Wait For Me Book 1: A Second Chance Christian Romance

by Christina Kirsch

  “Hello, Olivia Combs,” she managed before another coughing attack.

  “Olivia, I see your train, it’s your grandmother, just stay where you are.”

  Relief washed over her. Her father was supposed to be there to pick her up, but she supposed he probably got called to one of his properties. He was always busy, looking for new real estate or playing Landlord. Nan was who she needed right now anyway. She turned back towards the train door and asked the crew member to find her luggage. She heard the three thumps of her suitcases.

  “Need help with those?” A voice from her side. She guessed she looked more pathetic than she realized. “I’m just waiting, can I help you to your car?” Olivia’s heart froze in her chest. The voice. But it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be Jason; he would recognize her. Just then sharp heels clicked up behind her.

  “Olivia, I’m here.” She wanted to fall into her Nan’s arms, but her whole body heaved in a cough that threw off her sunglasses. Nan grabbed her arm, and her hand was shaking. “We’re going to the hospital.”

  JASON SLOWED HIS TRUCK to a stop, his eyes trailing over the station parking lot. He looked at his watch. The train arrived 20 minutes ago, but he had had to wait on Molly to come in early to take over the bar. He dialed his brother.

  “Hey Jason. Jess should be by the station door with our luggage - I’m just helping someone load a car around back, two minutes.” Jason crawled his truck towards the brick building. Sure enough, there next to a bench, hardly any taller than the suitcases, was a girl with stick straight blonde hair blowing around her face as she quietly observed the cars and passengers milling around beside her. The little girl’s bright blue eyes snapped to his pickup. Jason breathed deeply and touched his head to the steering wheel. “God, give me strength,” he prayed.

  Chapter 3

  “WELL, YOUR LUNGS SOUND good,” said the Doctor at Olivia’s bedside. She’d been in the hospital four days now, and she couldn’t wait to leave - even if she still couldn’t see more than a blurry white fuzz during the day. Her eye infection had spread into her lungs, and she had contracted pneumonia by the time she reached the hospital.

  “We’ll take out the midline and send you home with some oral antibiotics. Your eyes look cleared up- you shouldn’t be infectious.” Olivia’s tensed body relaxed slightly. It sounded like she was getting out. “The specialist says there’s no permanent scarring. It might take a while for the dead white blood cells to get cleared away, but as long as you have someone to help you out for a while, I feel good about discharging you from the hospital.”

  Thank God, Thought Olivia. Sitting around in the hospital, with nothing to look at, and only her Nan visiting was truly torturous. At least she could get some fresh air.

  “Finnish your round of antibiotics and come back if any of your symptoms reappear. You know, usually we don’t see eye infections get out of control like that except in very small children or immunocompromised patients. Anything like this happened before? Have you been under a lot of stress?”

  “No.” Olivia decided it wasn’t a lie to just answer the first question.

  “Ok, well take care of yourself. It’ll be a while before the paperwork is ready”

  Someone rapped on the open door. “One moment, please,” Olivia heard the doctor say, as she strode across the room to close the door, and then, “Any questions?” Olivia didn’t have any.

  “Well, looks like you have a visitor, I’ll leave you alone.” Olivia knitted her brow as the doctor silently left. A visitor? She’d called her Nan early this morning, saying she’d likely be out soon, and her parents had already made what she assumed was their one and only visit. They came the first day but separately - her mother full of oh-so-helpful advice about what she could have done to prevent this and later her father, mostly silent, simply come to ask if she needed anything.

  “Hey Liv, guess who?” Came a cheerful, female voice. “It’s Annette, I heard you were here, hope you don’t mind a visit.”

  Annette. Olivia’s face flushed with shame. Annette, her best friend in high school and three years of college. Her, Jason and Annette had always pal-ed around together, and she had even tried to keep in touch after Olivia left, but she had been too embarrassed to answer any of the emails. She regretted it now. How could she have been such a stupid, selfish friend? Olivia was just relieved she couldn’t look Annette in the eye when she said, “Annette, really? It’s...been so long. Thanks for coming.” Olivia was still abysmal at small talk. One of the best things about living in New York was how straight to the point everyone was. No one had time for your feelings and didn’t expect you to dance around theirs.

