When Delilah left the coffee shop, still glowing as she got in her car, she received a text from her mom.

“Will you be coming home before work? Could you pick something up for me?”

Delilah sighed. She planned to get to work early to get in a few extra minutes on the clock. It was just enough time to make a stop and run home.

“Sure,” she replied. “What do you need?”

“My prescription is waiting at the pharmacy.”

Delilah headed in the direction of the pharmacy that was like a second home. Her mother took a lot of medications. She not only had diabetes that was getting worse all the time, she also dealt with heart problems. They made regular trips to the doctor and were no strangers to the ER. She might be in better health if the family could have afforded to get her the medication and proper treatment that she needed for the last ten years. But they’d had to skimp on meds and skip other treatments since they couldn’t afford it.

Delilah hurried into the pharmacy and then home. When she walked in the door, her siblings converged on her.

“Play with us!” Ethan, her six-year-old brother said.

Rose, the oldest at 11, asked, “Can you make dinner? We’re starving!”

“I need help with my homework,” Jennie said. She was the nine-year-old.

Delilah closed her eyes for a moment. “Hey guys. I have to get to work. Sorry. I’ll be home later tonight if you still need help. Isn’t Mom cooking?”

She didn’t smell any food being made. Delilah found her mother on the sofa in the living room with the blanket pulled up to her chin.

“Thank you, honey,” her mother said when Delilah handed her the pills.

“You okay?”

“Just resting to get the energy to cook.”

“You want me to put in a pizza or something?” They always kept a ton of frozen pizzas in the freezer. Easy, fast, effortless, and all her siblings loved it.

“That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

Delilah turned on the oven and took out a pizza. She hunted Rose down and made her watch the food as it cooked.

“Don’t forget the oven mitts,” Delilah reminded her. “And be careful when you take it out of the oven.”

“I will.”

Delilah hated to leave like this, but she had no choice. She said goodbye to each of them and hurried off to work, making it in just enough time to not be late.

She didn’t mind working at the clothing store. She’d applied for a job at an art gallery and didn’t get it, which was disappointing, but one day she’d have a job she loved. That was the whole point of college, right? Still, as she folded a display of shirts, it gave her time to think. She needed to figure some things out with her paper so that when she sat down to write it, she’d be ahead.

The only problem was that today, her mind wouldn’t stay on her schoolwork. She kept thinking of Christian and their little date. Was it a date? Maybe not. Coffee and schoolwork wasn’t exactly dinner and a movie, but he’d asked her out. He’d paid, they had talked a good bit, and he’d asked for her number. Maybe it was more of a pre-date date? She wasn’t going to read too much into it, but the hope was there.

She was certainly attracted to him, but she didn’t have the time for any kind of dating relationship. As she was realizing this was true, she got a text from him asking to have another coffee and schoolwork meet-up. Okay, so this was starting to seem like something. He wanted to see her again, and he obviously didn’t need help with his schoolwork, so that came off like more of an excuse than anything. Why hadn’t he asked her out to dinner or a more traditional date?

She didn’t respond right away. At first, she tried to think through her schedule to find a few hours where she could meet him. Over the next week, she had maybe one or two gaps where a meet up could be fit in. But that again reminded her that if she was going to finish school, keep her scholarship, and help out the family, she couldn’t be going out all the time.

The fact that he’d only asked her for coffee bothered her a little. Christian came from money. She came from quite the opposite. How long would it be before he wouldn’t want to be seen with her? Before it was obvious that they came from different worlds? He’d end up breaking her heart in the end. Happily ever after was only for the movies.

If she was going to be smart about this, and be responsible about her priorities in life, then she had to turn him down. She tried to make it as nice as possible, so it didn’t come off like an outright rejection.

“I had a great time, too. Thanks again for the coffee and for convincing Mr. Grayson to give me another chance. I’m afraid I don’t have time to meet up before the paper is due. I’ll be writing it on my lunch break and late at night. Good luck on yours!”

She read it over, and when she was satisfied, she hit, “Send.”

A response came not too long later. “Bummer. It’d be great to bounce ideas off you. Let me know if you want me to read over your paper before you turn it in. I usually have my mom read mine, but don’t tell anyone that. I’ll deny it until my death.”

