Just a Click Away

Chapter 29

 Afraid to go back to her apartment and since it was her day off, Leslie decided to spend the day with Greg's mom; she had been given an open invitation. Alice seemed really glad to have her there, and they spent a good share of the day talking. Leslie learned a lot more about Greg just from listening to his mother talk about him. It was clear that they were close, and his mother loved him dearly. When speaking about things that had happened to them in the past, she had excellent recall. It was when they spoke of more recent things that Alice's mind seemed to fail her.

Another person that Alice loved to talk about was Ashley. The older woman had really developed a strong attachment to Ashley, and was looking forward to her weekend visit in a few days. Leslie heartily agreed that Ashley was a wonderful girl, and inwardly she wondered if Ashley might be the answer to her prayers for a caretaker for the elderly woman.

Before heading home, Leslie went to the kitchen to fix dinner for Alice. It was getting pretty obvious that the dementia was progressing, and she wanted to help in any way she could. The older lady was having trouble completing simple tasks, and would often get frustrated. Since Greg's mother wanted to help her prepare the meal, Leslie gave her a can of green beans to open. Soon after, there was a loud clatter as the half-opened can and the can opener fell to the linoleum floor. Alice was in tears with her hands over her mouth.

"I forgot how to do it!" She moaned as she bent to the floor to pick up the mess.

Running to her side, Leslie quickly reached down to help. "I wish there was something I could say that would help, but I can't think of anything. All I can tell you is that none of this is taking God by surprise, and He really loves you. I love you too, and want to help you in any way that I can." Leslie wrapped her arms around the older woman and let her weep onto her shoulder.

"Thank you sweetheart. Thank you for not telling me you know how this feels...I have heard that so many times lately from people who have no idea how this feels." Her voice was a low whisper. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I think it's time to have someone move in here with me, but I don't want to burden Greg with any of this...he's very busy working on something..." She quickly put her hand over her mouth as if she had said too much.

"Greg would never think this was a bother. He would want to know how you are doing and that you feel you need help. I actually might have an idea, and I will run it by him tonight when I see him."

"I would really appreciate that! I'm so glad that he found you, Leslie!"

************************************************************************

After arriving home, Leslie decided to take Waldo out for a walk. With any luck, Greg would come out to join her as he usually did. Her beloved dog walked close beside her at the end of his leash, his tail wagging. They went to the playground area, and instead of letting him off his tether and sitting down, she decided to walk around with him. It was far too cold to just sit on the frigid metal bench.

They walked around for some time, and Greg did not seem to be coming out. She checked her phone, and saw that it was getting late. Chilled to the bone, she finally decided to take Waldo inside and just go over to Will and Jenna's apartment to see him.

As she approached her building, she saw Greg walk out to the dumpster with a bag of trash. Quickening her pace, she walked up behind him. He must have heard her footsteps, because he spun around. When his eyes landed on her, she was stunned to see a cold, dead look in his cobalt eyes.

"Hi, Greg!" She wrapped her arms around him, but for some reason it felt as if she was hugging a marble statue. He stood solidly in place, his arms limp at his sides. "I had something I wanted to talk to you about, but I can tell that something is wrong. Are you ok?"

She saw his eyes mist over with tears, but he nodded his head to assure her that everything was fine.

"I know that you're not fine, Greg. Tell me what's going on with you." She squeezed his arm, but it elicited no response from him. Pulling away, he walked slowly to the door.

"We have nothing more to talk about, Leslie. After last night, you made your feelings perfectly clear." His voice held no anger, only hurt and sadness. He walked into the apartment with sagging shoulders and shut the door behind him.

Racking her brain, Leslie tried to figure out what he was referring to. Suddenly her mind fell on Adam. Greg had wanted to talk to her last night, and she had brushed him off, because she had been afraid of how he might react if he found out about Adam. "That must be it...he must have found out I was talking to someone else, and now he wants nothing to do with me." Why had she continued to send him messages all that time? This was a nightmare!

As soon as she entered her apartment, she buried her face in her hands and prayed that she would have wisdom to know what to say to him. The last thing she had wanted to do was hurt him, but it seemed that she had succeeded in hurting him on a royal scale. Knowing that he wouldn't want to talk to her now, she decided to leave the problem in the Lord's hands and try and speak with him the next day.

***********************************************************************

What on earth was going on? As Greg walked into his room, his mind was running a hundred miles an hour. How could she just drop him one night, and then the next pretend like nothing had happened?

When she had hugged him, he so desperately wanted to hold her close, but she had been very clear...she loved someone else. Still his heart ached; he could not stop loving her. Why wasn't there some kind of switch in his mind that he could flip and stop caring for her?

Leslie did not seem like the type of girl who would toy with his emotions, yet she was behaving in such a contradictory manner. Could she honestly think that they could just be friends? He had planned to marry her; he had the ring as proof of that. There was no way he could go from a deep love for her to a simple platonic relationship, and he knew that for certain.

"What I need to do is move." His words were directed to the wall. "There is still the mobile home at the construction site. I will move there the first of next week. Will and Jenna will understand."

With all of this settled in his mind, Greg did his best to fall asleep, but rest evaded him for the better part of the night. When slumber finally did claim him, he began to dream. He saw Leslie being attacked, and he tried to run to her. It was as if his feet were planted in thickening cement. When he raised one leg out, his other sunk down deeper. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he was able to kneel down at her side. Her beautiful face was cut and bloodied. He grabbed her hand, and saw that the engagement ring he had bought for her was on her delicate finger. As he gathered her into his arms, her body began to melt into a cold, pool of blood. Looking down at his now empty arms, he saw that they were covered with bright, red blood.

Waking up with a start, Greg raked his fingers through his hair and released a trembling breath. It had seemed so real; he knew that dreams didn't mean anything, but a heavy sense of foreboding filled his chest, and made it difficult to breathe. For some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that Leslie was in danger, and even though they had no future together, he still loved her more than ever, and did not want to see any harm come to her.

Eventually his breathing returned to normal, and his mind began to calm. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was nearly time to get up for work, so with one final shake of his head, he tried to rid his brain of the haunting dream as he got out of bed and prepared for the day.