The Random Acts of Cupid (Christian Romance) Page 9

  “Anyway, when we got to my car, it wouldn’t start. I was really upset. I’d just had the thing in the shop for maintenance, and the mechanics had given it a clean bill of health. Did you know that Oliver is like a genius when it comes to cars? Before I knew it, he had the hood up and about three minutes later, the car was running. Apparently, he and his dad have restored a bunch of old cars. Oliver’s pretty crazy about anything with wheels. Here I thought he was just a geeky computer nerd.

  “I was so relieved and thankful to him for fixing my car that I offered to buy him dinner sometime. Instead, he suggested that we go out to coffee right then. We got to talking, and one thing led to another. Next thing I know, we had talked until 3:00 in the morning! Then yesterday, we worked the same shift and spent the entire evening together. I think it was the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had!”

  “I thought you weren’t even attracted to Oliver,” Elise said, still a little skeptical. She was almost afraid to hope that things would work well out for her friend.

  “I didn’t think I was. But I didn’t know him before. I guess I was so busy trying to get him to leave me alone that I didn’t even take the time to get to know him. Everything was based on a first impression of him being a nerd who was way too young. But now I know how interesting, sweet, and romantic he is. He’s so smart, but he’s a lot of fun too. I don’t know that I have ever felt this way before. Aren’t you happy for me, Elise? You should be thrilled. You’re the one who’s tried to push me to get together with him. You’ve always been his biggest cheerleader. I’m surprised you never tried to . . . wait a minute. Elise Hutchins, did you set me up? Did you sabotage my car just so Oliver would have to fix it for me?”

  Elise burst out laughing, ending the tension that had held the room captive. “No! I promise, Britney. I had absolutely nothing to do with that one. I don’t set up close friends. I am as surprised as you are. I didn’t even know Oliver had any car experience. I guess sometimes God handles His own matchmaking.”

  Britney beamed. “I really like him, Elise. I guess I should have listened to you . . . about everything.” A shadow crossed her face and she looked troubled. Then with an uncharacteristic look of determination and a straightening of her spine, Britney looked directly at Elise. “I have a confession to make.”

  Then, with a deep breath, she spoke in a rush. “I used your florist account to send flowers to myself. I had the card signed with Ryan’s name. I thought if I pretended they were from him and thanked him, he would be too embarrassed to deny it. It worked for Chandra and Damon. I thought it might work for me too.”

  “Britney, I—”

  “Please don’t interrupt me, Elise. This is hard enough as it is. If you say something now, I may never get this all out.”

  Elise obediently shut her mouth, and Britney, looking thoroughly miserable, continued. “Remember when I went with you to choose flowers for that lady from your church who was in the hospital? That’s how I knew the floral shop where you had an account. So I called them and pretended I was you. They didn’t even question me when I asked to have it added to my, or your, account. Then when the roses were delivered, I pretended to be surprised. When Ryan came into the library, I showed him the flowers and thanked him profusely. But it didn’t work. He said he didn’t send them and asked to see the card. Then he seemed upset and almost angry, still denying that he sent them. It was completely humiliating, and I’m so very sorry. I should have listened to you, and I was stupid for ever doing something like that. Can you please forgive me?”

  “Britney, I already knew what you’d done.”

  “How did you know? Did the florist call you?”

  “No, Ryan told me. He thought I was the one who’d sent the flowers and signed his name. Unfortunately, I’m the one he blamed.”

  “What do you mean Ryan told you? When? I talked to him just this morning to apologize, and I confessed the entire thing to him. He knows you weren’t involved.”

  “You talked to him this morning?” Elise asked, shocked. “When? How? What did you say?”

  “He came into the library before your shift started. I felt I had to make things right, so I told him that I was the one who sent the flowers. I even explained that I had done it because I’d wanted him to like me.”

  “But he already knows it was my account, Britney! He checked with the florist two days ago. Now he probably just thinks you’re trying to cover for me!”

