Andy's Nightmare

17. Promise

They continued to talk for a while. She said she was going to be here for the next six months and expects Charlie to come visit her once she gets an apartment.

Charlie made her promise to call Linc and try to get to know him. "It sounds like he is exactly what you have been looking for all along. Promise me that you will call him! I'm not hanging up until you promise me, Andy."

"OK, Charlie. I promise, I will call him either today or tomorrow." Andy promised her.

After they hung up, Andy decided that she should call her mom and let her know that she had made the decision to give the baby to Kim and Kyle.

She called her mom and caught her as she was getting ready to go out to a church event, so she didn’t have a lot of time to talk.

She wasn’t sure if she should call Linc today or wait until tomorrow. She didn’t want to appear too anxious or maybe even seem desperate, but she really wanted to talk to him. Or better yet, she wanted to see him again. And, after all, Charlie did make her promise to give him a chance.

Andy got some writing done since she had found the two apartments to go look at tomorrow and talked to her best friend and mother, and she would call Linc when she took a break.

She felt more at ease after talking to Charlie, although she was still conflicted and confused about where Linc was concerned, but she promised her best friend that she would give him a chance.

She had asked Charlie to come out and meet her for a late lunch and maybe some shopping on Sunday.

She lost track of time while she was writing. She realized that it was getting late, and she was hungry again. She hadn’t eaten since lunch with Kim and Kyle so she went over to the diner again. She was getting tired of eating out, but it might be another week or two before she would be able to cook for herself again.

She hadn’t been shopping to cook in the hotel, but she felt all she could really cook in there would be some soup or frozen dinner since the room had a microwave. Frozen dinners were not an option for her since she didn't feel they were very healthy for her or the baby, but maybe some soup would be OK for something quick, but she didn’t have any with her. She decided that she should go shopping while she was out tomorrow.

When she got to the diner, Linc was sitting at the counter. He appeared to have just gotten there himself.

He saw her and walked over to greet her. His smile seemed to light up the room and asked her if she would like to join him. He motioned to the waitress that he was going to be moving to a table near the window.

“My lunch went well, so it looks like I’m going to be in town for a while.” She told him after they placed their order.

“Does that mean that we might have a chance to get to know each other better?” Linc asked. His smile seemed to get larger when she said that.

“I’d like that,” Andy found herself saying and smiled at the thought. Part of her wanted to tell him that she was forced to promise her best friend that she would see him again.

Almost blushing, she says “I got the beautiful flowers that you sent." She started. "Thank you, Linc. I can't remember ever being sent flowers. They were very sweet and thoughtful. I was going to call you. But then I ended up on the phone with my best friend back home for over an hour and then a quick call to my mom. Then I was writing and lost track of time until I got hungry. I will be checking out some apartments tomorrow.”

He told her that the leasing offices would be closed on Sunday, which she figured would be the case, but was just going to drive through to check out the neighborhoods. He asked which complexes she was looking at. He told her that the one was in a questionable area, but that the other was decent and safe. He offered to pick her up for breakfast and take her to show her the areas of the complexes. And tried to talk her into lunch as well, but she told him that she already had lunch and shopping plans with Charlie.

They continued to talk over dinner, and she was enjoying herself quite a bit. She hadn't smiled this much in months.

He asked her to dinner during the week. Promised her a home-cooked meal. He said that he rarely had a chance to cook for anyone but that he enjoyed it, but hated cooking for only himself.

She agreed to breakfast and a tour of the two areas before she was to meet with Charlie for lunch. And she would be looking forward to a home-cooked dinner on Monday evening. They continued to talk as he walked her back to the hotel. He reached over to hold her hand, which seemed very natural. She didn’t flinch like she had with customers at the store after the r**e when they would reach out to shake her hand in thanks when she had helped them.

This was an odd feeling for her, walking down the street holding hands with a man that she had only seen a few times. But she felt relaxed and comfortable with him.

It was nice to feel this way. She felt like everything was falling into place.

They got to the hotel, and he offered to walk her to her room, which she again declined. But she suggested that they sit in the lobby or out by the pool if he wanted to talk some more. "I'm really not comfortable having a man in my hotel room. I hope you understand." Andy started. "I don't want to send the wrong message. I like spending time with you, but not in a hotel room."

Just because she is pregnant doesn't mean that she is ready to jump into bed with anyone. She said that although she wasn’t comfortable enough to be in a hotel room alone with him, she did want to spend some more time with him.

He chuckles at her honesty and tells her that although he is very attracted to her and may be willing in the future, he isn't ready to jump in bed with her right now either. They both relax and have a good laugh about it.

They sat down on the couch that was in the lobby facing the fireplace with a big screen TV, with news on, above it. He sat next to her, but didn’t try to cuddle or hug her, but he simply reached over to hold her hand. She wasn’t used to this desire for contact, but she found herself wanting it too and soon found their fingers intertwined.

They sat there like that and talked and watched the fire, because neither of them wanted to pay attention to the news at this time of night. They were there for quite some time. She wasn’t watching the time but was just enjoying his company. They didn’t talk about anything serious, but just day-to-day things. But she was also getting to know about him as well.

They had been talking for so long that Andy found herself starting to yawn. Linc noticed and stood up to leave. As usual, he offered his hands to her to help her up.