A Christian Romance II

Chapter 12 - Declined dinner

When Miriam arrived home, she was distracted, and intrigued by the course of that interview. She kept wondering in suspicion. As she was removing her shoes, to enter the comfortable environment of her brother's spacious and luxurious apartment, Debora bumped into her.

"Hey!" She complained.

"Sorry," Debora apologized. "I didn't know you were home already. Didn't you go to the coffee shop today?" She wondered.

"No." Miriam stood up. "I quit."

"You quit?!" Debora was astounded to hear the news.

"Yeah," Miriam tried to tranquilize her sister-in-law. "remember that interview I told you about at the restaurant at the Quay?" She introduced while fidgeting with the loose strand of her hair.

Debora suddenly remembered. "Oh yes!" Leaning onto the wall, she asked: "and how did it go?"

Miriam sighed. "I still don't know what I got myself into."

"What do you mean?"

"A restaurant of this caliber hiring a rookie?" She expressed her suspicion through her gaze toward Debora.

"You're that good though!" Debora reassured.

"But the guy had barely interviewed me when he said that the position was mine - if I wanted."

Debora wrinkled her brows. "That's strange."

"They are either desperate or..." She was going to mention Michael, but she refused to say that name out loud.

"Or...?" Debora was curious.

"Nothing."

"When do you start?"

"Tomorrow."

Suddenly, Michael whose presence Miriam couldn't ignore, walked out of the living room, and drew closer to them, with a smile on his face. He was amused to see Miriam, even dressed like a tomboy - which he was used to - she was a very attractive sight to him.

"So you got the job at the restaurant?" His hands in his pockets, leaning onto the wall, almost provocatively.

When Miriam realized that Michael was all alone with Debora in that apartment, wearing an oversized shirt that failed to hide his male body features, a pair of black denim slim-fit jeans, and white sneakers - he usually wore buttoned shirts and chino pants - it triggered her to suspect the worst, and she quickly asked, looking defiantly at Debora.

"Where is my brother?"

"In the living room, finishing setting the table for dinner." Debora quickly replied. "By the way, I need to take the food out of the oven."

It's not like Miriam had ever heard or seen Debora lie, but there was something so misleading about Michael, that she believed he had the power to remove the purity of any woman, no matter how devoted she was to Christ. Therefore, not convinced, Miriam, walked past them and entered the living room to find Joel almost finished with setting the table.

"Joel?" Miriam couldn't believe her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah!" Joel turned to her with a welcoming smile. "We're about to eat dinner." He put the last glass on the table.

"May I help with something?" She offered.

"Not really. Michael gave me a hand, so we were done rather quickly."

After confirming that her suspicions were wrong, Miriam was speechless and shamed for suspecting the worst of Michael. In her sight, he was far from being an angel, but maybe she had to consider that he wasn't all that evil.

"So, how did the interview go?" Joel asked.

Miriam was about to start her narration, but Michael entered the room, holding a hot tray of food, and that held her breath for a moment. She refused to look in those eyes again, they deprived her of her reasoning, and maybe not just his eyes, but his presence, and for that she couldn't stand him.

"Why don't you join us for dinner?" Michael asked while setting the tray on the dinner table.

"I have stuff to do for my first day tomorrow." Miriam excused herself.

For some reason, Joel quickly felt like a third wheel, but he tried to ignore that.

"Why do you keep avoiding me?" Michael had managed to sound playful.

"You're not that important." Miriam tried to keep the playful tone of that interaction with this hunk.

On that note, Joel decided to leave the scene and join his wife in the kitchen, as she finalized the salad. Miriam and Michael had barely noticed his departure, so they kept on.

"Ok..." he was speechless. "Then why do you keep on avoiding me?" He dismissively asked, entertaining his attention with fidgeting with a fork.

His playing with the fork irritated Miriam, and she forcefully grabbed the fork from his hand. "Give me that fork!" She talked while biting her lips.

His good reflexes kept the fork in their hands. And there they were again facing each other closely and with certain physical interaction. The same scene again left Miriam feeling defeated. She walked back and left his hand and fork. Michael however was amused to find that what he felt for her was reciprocal. Never before had he known something like this for sure, but this time something in his gut just assured him of that.

Debora and Joel walked into the living room, breaking that hiatus. They were bringing salad, water, and homemade juice. The former didn't feel anything, but Joel who was more sensitive to atmospheres, sensed that there was a tension in the air.

"So, Miriam, have you decided to join us for dinner?" Joel asked.

"Yes, decided not to," Miriam replied. "Enjoy your dinner, I need to go finish some things for tomorrow."

Miriam left and Michael victoriously celebrated inside. Not that he was happy about her sudden and early departure, but he rejoiced to know that she had accepted to work in his restaurant. He would have another excuse to see Miriam every day since the restaurant at the Quay was his restaurant.

He could barely sleep that night, knowing that he would see this woman early the next day.