  “I wanted to welcome you back and see how you are. You look great.” Olivia was grateful for Annette's polite lie but squirmed with discomfort. This was not how she wanted to make her return - however brief. She really never imagined she would come back to Brighton, and now, disheveled and weak, she felt smaller than she ever had. If Annette was anything like the Annette she had known eight years ago, she wasn’t making judgements, and was likely happy to see an old friend. It was Olivia that was churning with self-doubt and shame. Part of her desperately wanted to ask about Jason - Annette would know something, but she pushed the thoughts out of her mind. The last thing her nerves needed was bringing up the event that broke up their friendship in the first place. Forgiving Annette. She never took sides. Olivia was in awe of her grace, and self-assuredness.

  “Yeah, it’s only for a bit, until my eyes get better.” Olivia said towards Annette. Olivia managed another twenty minutes of small talk - learning that Annette had gotten married (“I sent you an invitation to your parents address, I guess they didn’t send it along”) and was living just outside town, running a stable and riding school with her husband. Finally, Olivia asked, “How did you know I was here?” Really, she wanted to ask, “who else knows I’m here” and her stomach flip-flopped imagining Jason seeing her like this, knowing she had come crawling back home.

  “Actually, your grandma suggested I come visit, we saw her at church.”

  “I thought you went to church in Brentwood?”

  “Oh, the presbyterian church there has been gone for years. About half the congregation switched back to Brighton First Baptist. It’s closer to the house now anyway.” Olivia’s thoughts strayed again to Jason. Brentwood was where he always went to church. She remembered going with him one Sunday. Everyone in the small church seemed to know and love him. His late mother had been the organist. Again, she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from immediately asking if he too had switched churches. She gave her head a little shake, hoping Annette didn’t notice. Jason probably wasn’t even in town anymore. Maybe he had even made it to the Culinary Institute in New York and was working at some high-end restaurant, or maybe he was still at the Brighton Bar and Grill, going home every night to a pretty wife and fat baby. Olivia felt like she was going to cry.

  “I’m leaving today.” Olivia blurted out, saying anything to get her thoughts focused back on Annette. “The doc says I’m fine, so...”

  “That’s great, Liv!” and Olivia believed Annette was truly happy to hear it. “You should come out and see - well experience the town. Let’s do lunch!”

  The last thing Olivia wanted to do was be led around her small hometown. What if she ran into more people she knew? What if she ran into Jason? Just the thought of being seen like this - defeated and sickly, made every nerve buzz. She gave a vague consent. Another thing that was great about New Yorkers was an invitation to lunch was almost always a nicety, but she knew Annette was as earnest as can be, and Olivia would have to weasel out of it later. For now, she pacified Annette by giving her her cell number.

  “I’ll call you, feel better Liv,” Annette said as she left. Olivia sank back into her hospital bed. Great, she thought ruefully. This trip was turning into a bigger ordeal than she had imagined.

  Chapter 4

  “IT’S NOT MUCH, BUT the bed has clean sheets, you know
where the bathroom is,” Olivia could hear Nan bustling around the bright guest room, adjusting things on the dresser, opening drawers. The house smelled wonderfully of her, and for the first time in weeks, Olivia felt relaxed. Her father had picked her up from the hospital, but since he and her mother would be in and out of the house all week, they decided it would be better if she stayed with her grandmother, until she could get around better on her own. That had been completely fine with Olivia. Nan’s little house in town, humble as it was, simply sang with the warmth and personality of her grandmother. It was so different from the austere coldness of her parent’s home. She marveled at how inviting the place was - even though he could barely make out the shape of the floral sofas, the Tiffany style table lamps, the giant curio filled with pictures. Certainly, it wasn’t her taste, but her heart absolutely brimmed with nostalgia for hot summer days, playing hide and seek with her Nan in the old house. Olivia ran her hand over the textured wallpaper, guiding herself towards the bed and flopped down.

