something very clear to her.

  “I know I haven’t been there for you for a long time, Katie. But I’m back now. I’m back to take care of you, and I’m sorry you have to doubt that.”

  He heard her sniffle and swallow hard and felt her tears seeping into his cotton shirt. She broke into quiet sobs, and he held her tight. She didn’t pull away. He couldn’t remember the last time he had held her like this. He suddenly didn’t have much interest in going to see a movie. He would rather stay here and have her all to himself, but it was a selfish thought. He had promised her a nice evening out, and he would follow through with that.

  “We probably have time to change the tire on the way,” he said after she stopped crying and he released her. “I’d rather take care of it now.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Is it all right if I use your bathroom before we go?”

  “Sure,” he said. “I’ll go get the truck warm.”

  When he returned a few minutes later Katie was at the kitchen sink getting a drink of water for herself, or so he thought. He noticed she had removed her coat.

  “Jon,” she said, stepping toward him with the filled glass in hand. “Are you sick?”

  Uh-oh. She must have seen the throat spray in the bathroom.

  “It’s nothing, just a cold.”

  “Do you have a fever?”

  “I don’t think so,” he lied.

  She felt his forehead. “I don’t believe you. Here, take some Tylenol.”

  He took the pills from her and the glass of water.

  “Do you have a thermometer?”

  “No. I’m fine, Katie. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

  She walked past him and disappeared into the hall. When she returned she had a blanket and pillow with her.

  “Katie. What are you doing?”

  “I am taking care of you,” she said without apology. “Go change into something comfy and warm, and we’ll stay here for the evening. You are not going out in that weather.”

  “Katie, I’m fine--”

  “Have your colds stopped turning into bronchitis when you don’t take care of them?”

  “I haven’t had--”

  “And didn’t your last one almost turn into pneumonia?”

  He heaved a big sigh and knew he had lost.

  “Let me go change your tire and then I’ll come back and rest.”

  “Go change your clothes and let me call someone to change the tire. Insurance will cover it. You are not going out there.”

  ***

  Kathleen didn’t feel disappointed about not going out. She enjoyed sitting on the floor in front of the sofa while Jon rested on the cushions behind her. He dozed off and on while she watched a movie she had rented from the video store down the street.

  She had taken Jon’s truck and stopped at the store, bought Jon some soup, some Kleenex, some cold medicine, and a thermometer. She had taken his temperature when she returned, and found he had a fever of 101.2.

  The main characters in the romantic comedy didn’t get together until the very end. When they finally kissed, Kathleen felt her cheeks warming, and she dared to glance at Jon to see if he was watching. He was asleep.

  She watched him for several minutes. He had changed his clothes and looked like a teenager lying there so peacefully in sweats and a t-shirt. Oh, Jon, I have missed watching you sleep and listening to the sound of that rhythmic breathing. The temptation she felt to snuggle up next to him became stronger by the second, and she had to look away.

  She had told Kendra she would be late, so she decided to let him sleep for another hour before waking him to take her to her car. She warmed some soup for him so he could have some if he woke up and then she went to the bathroom. Stopping at his bedroom door on her way back to the living room, she peered into the sparsely furnished room. He had a double-sized mattress sitting on a simple frame without a headboard. The only blanket he had was the one covering him now. The only other furniture in the entire room was a mid-sized oak dresser along the far wall.

  She noticed he had a picture frame sitting on top of it, and she stepped into the room to take a closer look, thinking the photograph might be one of the girls she hadn’t seen. She was shocked to see it was a snapshot of her at the reservoir that had been taken several years ago. Some friends of theirs had a boat and had let them use it on occasion, and she remembered him taking the picture of her in her bathing suit, sunning herself on the shore while they took a break from water skiing. She wondered how long he’d had the photograph sitting on his dresser and where he had gotten it from.

  “You thought you threw that away, didn’t you?” Jon’s voice startled her.

  She whirled around with the frame in her hands. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “I woke up,” he said, stepping closer. “You aren’t snooping by any chance, are you?”

  “No. I just saw this frame and wanted to take a closer look. Where did you find this picture?”

  “Manda gave it to me.”

  “Mandie? Where did she get it?”

  “She said you were sorting through a bunch of pictures one day and putting some into albums. This one was in the throwaway pile, but she thought I might like to have it, so she smuggled it for me.” He was having fun now.

