Chapter Eighteen
Lindsey
Friday
I wasn’t sure if what I was wearing was appropriate because I had no idea how fancy the afternoon was going to be. I didn’t have too many details to go on, which I was only realizing now was an issue. I didn’t think it was ball gown appropriate, but I didn’t think it was causal sweat pants, either. I’d gone for a long sleeve red dress over thick, wooly black tights and boots. I hoped that I looked just good enough. I wanted Adam to like what he saw.
Maybe, if things weren’t so strange between me and Denise, I could have asked for her opinion. It wasn’t her being weird, it was me. I just didn’t want to mention Adam again because I was far too fragile to listen to her criticisms.
I’ll have to do, I thought as I twisted from side to side to see myself in the mirror. My long hair had been curled as it waved around me. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
With one more deep breath I forced myself away from the mirror and I moved towards the living room. I could hear Denise in her bedroom, which allowed me to leave without even saying goodbye. I hated being so sneaky, but I just wanted to enjoy myself. I’d been sad for days. I didn’t want to feel that way anymore.
I raced down the stairs, two at a time, and as I burst into the outside air and saw Adam already there relief flooded me…but not before my heart skipped a beat. The closer I got to him, the more handsome he appeared. He was gorgeous, unbelievably sexy, and he really seemed to like me. Little, nobody me.
“Hey,” I said coyly, with a heat racing through me. Butterflies flapped in my stomach, reminding me that I was in far too deep yet again. “Good to see you again.”
Without thinking much about it, I reached up to his shoulder, pushed myself upright and kissed him gently on the cheek. As soon as my lips brushed his cheeks I felt electricity bursting through my body. It tingled my lips and sent a heat creeping through my veins.
“Good to see you, too,” he answered with a small chuckle. “You look lovely.”
“You look good, too.” I pulled back and stared at him. In his tight fitting tee shirt and jeans he looked casual, but really great. Enough to get my pulse racing faster. “I’m glad I’m not too underdressed since I don’t know where we’re going yet.”
I expected Adam to tell me then just where we were going. He gave me a knowing grin and indicated towards his car. I rolled my eyes dramatically, but got in without too much of a fuss. It wasn’t like I had to wait for much longer to find out, anyway. I slid into the passenger’s seat and clipped the seatbelt across me before turning to face him once more. I parted my lips, ready to say something sarcastic, but the words fell apart as I saw a box clutched between his fingers.
“What’s that?” I gasped. My hand reached up to clutch my chest as I tried to figure out what I was staring at. “Who’s that for?”
“It’s for you,” he chuckled. “I brought it for you.” He shrugged. “It isn’t much but I just wanted to say thank you for all your help.”
“Do you not think the payment is enough for that?” I asked in total shock. This had absolutely knocked me sideways. “I don’t need anything else from you.”
“No.” He handed the box to me, forcing me to take it. My trembling fingers grasped it, but I couldn’t quite feel it. “Please take it. I just want you to have it.”
I didn’t break his eye contact as I brushed my fingers over the box. This looked like the sort of box that contained jewelry, which suggested that he’d been out to buy this specially for me. It was too much, I was absolutely touched. This just proved to me that it was something real and that Denise was wrong. Men didn’t buy jewelry without reasons, did they?
“Open it,” he encouraged me.
I slipped open the box and gasped at the beautiful bracelet inside. It was lovely, far too nice for someone like me, which brought tears to my eyes. I brushed one away before Adam could see it, but I thought he spotted it anyway.
“I can’t accept this,” I told him thickly, my voice laden with emotion. “It’s too much.”
“Oh, don’t be silly.” He pulled it out and wrapped it around my wrist. As he did, I felt my body pulse with excitement. “It looks great on you, I’m glad I got it.”
“Thank you,” I muttered while staring at it. “It’s gorgeous.”
I wanted to take it off because I felt bad for taking it, but I couldn’t. It was proof that he liked me, that I wasn’t crazy and in this alone. I couldn’t take my eyes off it the whole drive, which meant I barely focused on where we were going at all. I didn’t lift my eyes up until we finally reached our destination – a destination that stunned me.
“Where are we?” I asked Adam quietly. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, some more family, a restaurant, some friends, anything but this.