  “I love you, Nan, thank you so much.”

  “Oh, sweetheart,” Nan cooed, “you only have to ask, we all love you so.” Nan was graciously including her parents, Olivia assumed. The old woman was generous to a fault, even though her parents paid her about as much attention as Olivia had. Her heart panged with guilt. How could she have neglected her Nan like that. She resolved to find a way to make it up to her. “Now, be careful on those stairs - if you need help, just ask me.”

  Olivia chuckled. “Ok, Nan, I will.”

  “Maybe you could find some of your old friends while you’re in town.” Nan spoke from the doorway. “I know you have trouble forgiving yourself, but you might find it comes much more freely from the people who care about you. People still care about you, love.” Olivia squinted towards the door, trying to see if her Nan was giving anything else away in the way she stood. Had Nan told anyone else she was in town? “I love you. Lots of people do.” Olivia heard the door gently closed and she laid back with her thoughts. People still care about you. Sure they did, Olivia knew that, but did she really believe it? Did Jason still care about her? Slowly, Olivia fell into an uneasy sleep.

  OLIVIA WOKE EARLY THE next day, but of course Nan had beat her to it. She already had a pot of coffee on and was settled down on the old couch, watching the weather report when Olivia carefully descended the stairs. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but it seemed like she could make out a lot more this morning. She was generally a pessimist, but her mood brightened as she allowed herself to imagine that her eyesight might just clear up in a matter of days. A couple of weeks maybe.

  She sat herself down next to Nan. “I talked to your mother - I think we’ll all go to church tomorrow. Won’t that be nice?” Nan said casually, but Olivia could tell she was waiting for a reaction. Her good spirit dipped immediately. She hadn’t been to church in years, and she doubted her parents were any better these days. Not to mention meeting certain people, a certain person there. But what had she promised herself last night?

  “Sure, Nan,” she said, but even she didn’t believe her own faux cheerfulness, and then a little more sarcastically - “I can’t believe MOM said yes to that.”

  Nan clicked off the TV and Olivia felt her shift toward her on the couch. “Your mother might surprise you, Olivia,” Nan’s voice was soft, but projected a feeling of authority and wisdom - no wonder people seemed to gravitate towards Nan. “I know your relationship isn’t ideal, but maybe this is the perfect opportunity to...get to know your Mom. She cares about you.” Nan stroked Oliva’s hair, and kissed her forehead. “After your grandfather passed, I was only me and God, but what I would have given to have your mother and father closer. Yes, they set me up in this house, but your mother, you know she was so busy with you and her business. Don’t end up with the same regrets. Whatever is between you and your parents, God can heal it, if you let Him.”

  Olivia sighed deeply into the couch. She was here to heal physically and get back to New York as soon as possible. There wasn’t enough time in the world to convince her parents to be proud of her, to bring her back into the fold. Besides, what they cared about she couldn’t accomplish here. She wouldn’t spend a second longer than she had to in Brighton. Her career, her future was on hold in New York. She leaned over to kiss her grandmother’s soft cheek. “Thanks, Nan.”

  “Let me show you something,” Nan said as she heaved herself out of the ancient sofa. She returned, and set something that felt like a book, on Olivia’s lap. Olivia brought the open book close to her face and squinted hard. “It’s just a scrapbook I’ve been putting together - you’ll recognize most of those photos.”

  Olivia could make out very little of what she was looking at, but flipped to the front, to appease her grandma. “Look at how cute you are,” laughed Nan, pointing at the first page. Olivia could just make out some blurry shapes huddled together in the middle of a photo. “You and your parents at Christmas, I think you were trying to pretend to like that outfit I gave you,” Nan was still chortling to herself. Olivia closed her eyes and tried to picture it. Her heart panged as she thought of her mom and dad the way they used to be. There was a time they were happy together- when her parents seemed to be in love. Maybe that’s just what happens to ‘true love’ over time. Interest fades, love wains, and you end up in a partnership that’s barely a friendship. Nan flipped the page.