  “No! I told him I used your account. He asked me if you had anything to do with it, and I said no. I told him you would never do that sort of thing. I mean you’re still scarred from when we did that to Chandra, even though that worked out just fine.”

  “You told him about that?” Elise asked, incredulous. She really didn’t want Ryan knowing the details of one of the more shameful moments of her life. He didn’t really need to think worse of her.

  “Well, yeah,” Britney replied defensively. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to. I explained about Chandra, but I didn’t tell him you’re Cupid or anything.”

  “He already knows I’m Cupid! He figured it out when he thought I had tried to set the two of you up by sending those flowers.”

  “Well, that explains why he was looking for you and carrying around that newspaper. He was probably wanting to show you the article.”

  “What newspaper? What article?”

  “You haven’t seen it yet?” Britney looked around the room and then grabbed a newspaper from the large table in the center of the small break room. “Here,” she said, shoving it into Elise’s face and pointing to an article.

  The article was titled, “Love Letters to Seattle’s Cupid.” As Elise quickly read it, she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. It was all about the new hype surrounding this mysterious Cupid who was setting up love matches around the city. It was amusing to her that she’d had nothing to do with some of the many matches attributed to Cupid. But Elise realized Seattle’s Cupid was fast becoming an urban legend; at which point, the truth was a lot less important than the romance of the story.

  The article also talked about how so many people were now wishing and longing for Seattle’s Cupid to choose them for a match. Two letters for Cupid were printed beside the article. The letters were written by two different women who each detailed the sad story of her love life and concluded with a plea that Cupid find a match for her.

  Elise was completely delighted. After all, there was not one single criticism of Cupid or his methods in the article. Everyone was wanting a love match courtesy of Cupid.

  “Ryan saw this?” she asked.

  “I think so. He came to the library looking for you. I recognized this newspaper as the one he was holding. If he really thought you were the one who’d sent the flowers falsely, he sure didn’t seem upset with you. In fact, I might even think that he liked you.”

  “And would you be okay with that?” Elise asked cautiously. “Would you be okay if Ryan liked someone else? And if that someone else was me?”

  Britney squealed and threw her arms around Elise. “So he does like you! Why wouldn’t I be okay with it? I don’t know that I ever liked Ryan as much as I liked the idea of Ryan. Handsome lawyer, successful . . . But now I have Oliver. As humiliating as it was to confess, I couldn’t take the guilt of what I’d done, especially since Oliver and I are together now. I told Ryan about Oliver and explained that now I just wanted to make things right with him for trying to trick him and with you for using your account.”

  Britney paused, her expression returning to troubled. “So what do you think? I know it was awful, but can you forgive me?”

  Elise smiled. “Yes I can forgive you. You know I’ve never been good at staying angry with you, even when you deserve it. And you very much deserve it this time, especially since I was the one who Ryan blamed for the whole deception. He thought I was an awful person!”

  “But why didn’t you tell him it wasn’t you? It shouldn’t have taken you much to figure out it
was me. You should have just told him!”

  “I knew it was you alright. But I couldn’t incriminate you like that. You liked him; I didn’t want him thinking badly of you. Besides, he was so angry, he wouldn’t have believed me anyway.”

  “Thank you, Elise.” Britney’s eyes were looking suspiciously red beneath heavily mascaraed lashes. “You know I don’t deserve your loyalty. Hopefully I’ve at least fixed things so he knows I’m the one to blame.”

  “I appreciate you taking responsibility and admitting what you’d done. I know it couldn’t have been easy. How did Ryan take it? Did he say anything else?”

  “He didn’t say much. He seemed surprised and a bit upset, but I’m not sure why. He did ask a strange question as he was leaving though.”

  “Oh, really? What was it?”

  “He asked if you’d ever been up in the Space Needle.”

  Chapter 17

  “Have a nice night, Sheila”

  “You too, Elise.”

