Page 14 of More Than Enough

Jacob placed his arm on the clothing rack next to her. “Not really anything. I was just wondering something.” He looked at her directly, and Elizabeth again noticed the sky blueness of his eyes. They took her breath away and made her stomach flutter.

“What’s that?” Her voice caught in her throat a little bit.

“Well, I haven’t seen you all week. I know you’re busy, but I was wondering if you would like to grab a pizza and beer Friday night. Bring Jessica. Chad will be there also, and we can hang out a bit. What do you think?”

Elizabeth tried not to sound desperately excited at that invitation, and the thought of spending time with him. “Sounds great. I’d really like that. I’m sure Jessica wouldn’t mind changing our plans. We were going to a movie. She has her volunteer hours to do, and I will be here until 5:30, but we could meet after.”

“Great. I guess we will see you then, if not before.” Jacob touched her arm as he said this, smiling at her. Elizabeth’s heart skipped a beat.

He said goodbye and turned and left the store. She stared after him and watched him through the window as he left and walked across the parking lot. She could not help but notice how nice his ass looked in those jeans.

Her mom was reading a book on the porch swing where she loved to read, when Elizabeth pulled into the driveway after work. Elizabeth climbed the steps of the porch and joined her mother on the swing.

“Hi, Mom.” She plopped carefully on the swing, always concerned with sitting down too hard for fear the swing would dislodge itself from the porch rafters, even though her dad had assured her many times that that would never happen.

“Hey, sweetie! How was your day at the boutique? You must have worked hard. You look exhausted!”

“Wow! Thanks, Mom,” Elizabeth said, laughing at her mother’s comment.

“I don’t mean anything negative, you are always beautiful, but a mom can comment that her favorite daughter looks tired, can’t she!”

“You mean your only daughter. And yes, we were busy, but I had a great time. It was good being back there. Now I need to wake up a little, get the blood flowing. I’m going to change and go for a run before dinner.” Elizabeth jumped up from the swing, kissed her mom on the cheek, and jogged into the house to change.

A few minutes later she had her wireless earbuds in and was listening to some of her favorite music. She put her running app on, programmed a three-mile run, and took off.

She enjoyed running. It’s the one time where she could put all her troubles out of her mind and just relax. Listening to her music and getting lost in the countryside around her kept her from focusing on her problems, questions, and worries.

As song after song played through her ear buds, Elizabeth lost track of time and distance. She was in her happy place. The runner’s high people talk about didn’t make sense to her at first, but now it did. Even when she only planned to run a few miles, she usually found herself lost in the moment, and before she realized it, she reached her three-mile goal; now she had to run three miles home.

“Oh, well. More time for me.” Elizabeth turned around to head for home.

She was lost in her thoughts as she ran. Suddenly, she started to feel lightheaded. Realizing she hadn’t planned on completing a six-mile run, she became a little concerned. She needed water. She was probably a little dehydrated.

She thought back to her day at work and remembered not finishing her lunch and having very little breakfast. She also only drank soda at lunch, and with the store being as busy as it was, snacking and drinking were far from her mind.

Now she wished she could turn back the clock and grab a bottle of water from the fridge before heading out for the run.

Focusing on the back-and-forth motion of her legs, and the rhythm of her sneakers hitting the ground, helped to keep her mind off the nauseous feeling starting to seriously hit her stomach.

Just as soon as she thought she could not go another step, she heard a car coming up behind her. Elizabeth stepped off the road, into the soft grass beside her, and that’s when her legs became like rubber, and the world turned black as night.

She fell to the ground, as the car pulled up beside her. She thought she could hear someone calling her name and then she felt as if she was floating in the air

…then a bang …then a roar … then nothing.

Elizabeth had a hard time opening her eyes and was not sure where she was when she did. The room that came into view was white, plain white. She could make out a TV hanging on the wall, a built-in dresser, and a very simple chair pulled up next to the bed. Jacob was sitting in the chair, and then Elizabeth realized she was the one in the bed.

“Hey, you’re awake! Let me get your mom.” Jacob got up and rushed out of the room. He came back a bit later with Mrs. Parks and Stacey.

Mrs. Parks came quickly to the bed and sat on the edge next to Elizabeth. “How are you feeling, honey?” she asked deeply concerned.

“I… I’m fine…why am I in bed?” Elizabeth tried sitting up. When she did, she started seeing stars, and felt the world start to spin. Suddenly she noticed the tubes in her arm, and beeps and noises she hadn’t heard before. She realized she was not in the comfortable bed in her room, but she was in a hospital bed instead.

“Wow! Not so fast.” Jacob rushed to her bedside and held her shoulders down to keep her from moving too quickly. “You need to rest.”

As he encouraged her to lay back down on her pillows and relax, he gently brushed some loose strands of hair away from her face. He stared down at her with genuine concern in his blue eyes.

“You passed out on the side of the road while you were running.” Jacob noticed Elizabeth’s confused expression in her beautiful eyes and filled her in.

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