  “This is a hideous shot of me. My skin is mayonnaise white. I’m ten pounds overweight. My hair looks like--”

  “You look beautiful.”

  She avoided his eyes and turned around, setting the frame down and planning to exit the room as soon as possible. His arms were around her waist before she had a chance to step away.

  He said nothing and held her gently for several moments. “Thanks for taking care of me tonight,” he finally said. “Do you need to get home now?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Okay. I’ll drive you to your car.”

  Kathleen hated to end the intimate moment but knew she must. She wasn’t ready for anything physical to happen between them yet. He didn’t press her any further and stepped away to put on his shoes. She went to grab
her coat and purse from the living room.

  “Don’t worry about coming for the girls tomorrow,” she said after he had pulled off to the side of the road in front of her car. “Stay home and rest. Promise me?”

  “I promise,” he said. “I’ll have that soup when I get back and take some more medicine. And I’ll stay in bed all day tomorrow.”

  “I mean it, Jonathan Chad Thomas. I’ll know it if you go out.”

  “Will you call to check up on me?”

  She smiled and gave in to his tricky tactic. “Yes, I’ll do that.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Jon slept on the couch that night, imagining Katie was still sitting beside him. He slept on the couch often. Sleeping in a bed alone wasn’t something he enjoyed or had gotten used to during the last two years. Having Katie beside him all evening made him long for her even more. He dreamed about her much of the night.

  In the morning he remained in place like he’d promised Katie he would. She called him at eleven. Her voice sounded much like it had last night: warm and caring.

  “How are you?”

  “About the same,” he replied.

  “Have you started coughing yet?”

  “No.”

  “Well, if you do, start taking that medicine right away.”

  “I will.”

  After a moment of silence, Jon dared to speak his heart. “I enjoyed having you here last night. I hope you weren’t too bored.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “I really have missed you. Please believe that, Katie.”

  “I do. I’ve missed you too.”

  “Is there any way I can see you today?”

  She didn’t reply immediately. “I could take the girls to Hannah’s for an hour or two,” she said, “tell her I have some errands to run or something.”

  “I’d really like to see you,” he said, “if you can work something out.”

  “I’ll call her,” she replied. “I’d like to see you too.”

  ***

  Kathleen dropped Amanda and Jamie off at Hannah’s at one-thirty, saying she hadn’t counted on Jon being sick today and had some things to do. Hannah didn’t seem to think anything of it and said not to rush. They both knew their daughters would be happy to play together all afternoon.

  Before going to Jon’s apartment, she went to pick up some more soup for him and some orange juice. She had forgotten last night about how orange juice often seemed to help him get better sooner.

  When he opened the door, a warm feeling passed through her. He looked like he often did in the mornings: hair out of place, sleepy-eyed, and adorable. She smiled.

  “Did I wake you?”

  “I was just dozing,” he said, welcoming her inside and closing the cold air out behind them.

  She walked to the kitchen and set the sack on the counter. Taking out the orange juice, she found a glass and poured him some, then put the carton in the mostly bare refrigerator along with an unopened one.

  He took the glass from the counter and drank about half of the juice. “I had some soup a little bit ago,” he said. “You can save those for later.”

  “All right,” she said, placing the cans on the counter.

  When she turned around, he had closed the distance between them. Looking up into his face, she wanted him to lean down and kiss her, tell her he was coming home, and have this horrible nightmare over with.

  But when he pulled her into his arms, appearing as though he might do just that, she stopped him with her words. “I’m not ready, Jon.”

  Pulling her into his chest, he held her for a long time. “Will you ever be ready, Katie? Will I ever be able to have you again?”

  Drinking in the smell of his soft t-shirt that he’d been wearing since last night, she couldn’t imagine keeping him out of her life if he desired to be a part of it again. She’d been praying for his return for two years, and yet her pain went too deep to simply shrug it away.

  He accepted her silence for now, holding her for long time before taking her hand and leading her to the living room. “How long can you stay?”

  “I didn’t give Hannah a time,” she said.

  “Did you tell her you were coming here?”

  “No,” she said, sitting beside him on the couch. “This is something I need to figure out for myself. I don’t think even Hannah can talk me through this.”

  “Can you talk to me? Can you tell me what you’re thinking?”

  Looking into his eyes, she knew she could. But it took her a moment to gather her thoughts and share them in a nutshell. “I’m thinking that I haven’t stopped loving you, but I’m afraid of trusting you again.”