  Sheila went out the door while Elise turned to punch in the code to set the library’s security system.

  It was late. The library had closed at 10:00, and Elise was the last one to leave. With the security system set, Elise walked out the door and let it fall locked behind her. It was a dark night with clouds covering the moon, but at least it wasn’t raining. Elise started down the steps, reluctantly leaving the exterior lights of the library behind.

  Strangely, Sheila was standing at the bottom of the steps, as if waiting for Elise.

  “Is something wrong, Sheila?” Elise asked as she approached. “Did you want to walk together?”

  “I was told to give this to you,” Sheila said, smiling mysteriously as she extended a white envelope.

  “By who?” Elise took the envelope and automatically began opening it.

  Sheila remained silent, but her open excitement and curiosity spoke volumes as she peered over Elise’s shoulder.

  Elise took out two small pieces of paper. One looked like some kind of ticket. The other was a plain white sheet. Turning toward the lights from the library, Elise tried to identify the ticket. At the words ‘Space Needle,’ Elise’s heart took off in a sprint. Angling the other paper to see more clearly, she found the words, ‘I will be waiting.’

  “Sheila, . . . who? . . . what? . . .

  But she already knew who.

  Sheila laughed. “You’d better hurry,” she said, having obviously gotten a good view of the papers. “I wouldn’t keep a man who looked like he did waiting very long.”

  Elise laughed. “Thanks, Sheila.” And before she wasted more time trying to analyze the “what ifs,” she took off sprinting.

  “I expect a full report!” Sheila called.

  Elise’s thoughts caught up with her during the drive. What if it wasn’t who she thought it was? The Space Needle would be closed by now. What was she supposed to do once she got there? Had she misunderstood? Maybe the ticket was for a specific time tomorrow and not for her to use immediately. And then, the worst thought of all: What if someone was just toying with her, trying to give her a little taste of her own medicine?

  Elise’s steps gradually slowed as she walked from her car to Seattle’s iconic monument. This was ridiculous. She must have just misunderstood.

  A man was standing outside the door.

  Elise hesitantly approached, nervously fingering the ticket in her hand. “I . . . um . . . was supposed to come . . .”

  “You must be Elise Hutchins,” the man said with a smile. “Right this way, miss. We’ve been expecting you.”

  The man escorted her to the elevator and even pushed the button for the observation deck. “Enjoy your time,” he said with a smile and a wave as the elevator doors shut.

  Elise’s heart was pounding so furiously that it felt as if she couldn’t take a deep breath. She closed her eyes, trying to relax as the elevator ascended. She really didn’t want to ruin everything by hyperventilating or passing out.

  The doors opened onto the empty observation deck. Elise cautiously stepped out, scanning the entire area. But it appeared as if it was completely deserted. Not knowing what to do, Elise walked over to the large windows fronting the circumference of the deck. Her breath caught. Seattle was lit up like a Christmas tree, each beautiful spark winking up at her. As she slowly walked around, she could almost imagine she was flying over the city.

  But what was most spectacular was the silence. She was completely alone. Seeing such beauty in utter quiet and knowing that all the lights below represented thousands of people living their lives, created an experience that was both exquisite and profound.

  A voice finally broke the stillness. “Miss Hutchins?”

  Elise turned to find a man dressed in what looked like a waiter’s attire and holding a vase of lovely red roses.

  “These flowers are for you.”

  As soon as Elise reached out and accepted the flowers, the man turned and left, disappearing back in the direction of the elevator.

  In amongst the flowers, a small envelope stood at attention. Elise carefully extracted the card from its case. She turned it over, looking at both the front and back in confusion. It was blank.

  “Those are from me,” a deep voice said.

  Elise’s gaze shot up, meeting Ryan’s smiling face and twinkling eyes. He walked toward her. Reaching out, he gently took the blank card from her fingers. Then he took out a pen from his jacket pocket. After writing on the card, he handed it back to Elise.