She chuckled and put her phone away. She really shouldn’t be texting at work anyhow. Later that night, she sat down to work on her paper and texted him back.

“Finally getting to work on my paper now! Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” She added a winky face.

The next day, she was in class when he texted her.

“Halfway done. How’s yours coming?”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m in class, but I have a few minutes until my next class to work on it.”

That night, when she worked again, he texted her. “I can taste victory! Though it’d taste better if I were sharing it with you. Almost done?”

She was not almost done. She’d written three of the five pages, then realized that it wasn’t going as planned and had to rewrite the whole thing. She now had only two pages completed.

She told Christian, “Had to start over, but almost half done. I’ll be burning the midnight oil to get it in in time.”

“My offer still stands. I’ll be up late if you want me to look over it.”

She didn’t respond. Part of her wanted to send it to him, just to keep their conversation going. But part of her didn’t want him to see her work. What if he didn’t think it was good?

Later the next day, she got a text while trying to do schoolwork and help Jennie with hers.

“Just turned mine in,” Christian said. “Here’s hoping for an A.”

“Mine’s almost there. I’ll be sending it last minute. As always.”

She put her phone away and focused. When she finally did send the paper, it was barely within the two-day window. Hopefully, it would be an improvement in grade.

The next day, Christian messaged her while she was in class. “Got an A! How’d you do?”

“Don’t know yet.” But later, after her class with Mr. Grayson, she let Christian know, “Got a 92%! Not quite an A, but enough to keep my scholarship. And aced the test. Looks like I’ll be in school next semester after all.”

“Glad to hear it. Now. When can I see you again?”

She didn’t respond. All night as she worked, she thought of what to say. It’d been fun the last few days texting him. She was starting to like him more and more. But nothing had changed. She had no more time now, and no further hope that they were really right for each other.

“What’s going on in your world?” her co-worker, Sophie asked.

Delilah told her a little of what was going on. “He keeps texting me, even if I don’t text back.”

“Are you going to say yes to him?”

“I don’t think so. I’ll probably just not answer.”

Sophie put her hand on her hip and gave Delilah a stern look. “You’re going to turn down a hot, rich guy? What is wrong with you?”

“That’s the problem, exactly. I’m not his type.”

“Who cares! He’s texting you. He wants to go out with you. That makes you his type. Go out with him!”

“I don’t think he really likes me, though. More like just a friend.”

Sophie raised an eyebrow. “Phone.”

Delilah handed her phone over, letting her read the text conversation with Christian.

“You’re nuts,” Sophie said. “He’s obviously into you. Please, please, Delilah, will you go out with the handsome rich man who keeps asking you out? I don’t want to have to slap you for being stupid.”

Delilah rolled her eyes. “We’ll see. There’s just no time.”

“You’ll make the time.”

Before she could respond to him, he texted, “Forget the coffee. How about a real date? Dinner?”

This changed everything. Or did it? She considered for a while but decided to just be honest. “I’d love to go to dinner, but I don’t really have the time for a relationship right now.”

“Dinner won’t take all night. We can keep it short. You’re going to eat anyway, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Heated pizza with my siblings while I do schoolwork probably.”

“You can bring your books if you want.”

“Then who’s going to look after my siblings?”

“I’ll get them a babysitter.”

Really? He’d go that far? Her mom was usually there, so a babysitter wasn’t really needed. It was more like Delilah needed to be there to help keep things flowing. Make sure the younger ones got baths, make sure homework was done, that sort of thing.

“I don’t know if that’s necessary, but I appreciate the offer.”

“Okay then. Which night is good for you?”

She chewed her lip. One dinner wouldn’t hurt anything, right? If she finished her project tonight after work, she could spare a few hours to spend with him. Her mother would be thrilled.

“Tomorrow?” she texted back.

“Perfect. See you then!”

Delilah put her phone away, wondering if she made the right decision. When she told Sophie, she was ecstatic.

“I want all the details. Enjoy this.”

“I’ll try,” Delilah said.

“You deserve it. You’ve been taking care of your family forever. You can take some time for yourself, you know. You need that.”

Delilah didn’t even know what it meant to take time for herself anymore. “Well, I guess that’s what I’m doing.”