Free More Than This: Contemporary Christian Romance Novel by Staci Stallings

Jake. Real smooth.” His attention fell to his computer and the thoughts of all his shortcomings dropped on his shoulders. And things were going so well too. With a kick he got his feet moving in the direction of his apartment. Tonight letting the darkness absorb him would feel even better than it normally did.
    “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Why do you have to be so unbelievably stupid?” At that moment he truly hated himself. Maybe more than he ever had.

Chapter 4
     
    “And then I left,” Liz said over the rags they were using to wipe down the counter on Monday night when all the customers had gone home.
    “After he laid one on you, right?” Mia wasn’t going to be satisfied with them just sitting in the balcony watching the movie, and Liz wasn’t sure she was satisfied with it either. He hadn’t come in tonight, and she had been so sure he would. He had said he would. At least she thought he had said he would. The end of that quasi-date was still a little fuzzy.
    All weekend she had thought through the night. Over and over on auto-play. Even at church and Bible Study on Sunday night. She knew that was hardly spiritual, but her mind simply wouldn’t attend to anything other than him standing there on the sidewalk as if he was planted there. Okay, she didn’t want him to come home with her. She had, in fact, been dreading that moment in case he suggested it. But when it passed with no fireworks, not even a dud-pop, the truth was she was disappointed. Of course that was dumb. It was a no-win situation for him. Either way she was going to be mad or hurt. The “right” thing was such a thin line, no one could hit it accurately. Still she had let herself have the luxury of replaying how she would have liked the evening to end in her night dreams and her daydreams since then.
    The honest and total truth was that besides the fact that he had made absolutely no moves on her, she’d had a really good time with him. He was nice and polite and interesting. The greater truth was she wished she could go back to that last conversation. She’d thought about what he said, and she had a few observations of her own on those counts now. But now it was too late. “No, he didn’t lay one on me. We said good night, and he went his way and I went mine.”
    Mia stopped wiping and put her rag on her hip in a firm grip as she tilted her head in barely disguised disgust. “You mean to tell me that boy took you to the movies, did not hold your hand for more than two seconds, didn’t even try to put his arm around you, and then he didn’t even have the good sense kiss you goodnight?”
    “Hey,” Liz said defensively as much for him as for her. “It’s not that big a deal. Okay? It’s not like I’m looking to hook up with anybody now anyway.”
    “Uh-huh.” It was clear Mia didn’t believe her. Worse, Liz wasn’t even sure she believed herself.
    When she was really honest, she let herself wonder what it would have been like if he had kissed her. Then of course she would snap out of that and remind herself that she didn’t have time for things like boyfriends and holding hands and kissing on street corners. It was better this way. If not better then at least easier, and that was close enough.
     
    Monday, work passed for Jake like a conveyor belt stuck on ultra-slow. Driving the forklift from one end of the building to the other had never been particularly exciting. Today it had been excruciating. Random scenes from the book kept playing through his mind. They were so close he could touch them, but when he’d snatched up his computer after work and got to the tiny restaurant on the other side of the park, nothing would come. Nothing. Blank.
    During work, the book scenes had kept his mind from her, but now that he could work on the scenes, it was only her that he saw. Her. Liz. Sitting there in the theatre. Her on that sidewalk. She was so gorgeous, so full of life. It was clear her going with him was only because there were