by Lorin Grace
“Don’t worry about it. Candace told me you would be a little jet lagged. I take it she underestimated how much.”
A buzzer in the kitchen rang. Candace ran to pull out the lasagna, worried about leaving the two men alone. She set the lasagna on the table, added ice to the water glasses, and set out the salad. When she returned to the living area, Colin was snoring softly.
Dad smiled a bemused smile. “I’ll give him points for meeting me.”
“I don’t think you should take it personally.” Poor Colin. He’d tried so hard.
“Dinner can wait a few moments. Why don’t you wake him up enough to get him back up to his apartment?”
Candace crouched in front of her sleeping boyfriend. “Colin?” She shook him gently.
“Huh? Wa—? I’m awake.” He rubbed his eyes.
“Not really. Let’s get you up to your place, and you can see me tomorrow.”
Colin nodded and stood, swaying a bit.
Dad stood in the kitchen doorway. “Perhaps you’d better escort him up. I don’t want him riding the elevator all night.”
Candace wrapped an arm around Colin and headed for the elevator.
The lights flickered on when they entered Colin’s apartment. “Welcome, Candace. Welcome, Colin.”
Candace ignored the AI and walked Colin to his bedroom. The door was locked.
“Sabrina, open Colin’s bedroom door.”
“I am sorry. The bedroom doors are to remain locked when Candace Wilson is in the apartment.”
Really? Do you think I am going to take advantage of him? Candace kept the thought to herself.
Colin muttered something, but the AI didn’t respond. Candace steered him to the big couch in the entertainment room. “Sorry, you’ll have to nap here until I am gone. Hopefully Janie will come soon.”
He wrapped his arms around her much the way a zombie would in a B movie. “Don’t go.”
Candace extricated herself and covered Colin with a throw blanket. “I need to. My dad is waiting.” She placed a kiss on his forehead and turned down the light. Even if she did stay with him, he wouldn’t remember anything in the morning.
The elevator wouldn’t open.
“Sabrina, please call the elevator.”
“Sorry, he said don’t go. You must stay.”
“Sabrina, he is talking in his sleep. Please let me go.”
“Orders do not compute.”
Candace went back into the room were Colin slept. “Colin, please wake up. Your AI won’t let me leave.”
“What?”
“Please tell Sabrina I can go home.”
He blinked a couple of times. “Sabrina, Candace is going home. Start evening lockdown procedures after she leaves.”
“Thank you.” Candace kissed him on the cheek before hurrying to the elevator, half afraid Sabrina would start her evening lockdown before she could escape. This time the elevator opened. She pushed the button for her floor, but the elevator didn’t move. “Sabrina, please let me go to my floor.”
The elevator closed. Candace rubbed her head. The lasagna was probably cold, and what father would believe her boyfriend’s AI had held her hostage?
sixteen
Two days later, Colin was fully cognizant of his surroundings. “Sabrina, what day is it?”
“Wednesday, 7:10 a.m.”
Make that three days. How did Daniel do it? The three or four times a year Colin traveled more than three time zones messed him up for days. He called Candace. “Good morning.”
“Are you back among the living?”
“I think so. What did I miss?” Janie had woken him a couple times and forced food into him. Sabrina spoke random things that made him wish he had one of the old alarm clocks that turned off when it was hit.
“You have talked to me on the phone three times, but I don’t think you were awake.”
He rubbed his forehead, trying to remember the calls. “I hope I didn’t say anything too stupid. I don’t remember. I think I met your dad. And I dreamed Sabrina held you hostage.”
“Both of those things happened. I hope she isn’t listening to you now. She may get ideas.”
“I can’t believe she did that.” What had he misprogrammed now? And meeting her father, that probably hadn’t gone well. Maybe it was best he didn’t remember.
Something scraped on the other end of the line. “I think she listens to you more than you know.”
“Can we do something tonight? Dinner and a movie?”
“Sure. I’m in the parking garage, and my hands-free is on the fritz. Can we finish catching up later?”
Colin nodded, then remembered to speak. “See you tonight.”
By lunchtime, Candace had made up her mind. Tonight she would tell Colin everything he would need to know. Before she lost her nerve, she texted.
How about we just order in and see a movie on streaming?
—Sounds good. I haven’t had a minute to plan. Went to the office, and Daniel is making me work.
Poor boy. Reading documents or something else that doesn’t involve a computer.
—Ha ha. You know me so well. Text me when you get home.
Will do. Chinese or Italian?
—Not oriental, please.
LOL
Candace finished her lunch and wished she could text Zoe for some extra strength. But Zoe wasn’t allowed phones during work hours. She hadn’t talked over the need to tell Colin about the extent of her cancer during his weekend visit. Her newfound openness with her dad didn’t extend that far yet. However, it did extend far enough for her father to begin to mediate between her and Crystal. Apparently Crystal’s life wasn’t as perfect as Candace had believed. Her nephew was on the autism spectrum, something Crystal had never divulged during their few phone calls a year. They started to plan Thanksgiving dinner together.