  “I can certainly understand that,” he said. “I don’t expect you to take me back overnight.”

  “But then there’s that part of me that says you’re my husband and I took a vow to love you and cherish you no matter what. What right do I have to keep you away now that you want to come back?”

  “I don’t want that, Kathleen. I don’t want you taking me back because you feel guilty if you don’t. None of this is your fault. If we can’t work this out, I am the one to blame, not you.”

  He sounded so much like the Jon she had fallen in love with. The one who had unwavering convictions. The one who never did anything out of selfishness. He had always been the strong one.

  She and Jon had been a rarity among their friends and classmates back in high school. Their young relationship had been solid, never facing the possibility of a breakup during a year-and-a-half of dating. They had become instant best friends and fallen in love without effort. She had never doubted Jon’s love for her.

  Her friends called it a fairy-tale romance and warned her to be careful. High school boys were only after one thing, her mother warned her countless times. But not Jon. He was committed to keeping their relationship pure, not only to avoid pregnancy or her daddy’s shotgun, but out of obedience to God and respect for her.

  He had been careful about keeping them out of situations where temptation could get the better of them. She remembered one night when they had planned to go out for pizza and then rent a video to take back to his house to watch. He thought his parents were going to be home, but when they arrived the house was empty.

  He suggested they go to her house instead, but she liked the idea of being alone with him and said she thought it would be all right. They had been dating for almost a year then, and she trusted him.

  After watching the first half of the movie, she had snuggled into his arms and fallen asleep on his shoulder for fifteen minutes. She’d had a busy week with cheerleading practice and the Friday night game. Waking up in his arms had been a romantic thing in her mind, and she had initiated a kiss. It began soft and slow, but quickly escalated into one of strong desire and passion.

  She liked the way he made her feel and wanted more. Jon had been more than happy to oblige. But when they began to lay down with Jon’s body pressing her into the cushions, he had ended the moment abruptly, pushing himself away and standing to his feet.

  “I think I better take you home.”

  She remembered being hurt by his sudden absence. He had driven her home in silence. She began to feel ashamed of herself for tempting him like that, but she was also angry. He didn’t have to be so insensitive. He could have turned down the heat more slowly for her sake.

  “I’m sorry about that, Katie,” he said before she stepped from the cab of the pickup. “Please forgive me. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

  His words had gone straight to her heart and hushed her selfish thoughts. He was looking out for her and their relationship. He was right. She was wrong.

  “Don’t blame yourself,” she said, leaning to give him a kiss on the cheek. “If you didn’t notice, I wasn’t fighting you off. I’ll be more careful too.”

  “I love you, Katie,” he said. “Too much to let us do something stupid.”

  “I know, Jon. I love you too.”

  ***

  Jo
n waited for Katie to respond. He couldn’t read her face. He understood completely why she would have a difficult time trusting him, and he considered himself very fortunate to have her here today. She didn’t have to do this. She didn’t have to bring him orange juice and soup and spend some time with him simply because he’d asked her to.

  Her spontaneous hug took him by surprise. He had initiated the one they shared in the kitchen, and she hadn’t resisted him, but she had taken the lead this time, filling his heart with another ray of hope. Her words added more.

  “If you’re really back, Jon. If the man I fell in love with is still in there, I will take you back in a heartbeat. But that’s not something I can know for sure overnight. I just need some time. Time with you, not away from you.”

  “Then stay awhile,” he said, kissing her hair and holding her close. “There’s no place I’d rather be than with you--today or any other.”

  She clung to him and started crying. Cries that came from the deepest part of her soul. Cries of disappointment and pain and two years of being alone. He didn’t say or do anything except hold her and say, “I’m sorry, Katie,” over and over.

  “You don’t have to keep saying that,” she said, sitting back and wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I know you’re sorry about the past. I am too. All I care about now is what the future holds for us. I want you back, Jon. I just need to be sure you’re here to stay.”

  She asked him about doing some counseling with Pastor Swan. He told her that he wanted to do whatever it took to mend the past and move on. She said she wanted to see him more than once a week and have time with him in “normal life” not just at the movies or dining at a nice restaurant.

  He suggested that he could drop by the house in the evenings, using the excuse he wanted more time with his daughters so Manda and Jamie wouldn’t know their intention of getting back together until the time was right to tell them.

  “Then I can hang around after they go to bed, and we can talk,” he said, allowing a tiny smile to emerge. “Or whatever.”