Page 28 of A Heart of Little Faith

“I don’t know what life with Gideon would be like.” Her face heated. “And as of right now, he’s considering this payback for helping me out. At least, I think he is. Besides, one kiss doesn’t represent a lifetime commitment, and I don’t know Gideon well enough to know if he’s perfect or not.” Lily sighed as she relived the kiss, lips tingling. “He’s a great kisser though.”

Chapter 10

Days later, and Lily didn’t have the guts to call Gideon out on their arrangement, or the kiss. But her body burned every time she thought about it. There was only so much patience she could manage, however, and tonight after Claire went to sleep, she was going to ask him.

She and Claire returned to their apartment from work and camp that evening. She unlocked her door, swung it open and stopped short on the threshold. The stench of stale sweat assaulted her nostrils and she gripped the doorjamb in panic. Her typically tidy apartment resembled home base for a whirling dervish—overturned furniture, broken dishes on the floor, papers pulled out of drawers.Oh my God, what is this? Who did this?Questions swirled through her mind as her body twitched. Her brain accelerated in a million different directions—call the police, such an awful mess, impossible to clean, so much work to do tonight. Only when Claire whimpered did Lily realize her fingers dug into her shoulders. She pried her fingers away as she grabbed Claire in a big hug.

“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Claire asked. Panic edged her voice.

“Shhh, it’s okay honey, it’s okay,” Lily whispered. Her hollow tone seemed to come from far away and did nothing to reassure her, never mind Claire. “There’s a little problem with our apartment, though. Let’s go over to Samantha’s for a while, okay?”

They crossed the hall. Lily clenched her teeth in an effort not to run, terrified whomever destroyed her apartment would come after them. For Claire’s sake, she made herself slow her steps. She thought about when she and Daniel lived in their house in Philadelphia. Whenever she was home at night, she’d race up the stairs after shutting off all the lights, thinking someone was downstairs trying to get her. Daniel would laugh at her and give her a hug, saying it was only her vivid imagination. Still, she kept an upstairs light on at night whenever she was home alone, so she didn’t walk upstairs in total darkness. This apartment always felt safe. But today, the boogeyman was real, and had already wreaked havoc on her home.

Thankfully, Samantha answered the door quickly. When she saw the expressions on their faces, she ushered them inside. “What’s wrong?”

Lily moved numbly to the sofa and pulled Claire onto her lap, wrapping her arms tightly around the child. “I think we were robbed.” After she explained the details to Samantha, her friend grabbed the phone. Her first call was to the police; her second, to Gideon.

Lily couldn’t let go of Claire and she rocked back and forth. Thoughts of what could have happened if they were home when the break-in occurred made her shake. Samantha sat next to her on the sofa and patted her shoulder gently.

When the doorbell rang, Samantha answered it and let the police officers in. While they interviewed Lily and accompanied her to the apartment to determine if anything was missing, she left Claire with Samantha. By the time Lily finished talking to the police officers, her limbs were heavy and her eyelids drooped. A little money and a few pieces of jewelry had been taken.

As they gathered evidence, she surveyed her apartment. How could she put her apartment, and her life, back together? For it truly felt like whoever did this altered her life. She didn’t feel safe or in control. Her apartment no longer felt like her own. She’d worked hard to make it feel homey, comfortable, welcoming. The person entered, moved things, and destroyed things—thing that were all hers, things that were part of her life and Claire’s. Now, his imprint was on them and she hated him. Why had he picked her apartment?

A noise behind her startled her, and she suppressed a scream as she whirled around. Gideon approached her, but she couldn’t move. He stopped a few feet away. “It’s just me, Lil. I didn’t mean to scare you, honey.”

His words washed over her in soothing waves and she took a deep breath. Gideon. The man whose kiss she still couldn’t forget. He kept his eyes glued to her face as he closed the last few feet between them.

She compressed her lips, as if by keeping her mouth closed she could control the fear in her belly that threatened to overwhelm her. She swallowed metallic-tasting bile as she waited for the fear to disappear. She wrapped her arms around her middle, her knuckles white where they gripped her shirt. He glanced around the apartment.

“Go pack a bag, Lil, and come to my place.”

His words made no sense. “What?”Why would he want me to come to his apartment now? It’s late at night.

“You shouldn’t stay here tonight.” He took one of her hands and rubbed it. The heat from his fingers burned her icy skin and she pulled it away.

“I can’t leave my stuff here. Someone might take it.”

Behind his glasses, his eyes were dark with compassion, his voice soothing. “It’s all right, Lily. Everything is going to be fine.”

The stillness deepened as his words sunk in. Faint traces of sweat from the intruder permeated the apartment. Lily didn’t want to stay here, and she would have to put the place back together before she and Claire could live here again.Claire.

“What about Claire? I have to go to her. She must be scared.” Lily’s hair whipped around her face as she moved one way then another in an effort to maneuver around Gideon and all of the stuff on the floor. She felt like a bird with a broken wing, which tried to fly but remained on the ground, flapping aimlessly. Instead of letting her go, he blocked her in. When she’d stilled, he spoke.

“Claire’s fine, Lil. She’s with Samantha. I checked on them before I came over and Samantha was just putting her to bed.”

Lily teared up at the thought of Claire being frightened and not having her mom to soothe her. “I should go to her.”

“She’s fine, and probably already asleep. Just pack a small bag for her and we’ll drop it off on the way to my apartment.”

Lily was numb as Gideon moved out of the way and she entered Claire’s room. Remarkably, it was barely disturbed. Still, her anger boiled over when she saw Claire’s hippo on the floor underneath the one bookshelf that was knocked over. Fueled by her anger, she strode around, rescued the hippo and filled a bag with Claire’s clothes. “I’m not leaving here. He may have destroyed this place, but he won’t destroy my home. I won’t let him make me leave.” She stared at Gideon, who had followed her into the room – legs planted wide, nails biting into her palms.

His eyes gleamed. “Would you like company?”

Relief flooded through her. No matter how resolute she’d suddenly become about staying in her apartment, she was scared to death to be alone here. She started to reconsider Gideon’s offer, but it would be harder to return tomorrow.Better to stay and deal with this face on.“Yes, please.” Her voice was barely a whisper. He squeezed her fingers and released her.

“I’ll just pack some of my extra things from Samantha’s and I’ll be right back. Are you okay alone for a minute?”

She nodded yes as her mind screamed,No!Rather than stay in the empty apartment, she followed him without a word and stood in her open doorway until he returned, grateful he didn’t comment. As she leaned against her doorjamb, the carved edges jutting into her back, a man rushed down the hall. He met Gideon at the door of Samantha’s apartment.