For a split second, she considered asking Crystal’s advice. But they had never discussed the outcome of her surgeries before.
Candace changed her focus to the lavender horse she was working on. Fortunately, nothing was challenging about the day’s painting.
By the time she drove back to the apartment building, Candace was worried her nerves would spin out of control and she would blurt everything out at once.
Candace was wearing his favorite wig and carrying takeout burger bags. He could kiss her already. Sometime during the second meeting of the afternoon, he realized they hadn’t kissed for a week and a half. He didn’t count the kisses Candace had given him when he’d gotten back Sunday or Monday. Even though he technically knew it was Sunday, his brain still said Monday. “Good old American. Bless you, my friend.”
“If I knew this was all you needed to be happy, I would have brought them to you two days ago. Actually, I did try to come up, but Sabrina wouldn’t let me out of the elevator.”
Colin wondered what order he had given the AI to produce that action. At some point, his housekeeper had been allowed in. “So, first Sabrina won’t let you leave, then she won’t let you in?”
Candace set the bags on the table and sorted the contents. “No offense, but I think she has a few flaws. I’ve always felt that computers and I were not very compatible, but now I know it.” Her teasing smile let him know it wasn’t a problem, yet.
“I must have been distracted when I worked on her code last time.”
“I didn’t think you got distracted when you were thinking about code.”
He felt the blood rush to his face. He hadn’t gotten distracted before, but now that he was holding hands and kissing and entertaining daydreams of marriage to Candace, he was majorly distracted. Hopefully, when things were not so new, he’d be able to focus. Many married men, as well as men in committed relationships, managed to function in thei
r day-to-day lives. When he got his first smartphone, he had been the same way until he’d learned every nuance of the device. Relationships must be the same way. Candace waited for his answer. “You, us, kissing.”
She dipped her head and hid behind the locks of her wig. When she looked back up, she was blushing too. “I can see how that could be distracting.”
“Did you realize it has been over 250 hours since we last kissed? Real kisses, not those quick pecks when I got back. And that is real consecutive hours, not me being in Hong Kong all mixed up.”
Candace covered her mouth, then took a sip of her drink. “I was thinking more than ten days, but not in terms of hours. Are you trying to say you missed me?”
He set down his food. “Ya, I did. I was never homesick, even when I was ten and got sent off to school. I didn’t want to be there, but I didn’t want to be home either. This was the first time I wanted to come home—here, to you.” Talking to Candace loosened all his filters, but he didn’t care. Other than Daniel and a little with Nick, he never shared many of his thoughts. Never wanted to.
Candace stood and cleared her garbage away. Colin did the same. “What movie do you want to see?”
She folded her arms and leaned against the counter. “I’m not sure it will matter. You seem to have other things on your mind.”
He rubbed his forehead. “I am trying to be a gentleman and control myself around you, even if I am blurting out everything I am thinking.”
“Everything?” She stretched her hand to reach his and pushed off the counter.
No, not everything. He still needed to say the L word, then the M word. Good thing they were in alphabetical order. They entered the entertainment room.
“Sabrina, please turn on the Hearthfire streaming channel and locate selections we have not seen.”
seventeen
Absence did make the heart grow fonder—or at least it made the hormones build up. Honestly, by the time he did make a move to kiss her, she was ready to take matters into her own hands. His kiss was more pensive and unsure than she recalled from their last kiss. She shifted positions on the couch, swinging her legs across his lap, bringing them closer. Colin paused, then moved his arms behind her back, pulling her even closer, his inexperience with women making the moment all the more dear. Candace wished for a moment she had never made the stupid bucket-list item, but at sixteen she hadn’t understood the subtler points of relationships or the depth of feelings that could exist between a man and a woman. She’d only thought of dying without ever being kissed. But being kissed by the right man at the right time was so different than being kissed by someone who just wanted to kiss the cancer girl. This was the type of kiss that had sent all her old roommates to the altar. If only her story could end there. If it could be more than just this moment, this kiss. A tear formed near the corner of her eye, and she was helpless to catch it as Colin rained a row of kisses along her jawline. He stopped and ran his thumb across her cheek. “Are you crying? Did I do something wrong?”
The light from the flickering television reflected in his eyes. Candace hoped he could see hers as she tried to reassure him. “No, you are doing things just right. It’s me. Wishing I’d never put kissing guys on that list because this kiss is honestly the best of my life.”
His thumb rubbed across her bottom lip. “If you hadn’t experienced their kisses, how would you know this was the best?” He smiled big enough that his dimple showed, as if he were pleased by the thought his kisses moved her.