  “Do you remember this? You brought that little boy over here and made me officiate your wedding. You were so made I wouldn’t take you to the church.”

  “I remember that,” replied Olivia, feeling a little foolish, “I had just watched Cinderella, I wanted a Prince Charming.” Was that really her? Olivia strained her eyes at the picture. She thought back to a time in her life when she really believed in fairy tales like that. Sweet, but childish. How could two people from such different backgrounds just fall in love over the course of what, a night? Luckily, she had grown out of such nonsense, lots of girls didn’t, and those are the girls who get their hearts broken. Olivia closed the scrapbook and leaned in for a hug.

  “Call some of your old friends while you’re here, sweetheart. Get out a bit,” and as if Nan had called on God himself to make it so, her phone began to vibrate.

  Olivia got up. “Just a sec.” Maybe she shouldn’t have answered it within earshot of her Nan, but she couldn’t make it up the stairs in time. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Liv it’s Annette. I texted then realized, duh, I should call. Hey what are you doing this afternoon?” Olivia knew it was coming but didn’t realize she’d get pulled back out into Brighton so soon, her belly flipped over, but there was no lying her way out in front of Nan. Olivia agreed to let Annette pick her up in a few hours. Her stomach flip flopped again. Could she handle being seen by Jason? She shook the thought out of her head. What did she care if he had a family? Her life in New York was everything she had dreamed- a casual boyfriend, a skyrocketing career. In a matter of time, she would be writing her own ticket to wherever in the world XinJun reached. But why did that thought not fill the hollow in her chest?

  Chapter 5

  JASON WAS SHOWING HIS brother how to inventory the bar liquors when the front door opened. He laughed as his all-too-eager brother fumbled out, “Sorry, we’re not open yet!”

  “I’ll take care of this one Seth, just write everything down here.” Jason handed over the clipboard with a smile and went to greet Annette with a hug as she unwrapped her scarf. “Bit early to be hitting the hooch, huh?” He joked as he maneuvered Annette over to a bar stool.

  “Speak for yourself, you’ll be singing a different tune when you have kids.”

  Jason smiled wryly and walked back around the bar, pouring Annette a glass of water. “Coffee?” He asked, “We’ve got a pot in back.”

  “No thanks, kid, I already have coffee plans,” Annette said with a strange smirk. “So, you’re working all day?”

  “Training my brother,” Jason jabbed behind his shoulder at Seth, tip-toed on a stool,
head in a storage cabinet. “Seth, come here and meet Annie.” Jason introduced his brother who gave a polite, “charmed” and quickly resumed inventory. God bless him, he was never great for conversation unless he was angling for something, but boy was he a hard worker. Of all his faults, no one could say Seth wasn’t a go-getter when he wanted to be.

  Annette played with a napkin as she watched Seth weigh bottles. She was still smiling softly to herself. Jason started polishing glasses. Strange time to come catch up, but just who he had been thinking of. “What do you know about equine therapy?” Jason asked casually.

  His question broke her revelry. “Oh, not much. I suppose it takes a bit more than an associate’s in business administration. Why? You feelin’ blue, kid?” Jason rolled his eyes. Annette had been calling him “kid” since they were 16.

  “For my niece. Seth’s girl,” he nodded to the side again, as if Annette had forgotten the recent introduction. Then a little quieter, “I’ve been trying to think of ways to get her out of her shell- she is so shy, and lonely, I think.” Get her out of her shell, and out of the house, thought Jason. His niece hadn’t said a word since he picked them up at the station. She would sit quietly upstairs and listen to his dad gab away, or read her a library book, but listen politely was about all she would do. She didn’t even seem to like watching TV or the idea of going to daycare with other kids her age.