Free Leota's Garden by Francine Rivers Page A

don’t you find another way to fulfill the requirements for the class? See about going to a senior gab group or something.”
    “Professor Webster doesn’t want a dozen opinions. He wants one case study. I’ve already invested three hours in this old woman. I’m not throwing that time away on the off chance I might have better luck with someone else.”
    Ruth’s eyes narrowed at his tone. “It’s your report.” She shrugged. “Do what you want.”
    Corban was irritated by her indifference. He needed to vent, and she was making it clear she had neither the time nor inclination to listen. She was bent over her textbook again, highlighting one line with yellow before writing down the important point in her notebook. She might as well have put up a sign that said “Get lost. I’m studying.”
    He finished the wine and left the mug in the sink. He didn’t have time to nurse grudges. He had to calm down and get busy on the reading assignments that piled up after every class. Ruth had the right idea. Focus.
    Leaving her alone at the kitchen table, he went into the living room. His desk was next to the window that overlooked the neat apartment courtyard pool. He liked being able to look outside. Ruth had teased him about watching the girls sunbathe and swim, but that wasn’t it. He didn’t like the feeling of being closed in. Ruth didn’t care about having a window in front of her. She said she studied better with walls aroundher and privacy. He also noticed she liked being close to the refrigerator and the coffeepot.
    Whatever their idiosyncrasies, things seemed to be working okay. He had his space, and she had hers.
    So why was he still steaming?
    Sitting at his desk, he stacked some papers from Ruth’s meeting and tossed them onto the floor. Someone had opened one of his notebooks and doodled all over a page. Gritting his teeth, he tore it out, wadded it up, and tossed it into the garbage can. Opening the center drawer of his desk, he found one pen left in the plastic tray. He bought them by the dozen. “Do me a favor, Ruth. Tell your friends to stay away from my desk!”
    “Sorry,” she called back. “What’s missing?”
    “Pens. Again.”
    “I’ll get you some more when I go to the store.”
    “When are you going?”
    “Not right now.” There was an edge to her voice. “Why don’t you have some coffee?”
    Anything to shut him up. The last thing he needed right now was a jolt of caffeine. He felt ready to explode as it was. It wasn’t just Leota Reinhardt. It was school. It was Professor Webster and his ridiculous demands. It was Ruth. It was her friends using his apartment for their meetings. It was his whole, stinking life.
    He looked around the apartment, now in shambles after Ruth’s friends had come by to talk about how the world mistreated women. Since affirmative action had been cast aside, they believed women were getting a raw deal. Yeah, well, he’d like to know who was getting the raw deal here. He had straightened things up this morning. Now the cushions were tossed helter-skelter, half-empty bowls of chips left on the coffee table with a bowl of congealing ranch dip. The carpet needed another vacuuming. Newspapers were turned inside out and left on the floor. It ticked him off. These women were so fixed on equal rights they forgot all about common courtesy.
    Shoving his chair back, he went back into the kitchen. “I haven’t complained about your friends coming over, Ruth, but I’ve just about had it. They can straighten the place up before they leave or they can meet somewhere else.”
    Her eyes flickered briefly as she looked about to argue; then her expression changed from faintly annoyed to heavily resigned. “All right. I’ll take care of it.” She stood and set her books aside. “I should’ve done it before you got home. Just try to chill out, will you? You get so uptight about nothing.”
    She went into the living room. In the space of a few minutes, she picked up the