Chapter 2
Liz finally found the apartment complex that she had talked to about renting an apartment weeks earlier. She pulled her car into the parking lot and found the front office. The apartments were nice but not overly so. She got out of her car and walked into the plainly decorated office. A short, heavy man wearing small glasses looked up at her from his desk and asked if he could assist her.
"Yes," Liz answered. "I talked to someone here a few weeks earlier and they said that I would be able to rent a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment here."
"Oh, well, I'm sorry ma'am, but all the spaces here are filled. They must have accidentally rented out the apartment that you had talked about." The man said, not seeming to care at the look of appall that had suddenly appeared on Liz's face.
"Are you sure? The man I talked to assured me an apartment. Would you at least double check?" she said more calmly than she felt inside. She didn't need this complication. Everything was supposed to go smoothly. She racked her mind thinking of somewhere she could stay until these people had a space open up for her. There really wasn't a hotel that she would actually want to live in for a few days or weeks even. And the rest of the apartment complexes were too expensive for what she had had in mind. Then a thought came to her. Maybe Maria would let her stay with her. Maybe? Of course she would let her.
"Ma'am," the man said, interrupting her thoughts, "I checked once again and as I said before we have no available space."
"Well, thank you. Could you maybe keep me on a list that when any one moves out that you could notify me?" When the man nodded his head, she continued. "Great. Here is my cell phone number and my name is Liz Parker. Just call me when anything becomes available. Thanks."
As she got back in her car, she decided to head back to the Crashdown Café to ask Maria if she could move in with her temporarily. She was certain there would be no qualms about it.
As the bell on the door in the Crashdown rang, Max Evans looked up from his food to see the attractive woman he had run into earlier. Now he could see her even better and thought she looked familiar. When he saw her go up to Maria at the bar, he figured out that he had seen her in some of Maria's pictures. She had been much younger in the pictures and he personally thought she turned out well. He kept his gaze on her until Tess, his girlfriend, came back to the table and sat down.
"So Max, I know that you probably had something great planned for tonight, but something just came up. I kinda need to go so do you think you could get a ride with Michael?" She said, already getting her purse and rising from the booth.
"Sure Tess. I don't think he'd mind. I'll call you tomorrow." She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then hurried out the door.
As soon as she left, Max glanced back at the bar just to find that Maria and her friend were gone. He rose from his seat and went towards the backroom doors to find Michael and also to see if he could tell where Maria and her friend went. Right as he pushed one of the doors in, he felt it hit something and heard a small yelp. He quickly released the door and moved to see what he had hit. He almost grinned when he saw Maria's friend rubbing her shoulder and frowning.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were there." At the sound of his voice she looked up at him with a scowl on her face.
"I'm not sure if I believe you," she said, now recognizing him from their earlier accident, "after all, this would be the second time today."
"I can assure you it was not intentional, Liz," Maria said, coming down the stairs in the back. "Max is one of the nicest guys in the town." She gave him a grin and a wink and then said, "Max, this is my best friend, Liz Parker. Liz, this is Max Evans."
"Well, I guess it's nice to know the name of the person who keeps beating me up." Liz replied, smiling slightly. "Nice to meet you, Max."
"Same here. And I really am sorry about both incidences. I'll try to watch where I'm going from now on," he said, giving Liz an extraordinary smile.
For one moment, she almost fainted. She thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. And his smile made her believe so even more. She returned a smile.
"Well, Max, what are you and Tess up to tonight?" Maria asked as she began to take off the small apron that held her ordering pad and pens.
"Actually," he said, turning to face Maria, "Tess and I are doing nothing. Something came up and she had to leave."
"Oh, well, if you need something to do, me, Michael, and Liz are going to my house to help her move in. Are you in?" asked Maria.
"Um…." He said, glancing back over to Liz to see her expression. Nothing was there except raised eyebrows waiting for and answer. "Sure. Why not? I need to make up for running into you all day long anyways. What time should I be there?"
"Anytime after five will be great. Well, let's go chica! We still have lots to talk about," said Maria, grabbing her purse and headed for the kitchen. "Hey babe!" She yelled over to Michael. "My shift is done but I'll see you tonight! Bye!"
Maria and Liz walked arm in arm out of the Café already talking and laughing. Max walked over to the kitchen and leaned on the doorframe and grinned.
"So Michael, you think I ---"
"She left you without a ride again? Man, when are you going to learn to come in your own car? Yeah, I'll give you a ride. Did I hear you are going to Maria's tonight too? Great, we can hear them talk all night. I am thrilled. I've got an hour left. Think you can wait 'til then?"
"Yeah, man. I'll be in the booth." As Max walked back into the dining room and sat down, he began to think of Liz again and how he just couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of her. She was so entrancing. He knew it was probably just because she was the new girl in town and that made her seem that way. He quickly realized though, that it was risky to keep thinking about her and glancing her way for Tess was a very jealous woman and he had seen her make people's lives miserable because of it.
'And plus,' he thought, 'I'm happy with Tess. Liz is just a minor distraction that will eventually go away. At least it better go away.'
He sighed and then took a gulp of his coke. Glancing down at his watch, he knew he would at least get to see her one more time without any threats of Tess.
'Maybe this will be good, so I can see what she is really like and then be able to get her out of my head.' He knew that probably wouldn't be the case, but he shrugged it off and waited patiently for Michael to finish his shift.