only grabbing her bathrobe, and as she glanced at the clock at her bedside, she felt a pang at her temple as though her headache was responding to her irritation.
The clock said that it was seven thirty, and since her sister had said that she would be there bright and early at seven and she wasn’t woken up by a knock at the door or a ringing of her doorbell, then Debra could assume, as was common with every other time Nikki wandered in her direction, that the girl was not going to be on time or even where she said she was going to be. Just as she made it down the hall from her bedroom, the doorbell rang followed by a heavy knock. If it wasn’t her sister, and maybe even if it was, she was going to kill the person on the other side and let the Man upstairs sort her out when it was her time to come see Him.
Moving to the front door, she passed the peep hole, deciding to be surprised and she opened the door. The man standing on her porch was obviously not her sister, since he lacked certain parts needed in certain places to accomplish it. There was a wide grin on his face, his handsome looks contrasting with the cheer that beamed out of his eyes like the red pointer sight of a rifle.
“Thought I might make you breakfast this morning.”
Eric hoped his grin would win Debra over and convince her that he hadn’t lost his mind since, by the way she was staring at him, he was certain that was what she was thinking. He waggled his eyebrows and said, “Come on, please?”
Chapter Nine
Words, like lucky breaks, failed her utterly. Debra saw a millennium pass and wander through all the stages of humanity and then some before she understood the gesture Dr. Nelson was trying to make. It was a nice thing for someone to do, a considerate action, but in all honesty, if she didn’t kill him where he stood she knew it was because Someone intervened on his behalf.
Debra noticed that the smile Dr. Nelson had plastered on his face seemed screwed in at the moment, that his eyes were wavering somewhere between panic and ‘Oh, no.’ He must have realized that it was too early in the morning to be waking up a perfectly innocent woman to make her breakfast. Suddenly, she didn’t have the heart to murder him. She said, her voice rushing out in a sigh despite what she did to prevent it, “Come on, get in here before you take up root on the porch.”
Eric moved like a machine in Debra’s kitchen, focusing on the task of putting the right ingredients in the right places, keeping his mind directed toward getting to the goal and avoiding the glaring woman sipping coffee in her bathrobe. He thought he was handling the problem in much the same way he handled most of his other problems - dive into work and it all goes away.
Debra watched Eric move through the kitchen, her anger abated to the point where she found herself paying attention to more than the pots and pans and splotches of flour that cluttered her kitchen.
She’d never said that Dr. Nelson wasn’t an attractive man. In the few days that she’d known him, he’d come to her in button down shirts and khaki pants with polished shoes and slicked back hair. He’d appeared to her very much the doctor that he was and more than that, the father that he was. But now as he tried desperately not to burn the eggs he had going in the frying pan, Debra noted that he wasn’t anything like the man she’d stolen the apple from a few days ago.
For one thing, he was dressed in blue jeans and until she’d seen them on him, Debra would have sworn he didn’t own any, and his shirt was a simple cotton T, the kind that hugged a man’s chest to outline his muscles. His hair, however, was the most striking thing about his new appearance - it was mopped all over his head, messy, and it looked as if it was too soft to be real. Debra mentally sighed and told herself to get a grip and drink more caffeine. He wasn’t nearly as attractive as all that - it
The clock said that it was seven thirty, and since her sister had said that she would be there bright and early at seven and she wasn’t woken up by a knock at the door or a ringing of her doorbell, then Debra could assume, as was common with every other time Nikki wandered in her direction, that the girl was not going to be on time or even where she said she was going to be. Just as she made it down the hall from her bedroom, the doorbell rang followed by a heavy knock. If it wasn’t her sister, and maybe even if it was, she was going to kill the person on the other side and let the Man upstairs sort her out when it was her time to come see Him.
Moving to the front door, she passed the peep hole, deciding to be surprised and she opened the door. The man standing on her porch was obviously not her sister, since he lacked certain parts needed in certain places to accomplish it. There was a wide grin on his face, his handsome looks contrasting with the cheer that beamed out of his eyes like the red pointer sight of a rifle.
“Thought I might make you breakfast this morning.”
Eric hoped his grin would win Debra over and convince her that he hadn’t lost his mind since, by the way she was staring at him, he was certain that was what she was thinking. He waggled his eyebrows and said, “Come on, please?”
Chapter Nine
Words, like lucky breaks, failed her utterly. Debra saw a millennium pass and wander through all the stages of humanity and then some before she understood the gesture Dr. Nelson was trying to make. It was a nice thing for someone to do, a considerate action, but in all honesty, if she didn’t kill him where he stood she knew it was because Someone intervened on his behalf.
Debra noticed that the smile Dr. Nelson had plastered on his face seemed screwed in at the moment, that his eyes were wavering somewhere between panic and ‘Oh, no.’ He must have realized that it was too early in the morning to be waking up a perfectly innocent woman to make her breakfast. Suddenly, she didn’t have the heart to murder him. She said, her voice rushing out in a sigh despite what she did to prevent it, “Come on, get in here before you take up root on the porch.”
Eric moved like a machine in Debra’s kitchen, focusing on the task of putting the right ingredients in the right places, keeping his mind directed toward getting to the goal and avoiding the glaring woman sipping coffee in her bathrobe. He thought he was handling the problem in much the same way he handled most of his other problems - dive into work and it all goes away.
Debra watched Eric move through the kitchen, her anger abated to the point where she found herself paying attention to more than the pots and pans and splotches of flour that cluttered her kitchen.
She’d never said that Dr. Nelson wasn’t an attractive man. In the few days that she’d known him, he’d come to her in button down shirts and khaki pants with polished shoes and slicked back hair. He’d appeared to her very much the doctor that he was and more than that, the father that he was. But now as he tried desperately not to burn the eggs he had going in the frying pan, Debra noted that he wasn’t anything like the man she’d stolen the apple from a few days ago.
For one thing, he was dressed in blue jeans and until she’d seen them on him, Debra would have sworn he didn’t own any, and his shirt was a simple cotton T, the kind that hugged a man’s chest to outline his muscles. His hair, however, was the most striking thing about his new appearance - it was mopped all over his head, messy, and it looked as if it was too soft to be real. Debra mentally sighed and told herself to get a grip and drink more caffeine. He wasn’t nearly as attractive as all that - it
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