“It’s an orphanage,” he replied while opening the car door to let me out. I couldn’t move at first, this made me cold all over. It was a shock for a man like Adam to be in a place like this. What the hell did it mean? Did it mean that he knew more about me than I’d let on? “It’s where I volunteer and it’s time for me to cook Christmas dinner. Shall we go inside?”
“You volunteer?” I pushed myself out the car and followed him inside. He didn’t answer me, but it was instantly obvious from the way that all the children without parents surrounded him like he was an angel that he did. I couldn’t believe it. There was everyone else, including me I was ashamed to admit, thought that Adam was a lazy lay about, when he did all of this.
Did his family not know about this? Was that why they treated him like shit?
“Are you Adam’s girlfriend?” a small child asked while tugging on my dress, shaking me from my shocked coma. “He never brings a girl here!”
As soon as I saw the young girl, my chest swelled with love. With her blonde curly hair and bright blue eyes that looked a little bit lost, she reminded me of myself. I bent down onto my knees to level with her and stare into her eyes.
“I’m Adam’s friend,” I told her with a smile. “My name is Lindsey. How about you?”
“Rose,” she replied, a little shyer now. She was utterly adorable. “My name is Rose.”
“Right!” Adam’s booming voice called over the crowd, stopping everyone in our tracks. “I’m about to cook dinner, so who is going to help me?” A dozen hands popped up into the sky. “Good because I need some hands to help with the vegetable peeling. Rose, I have a special job for you. I want you to look after Lindsey. Can you please show her around the house? Let her see the place?” He gave me a smile and I nodded, happy. “Good, let’s go.”
Rose smiled up at me and took my hand. As she walked me from the room, I watched Adam for the last few seconds that I could see him, and he was in his element. It was clear that his qualifications and family expectations didn’t make him happy – this did. He’d learned to cook to help these kids eat, he lit up around him, and they all adored him.
There was so much more to Adam Britt than met the eye, and I really wanted to see all of that about it. He was full of layers, there was so much more to him than others could see, and I loved that he was slowly revealing himself to me. I was greedy for more. I just couldn’t wait to discover what else lay beneath that extremely handsome exterior.
***
I rubbed my full belly as I waved goodbye to the kids while Adam pulled the car away from the orphanage. I didn’t actually want to leave. I wanted to stay and spend even more time with the children who didn’t have anything but seemed to be the happiest alive. They lifted my spirits up tenfold and reminded me that nothing was as bad as it seemed. Certainly not in my life. I had lots going for me, even if it didn’t always feel that way.
“That was amazing,” I gushed to Adam. “Thank you so much for bringing me. I had the best time. The food was incredible, the kids are so cool. I loved it.”
“I knew you would,” he said with a bright smile. “And, I knew that the kids would love you too. Especially Rose. I think you have a fan for life there.”
I grinned happily at the thought of that sweet little angel. She was so kind to me. I recognized a lot of myself in her, which meant that we got on well. “Well, I’m glad. She’s awesome. So are the rest of the kids. And, they love you.”
Adam smiled happily as he drove along the streets. “Yeah well, they are why I do what I do. I don’t work because I dedicate so much of my time to that place. I’m just lucky enough that I can afford to do that. The kids need someone regular to be there all the time, they need that stability, you know?”
“Yeah. I know.”
I sat back in my seat and thought about Adam and the side that I’d seen of him today. He was different around those kids, brighter, more charismatic, happier. It was as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Seeing that only intensified my feelings.
My hand ran across the chain on my wrist, and I really started to see things differently. Was it possible that something which had started out as a business arrangement could become something else? Something more? Bigger than I ever dared to dream? I felt certain that Denise’s warning didn’t mean anything anymore, so I wasn’t worried about that.
“Do you know what? I think it might be my turn to take you out for dinner tomorrow night,” I said with full confidence. “To repay you for everything that you’ve done for me.”
“What? Really?” Adam seemed genuinely stunned that I would want to spend extra time with him. For no money, of course. I didn’t want any more from him and there wasn’t anything that I could offer him financially. “You want to?”
“I do. I’ll even pick you up.”
“Wow, well how can I refuse an offer like that?” Adam looked even happier now. After all the shit that he had going on in his life, I wanted to be the one to make him happy. “That sounds great, thank you.”
“Make sure you wear something pretty,” I said in a teasing tone, reminding him of the way he spoke to me at first. “I need to be proud to be seen out with you.”
“Yeah alright, whatever.” He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.”