Candace kissed the dimple, not willing to explain or examine the rest of her thoughts. Colin responded with kisses of his own. She allowed her fingers to explore the hair at the nape of his neck as his hand rubbed her back. As their kisses grew deeper, Candace knew she should end the night and go home. There was no place to move forward from here. The dead end this road led to loomed before her. Just one more kiss, one more touch.
He trailed kisses up to her ear. “I love you.” His voice was husky. His lips found hers again. Colin’s hands moved to her sides, his thumbs caressing her ribs and moving upward.
Danger!
“Stop!” Candace pushed his hands away.
Colin blinked at her, confusion marring his brow.
“I need to go.” Candace untangled herself from him and stood to look for her shoes.
He stood beside her, running his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry I got carried away. I didn’t—”
Candace shook her head but didn’t turn to look at him. “No, Colin. We got carried away. But I can’t. I never can.”
“I didn’t mean to cross the line. I know you’re not that type—”
She spun around, frustration filling all the places that moments ago had tingled with another emotion. “No! It isn’t that I was going to tell you before. I should have. I’m hardly a woman at all. It’s all fake!” She pulled off her wig. “The cancer stole it all! I’m not that type of woman because I am barely a woman.”
“Candace, you know I don’t care about the hair. I love you the way you are.” He took a step forward, his arms open.
“Stop!” She took two steps backward. “You don’t know who I am.” She reached into her shirt with her right hand and pulled out her left prosthesis, then did the same with the other. She held them out to him, cradled in her palms. “A real woman can’t do this.”
Colin stared at her hands, his jaw working but nothing coming out of his mouth.
Candace dropped the prosthetics on the coffee table next to her wig and ran for the elevator.
Sabrina didn’t stop her. Neither did Colin.
“Sabru, Sabrina, ligh—” Colin choked back his emotions and tried again. “Sabrina, lights on.”
The living room lights came on. “Shall I turn off the entertainment system?” asked the computerized voice.
“Yes.”
Colin sat down and pulled the coffee table over to him. The pieces started to fall into place. Candace’s mother had died from breast cancer. They had been in the hospital together. The ten-year plan wasn’t like his ten-year plan. It had been all she’d planned.
He dialed Candace’s number. Her phone rang from between the couch cushions. He dug it out.
“Sabrina, is Candace in her apartment?”
“I cannot answer. It is against my privacy protocols.”
“Sabrina, is Candace in the building?”
“I cannot answer. It is against my privacy protocols.”
“Sabrina, is Candace safe?”
“I cannot answer. It is against my privacy protocols.”
Colin wanted to hit the computer housing Sabrina’s electronic brain.
“Sabrina, override authorization 911. Is there a human in apartment 10B?”
“Password, please.”
“Unicorn hair.”
“The door was accessed five minutes ago via the keypad. There is one heat signature in the apartment.”
“Sabrina. Please alert me if the door to 10B opens.”
“I cannot answer. It is against my privacy protocols.”
Colin buried his head in his hands. How should he go after her, and what should he say?
“Sabrina, what time is it?”
“12:11 a.m., Thursday, October—”
He cut the computer off before she started with the weather. “Sabrina, email me a memo to fix your time protocol.”
His phone pinged with the new email.
Colin gathered Candace’s wig and—he wasn’t sure what to call them—headed to the elevator. He assumed she would want her phone. The prosthetics weighed more than he thought. Candace probably would not want him carrying them in his hands, so he set them back on the coffee table and went in search of a box or bag. Every single bag he could find came from an electronics or computer store. All of his boxes were
the same. He found a shirt box in his closet, complete with the shirt. He took the shirt out but left the tissue paper.
He rearranged the items a couple times before closing the lid and heading down the elevator.
eighteen
Candace closed the door and sunk to the floor. Tears streamed down her face. What had she done? She had never meant to tell him like that. Just to explain. Outside her family and the doctors, there wasn’t a single man who knew. Of her roommates, only Mandy had full knowledge of the extent of the cancer and repercussions. It was too late to call Mandy. Joy had just started sleeping through the night. Zoe—she could call her, but it was an hour later in New York. Candace went to pull out her phone, but it wasn’t in her pocket.
She couldn’t face him again. No way. She would just have to get a new phone. First she needed to get off the floor.
One deep breath was not enough to give her the strength to move.
Neither were two.
There was a tap on the door above her head.
“Candace?”
Colin. She pushed up with her legs, sliding her back up the door, then turned and leaned her head on the door.
Tap. Tap. “Candace, is that you?”
She turned and leaned against the door. “Yes.”
“Will you open the door?”
“I can’t.” Her voice squeaked out.
“Candace, please?”
She could picture him leaning on the door the same way she was. A sob rose from her throat. “I, I—”
The light thump on the door could have been his forehead. “I have your phone and—” There was a long silence. “I’ll leave your things here. Just call me when you are ready.”
Candace tried to answer, but her voice wouldn’t work.
“Are you still there? Tap twice if you hear me.”