  “I didn’t want there to be any doubt that I signed it myself,” he said with a smile.

  Elise looked at the card. It very clearly had the words, ‘To, Elise. From, Ryan Jenkins.’

  “Why . . . How did you arrange all this?” Elise said, gesturing to include the flowers and everything around them.

  “Well, I did get some matchmaking tips from observing the best, but I also called in a few favors for the logistics. The restaurant is officially closed like everything else, but I have also arranged for a private, late-night dinner there whenever we’re ready. As to why . . .”

  Ryan took the vase from Elise and set it on the floor. Then he took both her hands in his, and making sure he had her full attention, he spoke. “I know you already said we couldn’t be together, but considering the new developments with Britney, I’m hoping to change your mind. I was completely wrong about you. You have more character, more heart, and more integrity than any woman I’ve ever met. You should have told me you didn’t send the flowers. I behaved terribly to you and said all-manner of awful things judging your morals and conviction. But you went through all that and took all the blame in order to protect your friend. I am so sorry for wrongfully judging you.

  “I have no words to describe how much I respect and admire your loyalty toward both Britney and what you see as your calling. You’re right; you help people. Whatever tools you use to create a matchmaking scenario are obviously well thought-out, prayed about, and ultimately desired by those involved. Everyone wants to be deceived if it results in the potential to fall in love.

  “So . . . I’m new at being a matchmaker, but I thought Cupid needed her own set-up. Elise Hutchins, I’m willing to try any and all methods for even a chance with you.”

  “You’re a little late, you know,” Elise said with a smile. “The most romantic day of the year is supposed to be Valentine’s Day, and that was yesterday.

  “I know. But I’m willing to present a good case in my defense.”

  “Oh, really,” Elise said, raising an eyebrow in an expression of curiosity.

  “Yes, just give me 364 days and I’m sure I can fully convince you to be my Valentine.”

  Elise laughed

  Ryan’s teasing gaze turned serious. Elise watched in fascination as his hazel eyes darkened to brown.

  “Elise,” he whispered as his hands slid up her arms and drew her close. Holding one of her hands in his and curling the other around her back, he swung her into a slow waltz. They danced around the en
tire circular room, gliding over a 360 degree view of Seattle below. The lights of the city twirled through her vision as she spun, but the one constant was Ryan.

  Elise looked up, his face mere inches from her own. Their connection was so intense their dance unconsciously slowed and finally stopped.

  “Have you no idea what you’ve done?” Ryan asked softly. “You have lured me into Cupid’s world, struck me with one of your arrows, and brought me under your spell. You now hold me completely mesmerized.”

  He slowly, gently bent his head, meeting her lips with his. Elise’s heart ached as she savored the beauty of the moment. It was just the two of them, alone in the world, high above Seattle’s skyline. He held her like she’d always dreamed of being held, and kissed her like she’d never dared to dream. His kiss was a long, gentle caress, but with an ever-building passion beneath the surface. She was sure she would never breathe again, and wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

  Finally, his lips released hers, separating only a few inches while he continued to hold her close.

  “So, what’s your ruling, Cupid? Will you at least give me a chance to present my case?”

  Elise smiled, stood on her tiptoes, and lightly brushed a kiss on his lips. “Ryan, feel free to practice any of your future matchmaking schemes on me, and I can pretend to take a long time deliberating a verdict. But the truth is, I think you already won the case with your opening argument.”

  Ryan smiled in pure delight and pulled her close in another breath-taking kiss.

  And with that, Cupid had made her match.

  Author’s Note

  Time for my confession. As with many of my books, “The Random Acts of Cupid” has a kernel of truth. When I was in high school, my friends and I took turns playing practical jokes on each other as birthday “gifts.” Yes, I did receive lacy panties in Art class. And yes, I did take part in sending one of my best friends flowers signed with the name of the boy she liked. And, worst of all, yes, she did thank him before I had a chance to tell her the truth.